DIFFERENT WAYS OF SWIMMING 



solid, resisting feathers, necessarily so in order to 



exert pressure on the air. Only the beauty of colour 



relieves its rigid appearance. The wing of a skate 



swimming is much more attractive. Composed of an 



enlarged pectoral fin, attached all along the side of the 



body and head, it waves 



and bends as it rises and 



falls to beat the water. 



Its movements are elegant 



and graceful. The edges 



form a sort of festoon as 



the fish goes along. The 



creature thereby adopts a 



pleasing attitude, which 



strikes one as definitely 



remarkable. There is 



nothing in the position 



of rest which would lead 



us to expect anything like 



this. 



The skate, large or 

 small, move about the 

 tank in this way, some- 

 times nearly filling it with 

 their huge " wings " in 

 action, sometimes lying 

 inert upon the bottom. 



smaller ones often 

 to the glass side 



with pearly white, 



Fig 



ii. — Successive stages in the 

 movements of the pectoral fins 

 of a skate swimming. (From 

 Marey's chronophotographs.) 



The 



cling 

 and, 



slightly rose-tinted, bellies, somewhat resemble clock 

 faces. The two pelvic fins, with their claspers oscil- 

 lating about their point of attachment, seem like the 

 hands, and the vertically hanging tail, the pendulum. 

 The others, stronger and heavier, rest by stretching 

 themselves along the floor of the tank. At times they 

 start off swimming one after another or all together, 

 and finally settle again. Each species, according to 



45 



