224 ^^^ FIying4ish 



would be more or less flattened according to the 

 distance leaped. That much, I think, will be admitted. 

 But if we see the fish leave the water, pursued, say, by 

 an albacore, five hundred yards on the starboard 

 side of the ship, and heading towards her, perceiving 

 the great obstacle in its way, change its course to one 

 at right angles to its original direction, we ought to 

 assume that it is flying. Especially if, as constantly 

 happens, it rises at the same time twenty feet or more 

 in the air, and crossing the bows turns again sharply 

 in a new direction. 



Nor is this all, for I have repeatedly seen a Flying- 

 fish, after changing its course three or four times and 

 its elevation more frequently than that, after having 

 flown at least a thousand yards, be about to drop, 

 apparently exhausted, into the sea. But at that 

 moment the gaping jaws of one of its enemies has 

 protruded from the water, and it has shot vertically 

 into the air again and sped away in yet another new 

 direction. I am absolutely convinced that the only 

 thing that compels the Exocetus to cease its flight 

 is the drying of its wing membranes, when, of course, 

 the vibration would split them to shreds. This, 

 of course, does limit the aerial evolutions of the Flying- 

 fish ; but I have repeatedly seen it fly in varying 

 directions for over a mile without once touching the 

 water. 



Now the Exocetus does not fly for pleasure. When- 

 ever it leaves the water it is in a state of alarm, it is 

 seeking safety from some of its numberless enemies, or 

 it is disturbed by the passing near it of a ship's keel. 

 There are few prettier sights to be seen at sea than 

 is visible when, on a fairly calm night, with the smooth 

 water highly phosphorescent, a school of Flying-fish 

 are disturbed. Like a galaxy of meteors they may 



