356 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE.

off this tantalizing morsel. This lasted for nearly a minute,
when at last he got rid of the leech by rubbing his back upon
the bottom of the vessel, The leech, perfectly aware of the
company he was in, no sooner loosed his hold, than he at-
tempted to wriggle away from his devourer ; but before he had
reached mid-way up the tumbler, the stickleback had turned
and finished the contest by swallowing him up.’’
The The mackerel is one of the, most useful as well
Mackerel. as one of the most beautiful of familiar fishes. It
measures from twelve to twenty inches and weighs from one
and a half to two or three pounds. It is elegant of form and
brilliant of colour, as well as agreeable as an article of food.
Mackerel visit the coast of England in vast shoals at certain
seasons, but retire to deep seas for the winter. They are ex-
ceedingly voracious, and prey upon the herrings; Captain
Brown tells a story of a number of mackerel fastening on to a
sailor who had plunged into their midst for a bath. The man
was rescued by his comrades, but he died soon after from loss
of blood.
The The sword-fish is a formidable member of this
Sword-fish. order. It is found in the Mediterranean, and the
Atlantic, and sometimes visits the English coast. It has been
known to measure ten feet or more without the sword, with
which it attains even to a length of fifteen feet. It attacks
other large fish and is a great enemy to the whale, which it
charges with great force and destructive effect. It is said some-
times to mistake the hull of a ship for the body of a Whale and
to charge it accordingly, with the result that it leaves its sword
fixed in the ship’s timbers as the bee leaves its sting in human
flesh. The sword of this fish is formed by the elongation of
its upper jaw and some idea of the force with which it can be
used may be gained from the fact that one found in the hull
of a ship at Liverpool and described by Scoresby had pene-
trated a sheet of copper, an oak plank two and a half inches in
thickness, a solid oak timber of seven and a half inches, and