44 



what must be a torment. I have noticed 6 or 7 of these parasites 

 on one Shark. 



The Shark if a young one is not at all bad eating, and it 

 resembles the Skate in taste. I know in my young days at sea it 

 was a treat to catch one, but we were glad of anything after so 

 much salt meat. 



Speed of Fish. 



The swiftest denizens of the deep I believe will be found to be 

 the Porpoise of sailors " Delphinus delphis." They never seem 

 to tire, but play about under the bows of a steamer going 16 or 

 1 7 knots an hour, turn and go astern, and then come racing past 

 her as though she were at anchor, and this not once or twice but 

 for half an hour or more. I estimate their speed at these times 

 to be nearly at the rate of 30 miles an hour and besides they 

 have to rise to the surface to breathe every minute or so. It 

 must be an easy matter for them to run down any fish they may 

 be after. The Porpoise has a very keen idea of danger ; if one 

 be wounded they all clear off at once. As they are warm 

 blooded creatures they bleed excessively when wounded. Sailors 

 before fresh tinned provisions were used were very glad to get 

 one, the flesh is very dark and tastes not unlike a very tough 

 steak with no flavour offish whatever. The Kidneys were the 

 favourite and they resemble two large bunches of grapes. 



Flight of the Dragon Fly. 



The Dragon Fly with its immense wings has marvellous 

 powers of sustaining itself in all weathers without resting. I have 

 seen them in dozens in the middle of the China Sea, and 150 

 miles from the nearest land when the wind was blowing with 

 the force of half a gale. They were flying about and against 

 the wind with the greatest ease, the wind having but little eff'ect 

 on their power of flight. They were just as active then as in a 

 calm and never attempted to alight, but seemed to be hunting 

 insects belonging as it were to the ship of wliich there are plenty 

 even in mid ocean. They are called Typhoon flies in China 

 and their appearance at sea is supposed to be a precursor of one 

 of those terrible storms, but I never took much notice of them 

 for as a rule no storm was near. How or where they rested at 

 night I could never learn. They may have rested on the rigging 

 but I certainly never saw one there. They must be the swiftest 

 of all insects. 



Portuguese Man of War. 



(P. Pelagtcus.J 



This beautiful bladder-like form is a true denizen of the 

 tropical seas, especially in the Atlantic within the tropics, where 



