420 PISCES (OSSE1) MALACOPT. [ExocosTus. 



curving upwards: jaws of unequal length, the lower longest, and bending 

 upwards at the tip: body smooth; the scales with which it is covered 

 being thin and glabrous : the lower part of the body from the gills to the 

 tail marked witn a longitudinal carina or keel, which terminates at the 

 latter part in a somewhat protuberant manner: all the fins small: the 

 dorsal placed far down the back, and containing eleven rays : between 

 this and the tail five distinct pinnules or spurious fins : pectorals some- 

 what falcated, containing eleven rays : ventrals with six rays : anal oppo- 

 site to the dorsal, of eleven rays: between this and the tail seven distinct 

 pinnules: caudal of twenty-two rays. 



D. 11, and V false ; A. 11, and VII false ; C. 22 ; P. 11 ; V. 6. 



(Colours.) Back of a most lovely azure blue, changing to green, and 

 glossed with purple and yellow ; the lower parts silvery." DON. 



Rare on the southern coast, but, according to Mr. Neill, not un- 

 common in the North of Scotland, entering the Frith of Forth almost 

 every Autumn in considerable shoals. Mr. Rackett's specimen was taken 

 near the Isle of Portland in Dorsetshire. This species derives its English 

 name of Skipper from its habit of leaping out of the water, and passing 

 over a considerable space (Mr. Couch says thirty or forty feet) before 

 returning to that element. It is not noticed either by Linnseus, Gmelin, 

 or Bloch. 



GEN. 39. EXOC(ETUS, Linn. 



102. E. volitans, Linn.? (Flying-Fish.) Ventrals 

 small, placed before the middle. 



E. volitans, Linn. Syst. Nat. torn. i. p. 520. Don. Brit. Fish. vol. n. 

 pi. 31. Turt. Brit. Faun. p. 106. E. evolans, Bloch, Ichth. 

 pi. 398. Winged Flying-Fish, Penn. Brit. Zool. vol. in. p. 333. 

 pi. 67. Id. (Edit. 1812.) vol. in, p. 441. pi. 78. Flying-Fish, 

 Yarr. Brit. Fish. vol. i. p. 398. 



According to Pennant, a fish of this genus was caught in June 1765, 

 at a small distance below Caermartheri, in the river Towy. A second 

 individual is said to have occurred in July 1823, in the Bristol channel, 

 ten miles from Bridgewater*. Others are recorded to have been seen 

 off Portland Island, in August 1825, by a vessel going down channel t. 

 Although referred, by Pennant, in the first instance, to the E. volitans 

 of Linnaeus, in none of these cases does the species appear to have been 

 determined with certainty. Pennant seems to suppose his to be the one 

 so common in the Mediterranean : but, according to Cuvier, this last is 

 the E. exiliens of Bloch $, which is distinguished from the E. volitans by 

 its much longer ventrals, placed beyond the middle of the body. For this 

 reason I have not annexed any detailed description. 



Ann. of Phil. vol. xxu. p. 152. 



t Land. Quart. Journ. of Set. vol. xx. p. 412. 



t Ichth. pi. 397. 



