Flying-fish Flujhl. l.VJ 



group of sliij/s passengers watcliinnf the fisli. Some will 

 iiK«iist that they see the wings fla[)ping, and some will aver 

 that tliey are quite still. 



But among scientists wing-flapping is undoubtedly very 

 much the under-d'>g, and the carefully written paper by 

 Captain Barrett-Hamilton (Ann. & Mag. Nat. lli.st. vol. xi. 

 p. I?f0, 1003), also a convinced aeroplani.st, perhaj>3 expresses 

 current opinion as well as may be; and even Professor Whitman 

 ('American Naturalist/ vol. xiv. p. 64 1,1880), who insists that 

 lie has seen "distinctly the individual flaps of the large 

 pectorals," adds that this flapj)ing " may be continued for the 

 whole or j)art of the flight, but it is generally discontinued 

 after the first i^w rods, and the course continued by a pure 

 skimming or sailing movement" — tiius showing that he, loo, 

 believes in the possibility of the aeroplane flight. 



Proof that such flight by any known species of flying-fish 

 is a mechanical impossibility is the new ground which I 

 propose to take up. 



In order to make clear what the aeroplane theory is, I quote 

 from the 'Encyclopaedia Britainiica' (art. *' Flying-fish ") the 

 "chief results of the inquiries" ('Die Bewegungen der 

 Flicgenden Fische durch die Luft/ Leip. 1878) of one of its 

 chief exponents, Professor K. Miibius. These results, which 

 seem also to have formed the groundwork of many subse- 

 quent articles, are — with certain omissions on my part for 

 brevity's sake — summed up as follows : — 



"They are more frequently observed in rough weather, 

 and in a disturbed sea than during calms ; they dart out of 



the water and they rise without regard to the direction 



of the wind or waves. The fins are kept quietly distended 

 without any motion, except an occasional vibration caused by 

 the air, whenever the surface of the wing is parallel with 

 the current of the wind. Their flight is rapid, but gradually 

 decreasing in velocity, greatly exceeding that of a ship going 

 ton miles an hour, and a distance of 500 feet. Generally 

 it is lunger when the fishes fly against, than with, or at an 

 angle to, the win 1. Any vertical or horizontal deviation 

 from the straight course, when flying with or against tiic 

 wind, is not caused at the will of the fish, but by currents of 



air in a rough sea, when flying against the course of 



the waves; they then frequently overtop each wave, being 

 carried over it by the pressure of the disturbed air. They 



fall on board vessels. This never happens from the 



lee side, but during a breeze only, and from tlie weather side. 

 During the night they frequently fly against the weather- 

 board, where they arc caught l)y the current of air and carried 



