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INTEODUCTION TO ZOOLOGY. 



for a resting-place, it fixed itself on the back of the Pipe-fish, 

 close to the tail. The fish had not been a consenting party to 

 this arrangement, and soon evinced its dissatisfaction, by lash- 

 ing the tail with great violence on each side, to dislodge the 

 intruder. He, however, kept his hold ; and so soon as the 

 iish ceased for a few seconds, he crept a little farther up on 

 the back, as if aware that the velocity of movement was less 

 near the centre of the circle. The fish lashed the water again 

 with great violence, but without any good result ; and so soon 

 as it stopped, the Grammarus crept up a little nearer to the 

 head. The Gammarus seemed to be the marine prototype of 

 the Old Man of the Mountain, whose pertinacity in retaining 

 his place on the back of Sinbad the Sailor is a portion of that 

 lore of our boyhood that is never afterwards forgotten. The 

 Pipe-fish then changed its tactics. Instead of lashing with 

 Its tail, it gave to its whole body the kind of movement it 

 might have had if fixed on a Lilliputian spit, and in the act of 

 being roasted. The body was made to revolve round and 

 round on its longitudinal axis ; but the Gammarus still held 

 on, and, at each interval of rest, made a few steps farther in 

 advance. This was more than once repeated, until, pitying 

 the poor Pipe-fish, we removed the cause of its annoyance to 

 another vessel. 



In the Flying-fishes (example Exocoetus volitans, Fig. 183), 



Fig. 183.— Fltixg-fish. 



more than one species of which have been taken off the British 

 coasts, the pectoral fins are extremely large, and remind us of 

 wings. But in reality the fins never act as wings ; nor can 

 these fish, with correctness, be said to ji'j. They have the 

 power of springing out of the water with such force, that 



