ANIMAL FLIGHT 137 



that do not fly, chief among which are the flying gurnards. 

 In these fishes the side fins are enormous, and often very 

 brightly colored, and look as if they could be used in flight. 

 But these are sluggish bottom living fishes found only in 

 shallow water near the shores and more or less like sculpins 

 in their habits. They never leave the water except perhaps, 

 and very rarely, in a short clumsy jump. The bat-fishes of 

 the tropics, which are enormous rays, hke many other fishes 

 wiU sometimes leap above the surface; but they do not fly. 



In some parts of the ocean the passage of a steamer will 

 frighten from the water objects which at first sight look hke 

 flying-fishes, of about the same size but thinner and more 

 cyhndrical. When these things leave the water instead of 

 scattering as does a company of flying-fishes they always keep 

 together in a close formation maintaining the same distance 

 from each other, and all the members of a company always 

 drop into the sea at the same time. I first saw these off north- 

 western Africa and it was the close formation that attracted 

 my attention. Their flight is rather short, and it was difficult 

 to catch them with the telescope; but when I did I found 

 that they were cuttle-fish or squid, flying tail first, and easily 

 distinguishable from the fishes by their large dark eyes at 

 the wrong end. 



The only other flying thing at sea, except the birds, and 

 sometimes bats on their migrations, is a small crustacean that 

 lives in great numbers at the surface in some places. This 

 creature often jumps clear of the water, and is said to prolong 

 its leap by ghding through the air after the manner of a flying- 

 squirrel. 



