GREATER FLYING FISH. 47 



given to lumbytlic possessor, that the individual Flying Fish 

 which was found at Helford, where it was discovered on the 

 sand, having just then expired, w'as of the same species. 

 This specimen, which is in the possession of Mr, John Fox 

 of Plymouth, measures sixteen inches in length. 



The elongated ventral fins, placed very far backwards, 

 readily serve to distinguish this fish, which has long been well 

 known in the Mediterranean, and was, I believe, first figured 

 by Belon in the year 1553, by Rondelet in his Latin edition 

 in 1554, and in the French edition printed at Lyons in 1558. 

 For the general habits of the Flying Fish, the reader may 

 consult the first volume of the History of British Fishes, 

 page 398. Bloch says that the Greater Flying Fish attains 

 the length of eighteen inches ; and the specimen from which 

 the representation in the work of Duhamel was taken, measured 

 sixteen inches, Bloch says this fish is found in the Red Sea 

 as well as in the Mediterranean. Our countryman Wil- 

 loughby saw it in Calabria. Rondelet states that it is found 

 in quantity at the mouth of the Rhone, and Duhamel 

 mentions that, besides being plentiful in the Mediterranean, 

 it had also been taken in the ocean. The flesh of this fish is 

 rich, and is said to be more delicate than that of the herring. 



The head is wide and flat on the top, but somewhat angu- 

 lar underneath ; the mouth is small, the lower jaw rather longer 

 than the upper ; both jaws arc furnished with pointed teeth, 

 those in the lower jaw being the smaller of the two ; the eyes 

 arc large, the irides silvery, the pupil dark blue ; the nostrils 

 large, and placed rather nearer to the eye than to the point of 

 the nose ; the operculum has the appearance of polished 

 steel ; the body of the fish is covered with large scales, which 

 adhere but slightly ; the upper part of the body is a fine blue 

 colour, the lower part silvery white ; the lateral line is placed 

 very low down and runs throughout its whole length, but lit- 

 tle above, and parallel to, the ventral profile ; the pectoral 



