Page:The Zoologist, 1st series, vol 4 (1846).djvu/246

1412 June, and continues with us till August, when it again leaves in a south-western direction, according to the fishermen. It never takes a bait, but frequently gets entangled in the pilchard drift-nets, and it swims with such rapidity as to turn the foot of the net over the buoy ropes, and so gets completely enveloped or rolled up in the net. It is a very interesting sight to see it in pursuit of the skipper, a sight which may be enjoyed on almost every summer's evening in Mount's Bay, about three miles off the shore. Their speed is very rapid, and in the eagerness of pursuit it will frequently glide into the air to the height of several feet. During some seasons they are comparatively rare, and in others they are common. In the autumn of 1840 they were very abundant, and great quantities were caught in the drift-nets, some of which weighed as much as eighty pounds. If eaten soon after they are caught they are good food, though rather too fat ; but they are very injurious if eaten after being eight or ten hours out of water, especially if the weather be warm ; it then produces intense sickness.

Striped Bonito, T. pelamys. This is a smaller fish than the last, but is equally common, and has precisely the same habits. During the last summer, while sailing across the bay, with what is called a " mackerel breeze " going perhaps seven miles an hour, one of this species started into the air after a flock of skippers some distance astern of us, and again fell into the water, but its course was marked by a continuous line of skippers, and in a few minutes it again sprung into the air just ahead ; so that it travelled at a very rapid rate. It was easy to discover the species as the belts were very plain.

Plain Bonito, Auxis vulgaris. This is very rare, I have seen only one specimen, but two have been taken in Mount's Bay. The one I sa^ was taken in a mackerel seine at Newlyn in July, 1844. It may be briefly described as follows : — It was eighteen inches in length, girth behind the first dorsal fin eleven and a half inches. Viewed la- terally, it has a resemblance to the common mackerel, but is more plump and the tail is proportionably smaller. From the point of the lower -jaw to the margin of the gill-cover is four and a half inches ; both jaws are pointed ; mouth small ; teeth small and fine. Eye large, an inch from the snout. First dorsal fin is five inches from the snout and placed in a fissure which hides it, when pressed down ; its fin-rays are somewhat spinous, the first two, longest and closely united. The distance from the first to the second dorsal fin is six inches ; the latter is crescentic posteriorly. The caudal fin is lunated, and the vertebrae nearly reach to its posterior margin. The finlets are