THE GAR PIKE AND FLYING FISH 2773 



abridged by Dr. Giinther from one published by Dr. Mobias, and runs as follows: 

 ' ' Flying fish are more frequently observed in rough weather and in a disturbed sea 

 than during calms; they dart out of the water when pursued by their enemies, or 

 frightened by an approaching vessel, but frequently also without any apparent 

 cause, as is also observed in many other fishes; and they rise without any regard to 

 the direction of the wind or waves. The fins are kept quietly distended, without 

 any motion, except an occasional vibration caused by the air whenever the surface 

 of the wing is parallel with the course of the wind. Their flight is rapid, but 

 gradually decreasing in velocity, greatly exceeding that of a ship going ten miles 

 an hour, and extending to a distance of five hundred feet. Generally, it is longer 

 when the fish fly against than with, or at angle to the wind. Any vertical or hor- 

 izontal deviation from a straight line is not caused at the will of the fish, but by 

 currents of the air; the fish retaining a horizontally straight course when flying 

 with or against the wind, but being carried to one side whenever the direction of 

 the latter is at an angle to that of their flight. It may, however, happen that in 

 the course of its flight a fish may dip its tail in the crest of a wave, thus changing 

 its direction to the left or right. In calm weather the line of flight is always also 

 vertically straight, or rather parabolic, like the course of a projectile, but in a 

 rough sea, when the fish are flying against the course of the waves, it may become 

 undulating. In such instances the flying fish frequently overtop each wave, being 

 carried over by the pressure of the disturbed air. Flying fish often fall on board 

 vessels, but this never happens during a calm, or from the lee side, always taking 

 place in a breeze and from the weather side. In the daytime they avoid a ship, 

 flying away from it; but, during the night, when they are unable to see, they fre- 

 quently fly against the weatherboard, where they are caught by the current of air, 

 and may be thus carried to a height of some twenty feet above the surface of the 

 water." In the second account, which was published many years ago in Land and 

 Water, the author writes that in calm weather flying fish ' ' are capable of clearing 

 three hundred yards. Their flight is frequently extended to double the distance by 

 simply skimming the surface, as a swallow does a pool, and without disappearing. 

 I have observed that they never touch the surface more than twice consecutively, 

 though they may resume their flight after a period of complete immersion; while 

 still in the air, they readily change their course to right angles with their first line 

 of flight, or even completely reverse it toward the point from which they originally 

 started. I have watched them for hours through a powerful double glass, as they 

 rose from either side of the bows of the ship, and noticed that the pectoral fins are 

 moved with a slight but very rapid quivering motion, which, I have no doubt, 

 assists to sustain them in the air. In rough weather the flight of the flying fish is 

 more rapid, much higher, and of shorter duration than when light winds prevail." 

 This account confirms my own observations as to there being a vibratory motion of 

 the pectoral fins when first leaving the water, although the writer is probably in- 

 correct in his supposition that this assists the flight. 



