His Characteristic 223 



same amazing range of ocean as the Bonito, and is 

 affected in precisely the same way by warm seasons, 

 which induce it to venture farther north or south than 

 it normally does, according to the time of the year. 

 Its limit of size is about twelve inches in length by 

 four inches in circumference at the thickest parts 

 of the body. In shape it is exceedingly like a grey 

 mullet, especially as regards the head ; the body is 

 perhaps a thought squarer than a mullet's, more 

 like that of a gar-fish. In colour it is blue on the 

 head and back, silvery on the abdomen, and it is 

 covered with scales like a mullet or a herring. And 

 herein lies one of its great claims to our notice — that 

 almost alone among the pelagic deep-sea fish, it has 

 not the slightest connection with the great mackerel 

 family, being indeed much more allied to the denizens 

 of shallow seas in its general characteristics, with one 

 exception, and that is, its power of flight. 



With the exception of the pectorals there is nothing 

 remarkable in the fins of the Flying-fish except that 

 the lower lobe of the tail is half as long again as the 

 upper. But the pectoral fins, or rather wings, are 

 nearly as long as the fish, and spread at their widest 

 to full three inches. When the fish is in the water 

 they fold with great neatness into the side of the body, 

 which at the thickest part is slightly grooved to receive 

 them. When the impulse comes upon the fish to fly, 

 they spring into the air in a diagonal direction, their 

 wmgs spreading with a flash as they leave the water, 

 and vibrating with such rapidity that the eye cannot 

 follow their movements, except to note that they are 

 vibrating. 



Now it is obvious that if this manoeuvre of the 

 fish were a leap, its direction, either vertically or hori- 

 zontally, could not change, except that its trajectory 



