THE GAR PIKE AND FLYING FISH 



2771 



taken to a fresh- water existence; and while many of the latter are viviparous, the 

 whole of the others deposit eggs in the usual manner. Distributed over all the tem- 

 perate and tropical seas, these fish are strictly carnivorous in their habits. Geolog- 

 ically, the family is a comparatively ancient one, the gar pike being represented by 

 an extinct species in the Sicilian Miocene, and by an allied extinct genus in the 

 Eocene of Monte Bolca, while a fish nearly allied to the living flying fishes occurs in 

 the Cretaceous rocks of the Lebanon. 



In North America it appears that the name "gar pike" is applied 

 indifferently to a me'mber of the present family, and to the very dis- 

 tinct fish also known as the bony pike; but in scientific nomenclature it will be 

 better to confine the term to the members of the present genus. Gar pikes are rep- 

 resented by nearly fifty species from temperate and tropical seas, among which the 



GAR PIKE. 



(One-sixth natural size.) 



figured one (Belone vulgaris) is common on the British coasts, likewise ranging; 

 over the whole of the seas of Northern Europe. As a genus, these fishes are easily 

 recognized by the production of the jaws into a long slender beak, formed in the 

 upper one exclusively by the premaxillary bones; while they are further character- 

 ized by the whole of the ra} T s of the dorsal and anal fins being connected by mem- 

 brane. The beak is, however, only developed in the adult, very young specimens 

 having the jaws of normal form; and it is not a little remarkable that during their 

 development the lower jaw becomes for a time much longer than the upper one. 

 Both jaws are beset with a number of rugosities, and likewise with a series of long, 

 conical teeth placed at considerable intervals. A peculiarity of these fish is to be 

 found in the green color of their bones. Whereas the British species does not ex- 

 ceed a couple of feet in length, some of the foreign representatives of the genus may 



