138 ANIMAL SKETCHES. CHAP. 



the flight of fishes. But do flying fishes veritably fly ? or 

 do they merely sail, borne along on outstretched fins by 

 the powerful impetus with which they flash out of the blue 

 water ? Often and often in the tropics have I leaned from 

 the bows of an ocean steamer and watched these creatures, 

 frightened by the heavy plunging of the huge steam 

 leviathan, dart from the water and, now and again just 

 grazing the summit of a wave, sail in long curves for the 

 space of thrice the vessel's length. For long I was un- 

 decided whether theirs was true flight or not ; nor am I 

 quite convinced to this day. But I lean to the view that 

 the apparent fluttering of the wings, which is very obvious 

 when the fish skims and touches a wave crest, is an 

 accompaniment of the vigorous tail-strokes which often 

 leave their mark on the smooth surface of the water, 

 and that the flickering of the wing-fins as they sail is a 

 mechanical result of the rapid passage through the air. 

 I am inclined therefore reluctantly to abandon my old 

 belief in the flight of fishes, and to place it in the same 

 category as the graceful sweep of the flying squirrel, 

 the Ariel of Australia and the Colugo of the Indian 

 Archipelago. 



Of the flight of reptiles not of the effete reptiles of 

 to-day, but of dragons in the hey-day of their youth 

 there can be no doubt. In the secondary ages of geo- 

 logical history, when these strange forms were lords of 

 sea and land, and when birds and mammals had not 

 begun to dream of asserting their supremacy, the realms 

 of air also were tenanted by numerous leathern-winged 

 reptiles. These strange creatures throve and grew arid 

 multiplied, and were no doubt the terror of the smaller 

 denizens of the land and sea over which they hovered. 

 Some had long jaws armed with cruel teeth ; others in 

 America would seem to have been toothless, and may 



