244 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



marvelled at, the active little Periophthalmos, the ex- 

 traordinary Ornithorhynchus, and leaf-like Phyllium, 

 but we look with less astonishment at the strange 

 fact, that Nature has created a fish that flies. 



It is an old tale of the sailor-mother who, on being 

 told of the existence of flying-fish, remarked, "Ah ! 

 Jack, I've heard tell of mountains of sugar, and rivers 

 of rum, but fish that fly, Jack, na ! na ! " But since 

 this good lady expressed her incredulity, the world 

 has been made smaller ; fast ships traverse the seas in 



Exoccetus, or true flying- fish allied to the gar, and the 

 Dactylopterus or flying gurnards. It is the former of 

 these about which I wish to speak, having had con- 

 siderable chances of observing them. I have now a 

 wing, in my possession, of one captured off the coast 

 of Brazil, measuring ten inches in length. On that 

 coast, as well as in the West Indies, they run to a con- 

 siderable size. Those in the Indian Ocean, however, 

 are very much smaller, few of them exceeding eight 

 inches from snout to tail. 



Fig. 89. — Dactylopterus volitans. 



Fig. 90. — Common Flying-fish (Exoccetus volitans). 



all directions, and have made lands, that were once 

 almost inaccessible, become the scene of a holiday 

 trip, and the flying-fish an object of daily occurrence. 

 Yet, as Professor Moseley tells us in his " Notes of a 

 Naturalist on board the 'Challenger,'" the question 

 of their method of flight is by no means settled. This 

 is not so much to be wondered at, as their flight is so 

 rapid that it is most difficult and often impossible for 

 the eye to follow it. 



We have the two genera of flying-fish : the 



All day long, these little "skip jacks," as the 

 sailors call them, are being "put up" by the ship, 

 and flitting away en every side. But very frequently, 

 also, large shoals are seen flying a considerable 

 distance in frantic endeavour to escape from their 

 enemies whose name is legion. Like moths and 

 many bipeds they are attracted by a bright and 

 dazzling light, and wake from their dream often to 

 find themselves on the hard, dry deck, to be trans- 

 ferred to the sailors' mess ; a welcome change from 



