The bonito is taken only by trolling with a small fish for bait, or a block-tin, bone, or shell squid, from a sailing vessel, and with bluefish tackle. It is frequently caught by the Key West fishermen when trolling for kingfish with a bait of bacon-rind. It is a powerful fish, and withal a very game one, being a swift swimmer, and must be handled very carefully when hooked. The line should be a heavy one of braided linen or cotton, and a foot or two of brass or copper wire should be used as a snell to withstand its sharp and numerous teeth. A Sproat or O'Shaughnessy hook, No. 7-0, is about right when bait is used, and one of similar size with artificial squids, or spinners. I was once trolling in the vicinity of the Dry Tortugas, and in a short time took four bonitos of about twelve pounds each. As the yacht was going at a spanking rate with a beam wind, the strain on the line was tremendous, and in each case the vessel had to be luffed up into the wind to enable me to land them. As one fish was more than enough for the crew, and as I had occasion to land at Fort Jefferson, on Garden Key, I resolved to donate the others to the garrison of the fortress. On going ashore I found the "garrison" to consist of one man, the corporal in charge of the property. He said he did not think he alone could get away with the fish, but as the lighthouse keeper of the fort would return from Loggerhead Key in the afternoon, he thought that they, together with his dog, might manage to dispose of them. Afterward he informed me that he and the light-keeper had finished one bonito, and the dog, whose name was Bonaparte, had made way with the others, or as he expressed it: "Bone eet two," and said this without any intent to pun on bon-i-to; he thought that I was amused at the capacity of Bonaparte as an ichthyophagist, being unconscious of his play on the words which caused my merriment. CHAPTER XV THE GROUPER FAMILY (_Serranidæ_) The fishes of this family are characterized by an oblong body, more or less compressed, covered with adherent scales of moderate or small size, which are usually ctenoid; the dorsal and ventral outlines do not usually correspond; premaxillaries protractile; teeth all conical or pointed, in bands, present on jaws, vomer, and palatines; pseudobranchiæ large; gill-membranes separate, free from isthmus; cheeks and opercles scaly; preopercle usually serrate; opercle ending in one or two flat spines; lateral line not extending on the caudal fin; lower pharyngeals narrow, with pointed teeth; gill-rakers armed with teeth.