356 



SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 



era; but the distinction of the species is still extremely 

 dubious, this being due chiefly to our ignorance of the 

 changes of growth, especially in the coloration. The 

 most important characteristic employed in the definition 

 of the genera, lies in the position of the ventral tins. 

 Each of the two species of wliich we have the earliest 

 knowledge, has therefore been chosen as the repre- 

 sentative of a distinct geiuis, the one" with the ventral 

 fins situated rather far forward and comparatively small, 

 the other, Exocoetits, with the ventral fins larger and 



set farther l)ack. Swainson also formed a distinct 

 genus'' to receive tlie species that are furnished with 

 barbels under the point of the chin; and Bleeker es- 

 tablished a genus' consisting of tlie species which, on 

 account of the knob-shaped, i-udimentary elongation of 

 the lower jaw, seem to form a ti'ansition from this 

 subfamily to the preceding one. 



None of these genera can strictly be included in 

 the Scandinavian fauna; but in Christiania Fjord a spe- 

 cimen has once been taken of the 



Genus EXOCOETUS. 



Ventral fns behind tlie middle point in the distance hetween tlie tip of the snout and the base of the caudal Jin, 

 and their tip (tvhen folded) extending beyond the beginninf/ of the anal fin. Palate and tongue toothless, or the 



palatine bones alone slighthj rough with small teeth. 



Thus defined the genus Exocoetus includes the most 

 typical Flying-fishes and the largest number of described 

 species within the subfamily. The name of exocoetus'' 

 originally had reference to a fish that the ancients sup- 

 posed to creep up on a rock to sleep. We do not 

 know what fish this was — perhaps a Gobioid, as RoN- 

 DEEET^ supposed; but it was cei-tainly not a Flying-fish, 

 as Artedi-'' assumed, and Linnaeus subsequently took 

 for granted. Ho^\'ever, the singular appearance of the 



Flying-fishes and their valuable flesh must certainly 

 have given them prominence at an early period, and 

 according to Salvianus their Greek name was cheUdon'', 

 just as the Romans called the genus hirundo. The 

 geographical extension of the genus is the same as that 

 of the Sauries, and several species — as clearly defined 

 as our })i'esent knowledge of them permits — deserve 

 the name of cosmopolitan in the seas of the Tropical 

 and Temperate Zones. 



" //alocijjisehis, Weinland, Proc. Soc. Nat. Hist. Bost. VI (1859). p. .385. 



* Cypsituriis, Nat. Hist. Fi.'ih., Ampli., Rept., vol. I, p. 299, vol. II, pp. 187 tiiid 296. Weinland (1. c.) corrected tliis generic 

 name to Cypselurus; and Gunthee remarked (Cat. Brit. Mus.^ Fish., vol. VI, p. 278) that, in certain species at least, tlie generic character 

 .is merely an evanescent character of the young specimens. 



'^ Parexocoelus, Esp. Exoc, Ned. T. Dierk., Ill, p. 126, see Atl. Iclitli. Iiid. Or. Necrl.. tome VI, p. 77. Bleeker has also given 

 the presence of teeth on the vomer, the palatine bones, the pterygoid bones and the tongue as a character of this genus. 



'^ E^iuvioiiog, sleeping out. 



' De Pis,:, lib. VI, cap. XV. 



-' Gen. Pisc, p. 8; iSijn. Pise, p. 18. 



■' XEKiduv, swallow. 



