214 



Acanthopterygii ; Synentognathi 



with short ventral fins not used for flight. It is perhaps the 

 most widely distributed of all, ranging through almost all warm 

 seas. Parexoccetus brachypterus, still smaller, and with shorter, 

 grasshopper-like wings, is also very widely distributed. An ex- 

 cellent account of the flying-fishes of the world has been given 

 by Dr. C. F. Liitken (1876), the University of Copenhagen, 



FIG. 169. Catalina Flying-fish, Cypselurus californicus (Cooper). Santa Barbara. 



which institution has received a remarkably fine series from 

 trading-ships returning to that port. Later accounts have 

 been given by Jordan and Meek, and by Jordan and Ever- 

 mann. 



Very few fossil Exoccetida are found. Species of Scombresox 

 and Hemirhamphus are found in the Tertiary, the earliest being 

 Hemirhamphus edwardsi from the Eocene of Monte Bolca. No 

 fossil flying-fishes are known, and the genera, Exoccetus, Exo- 

 nautes, and Cypselurus are doubtless all of very recent origin. 



