Page:The Zoologist, 1st series, vol 4 (1846).djvu/248

1414 extends to the second dorsal fin. The pectoral fin is large and long, and extends from immediately behind the gill-covers to the posterior margin of the second dorsal fin. The first dorsal fin is spinous and arises on a line posterior to the origin of the pectoral ; the first four rays are the longest, the fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth gra- dually decrease in length, and the rest are of equal length. The se- cond dorsal is soft and crescentic posteriorly, vanishing into the fin- lets. The ventrals are, first spinous, and the rest soft. The ventrals of both sides closely approximate, and lie on a scale around v^'hich is a furrow or sulcus, and between them are four false rays. The caudal fin is crescentic and large. The abdominal like the second dorsal is crescentic and disappears posteriorly into the finlets between it and the tail. The fin rays are P 37. D 14-fl5. V 6. Ab. 13. C 40. fin f. This specimen was caught while fishing for mackerel, and con- sidering its size exhibited extraordinary strength. Of its habits I could discover but little, but its Mediterranean history is much like that of the bonito. The gape is small, the lower jaw is much longer than the upper, and both are furnished with a single row of small, sharp, and incurved teeth.

Sword Fish, Xiphias gladius. Specimens of this fish are occa- sionally seen by the fishermen in the south-west portion of Mount's Bay, several have been taken, the last of which was caught in Gwavas lake, near Newlyn, in 1843.

Pilot Fish, Naucrates ductor. This elegant fish is occasionally to be met with in Mount's Bay ; but its presence can always be traced to the arrival of some foreign vessel, around which it always con- tinues. It has also been caught at Falmouth.

Bogue, Box vulgaris. A specimen was taken in a ground seine at St. Mawes, near Falmouth, in October, 1842. It fell into the posses- sion of Alfred Fox, Esq., by whom it was presented to the Museum at Truro.

Scad, Caranx trachurus. This is a common fish on all parts of the Cornish coast, and though used as food, is held in very little esti- mation. Like the mackerel, it congregates in large schulls and per- forms its migrations in the same manner. The schulls are sometimes very large. Their habits greatly resemble those of the mackerel. During the autumn they retire to deep water in the entrances to the English and St. George's channels. The mackerel and scad do not intermingle much, except near the Scilly Islands, where they are fre- quently caught together in large quantities. North of this, the mack- erel predominates, and in the south, the scad, from this circumstance