MALACOPTERYGII. 571 



beresox, or Mackerel- Pike. The two last named genera are 

 sometimes united in a separate family, (Scomberesocidse.) The 

 Flying Fishes of tropical seas, Exocmtus, (Gr. E^wxonog, 

 exokoitos, (sleeping out of the sea,) were so named because 

 believed by the ancients to sleep on the beach. They have 

 the specific name volitans, (Lat. flying,) from having the pectoral 

 fins so enlarged as to resemble wings, (Plate XIV. fig. 3. ;) when 

 in the air they move so rapidly as to resemble birds more than 

 fish. They fly straight forward, remaining out of the water thirty 

 seconds or more at a time. Two or three hundred of them are 

 sometimes seen together. 



(19) Fistularidce, (Lat. from fistula, a pipe or tube.) This 

 family includes the Pipe-mouthed and Trumpet fishes having 

 tubular mouths, which, it is thought, they use in drawing up 

 their food, like a syringe. The genus Fistularia, (the tobacco- 

 pipe Fish,) has several species on our coast, The Trumpet- 

 fish, Centriscus, besides the tubular snout, has a short com 

 pressed body, of which the head forms the larger portion. 



(20) Salmonida, (Lat. salmo, a salmon,) 



This is the TROUT family, inhabiting both fresh and salt wa 

 ter, and the most completely toothed of all the fishes. They 

 agree with the Herring family in the structure of the upper 

 jaw, and are distinguished by having a small fatty fin behind 

 the true dorsal fin. Their flesh is unrivaled ; all the members 

 of the family are eagerly sought for by anglers, from the sal 

 mon or lake trout, the mackerel trout, the white fish of the large 

 lakes, and the Bass of Otsego, to the small frost-fish or smelt 

 caught in Lake Champlain, through holes in the ice, to which the 

 fish rush in crowds to breathe the fresh air. Different causes 

 have been assigned for the various shades of color in the flesh 

 of Salmon. Such as live upon fresh water shrimps and other 

 small crustaceans, are said to be the brightest; those feeding 

 upon aquatic vegetables dull, and the darkest of all. 



DeKay thinks it doubtful whether any trout feed on vegetables. 

 Those of ponds are externally dark colored ; those in clear 

 streams with sandy bottoms, are bright ; and those in salt, brack 

 ish streams are not only bright externally, but have the flesh 

 more of the Salmon color. The most conspicuous species is the 

 Salmon salar, (Lat. a kind of trout,) which is the true Salmon 

 found on the northern shores of both Europe and America, and 

 ascending the rivers in summer; sometimes attaining a weight 

 of fifty pounds or more. It is not only valuable for food, but the 

 women of the Tungooses, in Siberia, tan the skin so as to render 

 it flexible, for the purposes of clothing. 



The BROOK TROUT, S. fontinalis, is met with from Maine to 

 24 



