FLYING-FISH. 



451 



with great speed without reference to the course of the wind 

 and waves. They make no regular flying motions with their 

 pectoral and ventral fins, but spread them out quietly, 

 though very rapid vibrations can be seen in the outstretched 

 pectoral fins. They usually fly farther against the wind than 

 with it, or if their track and the direction of the wind form 

 an angle. Most flying-fish which fly against or with the 

 wind continue in their whole course of flight in the same di- 

 rection in which they come out of the water. Winds which 

 blow from one side on to the original track of the fish bend 

 their course inward. All fish which are at a distance from 

 the vessel hover in their whole course in the air near the sur- 

 face of the water. If in strong winds they fly against the 



Fig. 40:. The Large Chub, Semotilua rhotheus, one fifth natural size. From Abbot. 



course of the waves, then they fly a little higher ; sometimes 

 they cut with the tail into the crest of the waves. Only 

 such flying-fish rise to a considerable height (at the highest, 

 by chance, five metres above the surface of the sea) whose 

 course in the air becomes obstructed by a vessel. In the 

 daytime flying-fish seldom fall on the deck of the ship, but 

 mostly in the night ; never in a calm (Moebius). Whitman 

 claims that they truly My and can change their course in 

 mid-air. We have seen one rise and fall during flight. 



Following the flying-fish is the family represented by the 

 silver gar or bill-fish (Belonv longirostrus Mitchill, Fig. 408). 



The sucker (Echeneis remora Linn.) occurs along the 

 whole coast of the United States, and is found all over the 



