198 ACANTHOPTERYGII. — FISTULARIAD^. 



are secluded from observation for the greatest part 

 of their time, the depth of only a few feet of water 

 precluding the possibility of our watching them 

 with that care and perseverance necessary for the 

 ascertaining of facts ; while the desire of retire- 

 ment manifested by these in common with most 

 animals for the carrying on of the most important 

 and interesting oihces of their economy and in- 

 stinct, combined with their timidity, prompts them 

 to dwell in holes and caverns in the banks, or 

 beneath the shelter of stones, or among the dense 

 beds of waving weeds, or in the ooze and mud of 

 the bottom, where the eye of the most patient and 

 experienced observer can but now and then obtain 

 a momentary glance at their forms, but is abso- 

 lutely interdicted from perceiving what they are 

 doing. 



If this be true of our common lacustrine and 

 iluviatile fishes, how much more applicable is it to 

 the thousands which are marine, and especially to 

 those which are pelagic ! Who can penetrate into 

 the depths of ocean to trace the arrowy course 

 of the mailed and glittering beings that shoot 

 along like animated beams of light? Who can 

 follow them to their rocky beds and coral caverns ? 

 The wandering mariner sees with interested curio- 

 sity the Flying-fish leap in flocks from the water, 

 and the eager Bonito rushing after them in swift 

 pursuit ; but who can tell what the Flying-fish is 

 doing when not pursued, or how the Bonito is 

 engaged when the prey is not before him ? How 

 many pleasing traits of conjugal or parental attach- 

 ment the waves of the fathomless sea may conceal, 

 we know not : what ingenious devices for self- 

 protection ; what structures for the concealment of 



