SALUV riKE. 



;^5o 



pectoral fin is wfll iittcd lo ^iiidc thcni, ,-iii(l tlicri- tlic\- 

 crowd on cmcIi other ;is tlic'\' ])rc'ss foi^wni'd. I iidcf the 

 inqjulsi' ol' terror tlie\- spi-in^ to the heiiiht of several 

 feet — leap o\ cr each other in siuLiuiar contusion, and 

 then ai^ain sink out of sii^lit. ISut tlie pursuers again 

 sliew tliemseh'es, .-nid lhe\ mount a_i:'ain, and rush along 

 the surface for more than a hundred feet in a continued 

 effort, without th<' li((d\ i'n\- a moment heing lost sight 

 of, and, as it wnuld appear, l>\' the instant hut repeated 

 toucli on the water of the pectoral tins and those which 

 lie al(Mig the under part of tlio hodv." It is from the 

 appearance which it presents at the surface on these 

 occasions, that the llnglisii sailors have given this fish 

 the name of Sea-mouse. Often enough it leaps out of 

 the water into ;i tishing-boat. \\ hen it has entered the 

 shallows, it often forgets to retire at the eliliing of the 

 tide; and in the Firth of l-'oi'th hundi'e(ls of specimens 

 are then ])icked up on dr\' land, with their heaks stuck 

 in the sludge. During the Pilehard-lishery it is an 

 unwelcome guest, for the fishermen believe that the 

 Pilchard has a strong dislike to, or perhaps fear of it. 

 We also learn from England that in 1825 numbers of 

 Sauries and Pilchards were together enclosed in a Pil- 

 chard-seine; and before it was possible to secure the 

 catch, thousands of the Pilchards had their eyes gouged 

 out bv the Sauries, and scores of them were transfixed 

 by their enemies' beaks. These wounds, however, can 

 scarcely be dealt intentionally, for the Saury, which is 

 smaller than the Garpike, and lias a still weaker beak, 

 can hardly prey on fishes as large as the Pilchard. 

 Its food is com])Osed of small, or even the smallest 

 crustaceans or Ijilomostraca, the larvtv; of crustaceans 

 and, in all ]irol>aliilit\-, other minute creatures that live 

 at the surface oi' among the seaweed. We may also 

 infer that small fishes form a part of its food, from 

 the fact that it is .sometimes taken on the hook. The 



Saurv itself is good eating. The spawning-season is 

 as \-et unknown. 



Like tiie (iarpike, tlie Siun'v wanders fai' out of 

 its ordinarv habitat, but pnjbably not in shoals. Solitary 

 S|)ecimens have l)een taken even in the extreme north 

 of Norway. One of these, 24') mm. in length, was 

 caught during the summer of 1883 off Gje.sv;t'r, near 

 North (Jape, and is now preserved in Trom.s5 Museum, 

 which also possesses a specimen 'll'iO mm. long, from 

 Helgeland", where it was found on the beach in Au- 

 gust, 1877. Previously, about 1850, one or two sjie- 

 cimens, one of which, an example 380 mm. in length, 

 is preserved in Christiania Museum, had been taken in 

 Christiania Fjord. The Museum of Copenhagen po.s- 

 sesses one specimen, 25.J mm. long, from Iceland, three 

 from the Sound, one from tiie Great Belt (Nov., 1873) 

 and two (Oct., 1881)) i'rom .Agger on the west coast of 

 Jutland. In Bohusliin three specimens have been taken, 

 one 295 mm. in length, which was forwarded to the 

 Royal Museum in 1878 l)y Baron Cedekstrom, Ph. I)., 

 and two obtained by Mr. C. A. H.ax.s.sox, who handed 

 over one of them, 300 mm. in length, to the Museum 

 of Ujjsala and the other, 1G5 mm. in length, to the 

 Royal Museum. Both the last specimens were caught 

 in November. A fourth Swedish specimen, 222 mm. 

 long, which was taken in the Sound oft" Raa, in May, 

 1862, is preserved in the Museum of Malmo. 



The Saurv is thus one of the rarest Scandinavian 

 fishes, and consequently carmot be of any special value 

 to the fishermen of Scandinavia. The case is the same 

 along the west coast of the Continent — on the west 

 coast of France, according to Moreau, this fish is ex- 

 tremely rare. In England, however, and even on the 

 Scotch coast, it apparently occurs in lai-ge shoals every 

 year; and it is found oftener than in Scandinavia among 

 the Orkney and Shetland Islands. 



Sini-AMiLv EXOCOETINiE. 



ItttermaxUlanj hone^ furnished icith a disiuirt — ihottfih sometimes renj thin — //;', aiid artirulafiiifj hif means of 



nasal processes — irliicli are sometimes very s/iorf — iritli the surface of the front cud of the ethmoid cartilage. 



Maxillary hones free and irifh movable articulation. Snout short, neither of the jaws being elongated''. 



This subfamily contains the fishes which most fins, and the lower lobe of tiie caudal fin considerably 

 strictly deserve tiie name of Flging-fish, most of them [ longer than the upper. Some fifty species have been 

 having long and highly expansive pectoral and ventral [ distinguished and distributed among three or four geu- 



" The Xorwfgiaii districl, not to be confused witli Heligoland. 



'' In some forms (Exocoetus menio and Exoc. aaitus), however, according U' Vai.kmiknnks. the tip of tlie lower jaw is '"elongated 

 by a little pointed knob." 



