236 The Flying-fish 



has the pectorals greatly lengthened, enabling it to 

 skim along the sea surface for quite thirty or forty 

 feet. But this is evidently only a prolonged leap, 

 making of the outspread pectoral fins a sort of para- 

 chute to buoy them up. Again, an inspection of these 

 fish, which may often be made at the fishmonger's, 

 will at once show this, the weight of them running 

 up as high as five pounds, and the comparatively 

 small area of the pectoral fins forbidding the idea of 

 flight, in the commonly accepted sense. 



There are, however, two other species, Dactyhp- 

 ierus volitans and D. Orientalis, which approach much 

 more nearly to the idea of true flight, although even 

 they never perform the feats which the Exocetus is 

 capable of. The first is common in the Mediterranean 

 Sea, where it affords abundant sport to the homeward 

 bound tunny or albacore. But, from a cursory glance 

 at this Gurnard, one is compelled to wonder of what 

 material the fish's throat must be lined, who ventures to 

 swallow him. His head is armed with bony plates, whose 

 edges are spiky and razor-sharp, his back is liberally 

 furnished with dorsal spines, the anterior ones very 

 long and sharp as a cambric needle, and even his sides 

 bristle with keen-edged or pointed weapons. His 

 armament therefore is such as to make him a most 

 dangerous fish to handle, and the fact that he can be 

 swallowed by albacore and bonito without inflicting 

 any deadly injury upon them would seem to argue, 

 first, that their throats must be armour-clad, and 

 secondly, that digestion is with them a very powerful 

 function. 



The colours of these curious fish are very diversified. 

 Brown, red, pink, grey, black, and blue are distributed 

 over its body in tasteful markings, and when observed 

 closely during its flight in the sunshine, the effect is 



