SYSTEMATIC CATALOGUE OP FISHES. 163 



Genus SCOMBRESOX Lac^pfede. Sauries; Skippers. 



Both jaws prolonged, forming a slender bill longer than remainder of head, 



the lower jaw the longer; the jaws short in the young; air-bladder large; lateral 



line near ventral edge of body, formed of minute rounded pores; opercle partly 



covered with small scales. One American species. {Scomhresox, mackerel-pike.) 



140. SCOMBRESOX SAURUS (Walbaum). 

 Skipper; Saury. 



Esox saurus Walbaum, Artedi Genera Piscium, iii, 93, 1792; Cornwall. 



Scombresox scutellatus, Yarrow, 1877, 214; Beaufort. 



Scombresox saurus, Jordan & Evermann, 1896, 725, pi. cxvii, fig. 314. 



Diagnosis. — Body elongate, compressed, the deptli .11 total length, .13 length without 

 bill; head broad on top, tapering evenly to the beak, its length contained 3.4 times in total 

 length of body, head without bill contained 5 times in length; eye .33 length of postorbital part 

 of head; jaws very slender, distance from eye to end of lower jaw .2 total length; scales in lateral 

 hne about 115, 8 rows of scales on upper part of opercle; dorsal fin small and low, the rays 10 or 

 11, followed by 5 finlets; anal similar to dorsal, but longer and beginning slightly in advance of 

 it, the rays 12 or 13, with 6 finlets; caudal well forked, the peduncle slender; pectorals shorter 

 than postorbital part of head; ventrals about twice diameter of eye, their base half-way from 

 front of eye to caudal base. Color: greenish brown on back to upper level of eye, sides and 

 belly silvery, a silvery lateral band about width of eye. {saurus, lizard.) 



Fig. 65. Skipper; Saury. Scombresox saurus. 



A species of the open sea, going in immense schools and preyed on by mack- 

 erel, tunny, etc.; rare south of Cspe Cod. Recorded from Beaufort by Yarrow, 

 but not found by others and evidently only a straggler. Yarrow's references to 

 the size of this species and to taking it with hook-and-line, and his use of the 

 name "sea pike", indicate a mistaken identification. That the fish he had in 

 mind may have been the lizard-fish (Synodus foetens) is suggested by the omission 

 from his list of that very common species, which bites freely at the baited hook 

 and is known as "pike" in the Beaufort region. 



Family EXOCCETID^. The Flying-fishes. 



The flying-fishes are found in the warmer parts of all seas, and are familiar 

 to all persons who have cruised in temperate or tropical waters, being numerous 

 in both species and individuals. They for the most part inhabit the open seas, 

 but sometimes come close inshore, and are often found in abundance about 

 isolated islands. 



These fishes may be instantly recognized by their enormously developed 

 filmy pectoral fins, which are inserted high on the side of the body and when 

 expanded suggest wings. The form of body is elongate, and not greatly com- 

 pressed; head rather short; mouth small, terminal, margin of upper jaw formed 



