FISHES. 285 



in no other evident respect from the former, had their 

 jaws well provided with these organs. Bloch admits 

 that E. Evolans, or the Spanish flying- fish,, has no teeth, 

 and suspects it to be the Volitans of Linnaeus ; since 

 it differs from that species only in the abdomen not 

 being carinated. The toothless species which I have 

 seen has, however, a carinated abdomen, according 

 with the description of Linnaeus. 



One kind of Exoceetus which I have met with, but 

 have not seen described, has the ventral fins of great 

 length, pointed, and placed far back. The colour of 

 its back is inclined to green, and there is a black patch 

 on the posterior third of the dorsal fin, and a second on 

 the base of the ventral. In other respects this fish 

 resembles E. Volitans. Its entire length is ten inches, 

 and it has teeth in both jaws. 



The entire family of flying-fish would appear to have 

 the same habits. They frequent only the warmer seas 

 within or on the verge of the tropics,* where they con- 

 gregate in large shoals. When disturbed by the 

 passage of a ship, or pursued by predaceous fish, they 

 rise from the water in dense flocks, and present a beau- 

 tiful spectacle as they glide through the air, their 

 broad silvery " wings" and blue bodies glittering beneath 

 the rays of a tropical sun. Their tour through the air 

 must be regarded rather as a leap than a flight ; their 

 expanded pectoral fins, or wings, being projected hori- 

 zontally, but having very little movement during this 

 evolution. 



The principal external agents employed in this 

 mode of locomotion are, the larger lobe of the tail fin, 



* We have seen none of these fish in a more extreme latitude than 



36 N. 



