504 FLYING FISHES AND THEIR HABITS. 



Whatever may be the facts respecting the places selected for 

 spawning, the eggs of flying fishes are undoubtedly like those of their 

 relatives. Some eggs obtained near Naples in June and July, 1894, 

 were identified as those of an exocoetine, and described by F. 

 RafFaele. They were found attached to floating bodies (straws that 

 had been used for packing fruit) from which they hung like pigmy 

 grapes. They had characteristic filaments, not very unlike those of 

 Seomljcresox- 



The early post-embryonic stages are unknown, but undoubtedly it 

 will be found that the pectoral fins at first are short and that their 

 large size is acquired some time after birth. 



IV. 



Flying fishes are beset by enemies in the form of large pelagic 

 fishes, such as dolphins, tunnies, bonitos, and albicores, as well as 

 sharks and porpoises. In order to help them escape, the develop- 

 ment of the power to leave the water has resulted, and most of the 

 near relatives of the flying fishes which could not acquire the power 

 have long since ceased to live, for the nearest living relatives belong 

 to other groups — the Sauries and Half-beaks. The pursuing fishes 

 are as swift and active in the water as the flying fishes, and even 

 escape from the water serves often only to delay capture, for the 

 pursuing fish may catch one as it falls from the air. The history of 

 a shoal of flying fishes pursued b}^ one of dolphins would be an 

 interesting as well as tragic one. Is pursuit ever continued till the 

 shoal is exterminated or a few escape through their insignificance in 

 the vast waste of w^ater ? 



There is another phase of danger, attributed in many a popular 

 work, from which the flying fish are practically — that is, generally — 

 exempt. The danger is often represented as tAvofold, a j^iscine 

 Charybdis and an avine Scylla. But danger from birds in the air 

 is almost nothing. 



It must not be suj)posed, because a shoal of flying fishes is observed 

 at sea with many in the air at one time, that pursuers are necessarily 

 in the rear. Notwithstanding the statements of some travelers, the 

 fishes may be unmolested, and their aerial excursions may be merely 

 the manifestation of exuberance of spirit and in obedience to an 

 instinct which impels not only them but all their distant relations— 

 the sauries, halfbeaks, and garfishes — to leap from the water. Pos- 

 sibly a school may enjoy a lifetime free from molestation. 



F. Mathew, " during long voyages in the Atlantic and Pacific 

 oceans," had many " opportunities of closely observing the habits of 

 flying fish," but he had never " seen a bird of any description attempt 

 to seize them while in the air," nor was he " acquainted with anyone 

 who has witnessed such a thinji;." He knew of " no bird that could 



