Mackerel visit our shores in vast shoals; but, from being very tender and unfit for long carriage, they are found less useful than other gregarious fish. The usual bait is a bit of red cloth, or a piece of the tail of the Mackerel. The great fishery for them is in some parts of the south and west coasts of England: this is of such an extent as to employ, in the whole, a capital of nearly two hundred thousand pounds. The fishermen go out to the distance of several leagues from the shore, and stretch their nets, which are sometimes miles in extent, across the tide during the night. A single boat has been known to bring in, after one night’s fishing, a cargo that has been sold for nearly seventy pounds. The roes of the Mackerel are used in the Mediterranean for _caviar_. In Cornwall, and also in several parts of the continent, Mackerel are preserved by pickling and salting; and in this state possess a flavour somewhat like that of the salmon. Their voracity has scarcely any bounds; and when they get among a shoal of herrings, they will make such havoc as frequently to drive it away. Mackerel are in season from March to June. [Illustration: THE GAR-FISH, (_Belone vulgaris_,)] OF which the figure above is an exact representation, is of a very extraordinary form. The body, in shape and colour, is not unlike that of a mackerel, but is much more elongated, and the jaws are protracted into a kind of lance, nearly half as long as the rest of the body. It is vulgarly supposed that this fish leads the phalanxes of mackerel through the regions of the deep; and, like a faithful and experienced pilot, traces their journey, points out their dangers, and conducts them to their destination. A curious singularity of this creature is, that its bones are of a bright green colour; the flesh is not so firm nor of so good a flavour as that of the mackerel, but it sells pretty well whenever it comes to market. [Illustration: THE HERRING. (_Clupea Harengus._)] THIS fish is somewhat like the mackerel in shape, as well as in delicacy of taste, although it differs much in flavour. It is about nine or ten inches long, and about two and a half broad, and has blood-shot eyes; the scales large and roundish; the tail forked; the body of a fat, soft, delicate flesh, but more rank than that of the mackerel, and therefore less wholesome. Yet some people are so very fond of it, that they call the Herring _the King of Fishes_. They swim in shoals, and spawn once a year, about the autumnal equinox, at which time they are the best. They come into shallow water to spawn, like the mackerel; and hence they periodically visit our coasts, retiring again to the deep waters when the spawning season is over.