390 Mr. G. E. II. Banett-IIamilton on 



slioiild tlierefore witli practice be able to assure himself of the 

 correctness of his observations. 



Some naturalists further declare that these flying fish can 

 fly only against the wind, and no doubt the assistance thus 

 derived enabled those which I have seen to leave the water 

 more numerously to windward than to leeward of the ship. 

 My experience shows, however, that while tiie larger fish can 

 fly in any direction, tl)e smaller only possess the power of 

 flying down-wind. Rising in the air with a leap against the 

 wind, they turned over before its force, and were carried 

 before it for a short distance like a piece of paper until they 

 touched the water, when they restarted their flight by another 

 active leap. There could be no doubt that the highly mus- 

 cular tail supplied the motive power, and a high w^ind is 

 probably needed for the most successful flights. On one 

 occasion I observed a fish accomplishing a far longer flight 

 than usual, rising stiaight up against the wind in its course, 

 and once again quite a large individual came aboard and was 

 shown to me. It reached about a foot in lengtli, and though 

 partially dried up and moribund exhibited well the muscular 

 power of the tail when placed in a pan of salt water. 



I find it a little difficult to reconcile a statement like the 

 following from the pen of Mr. Alfred Hussel Wallace* with my 

 own very careful observations. Writing of a species which 

 he found numerous on December 30th, lSo6, near tlie Island 

 of Teor, in the Banda Sea, he declares that it is both smaller 

 and " more active and elegant in its motions " than tliat of the 

 Atlantic. " As they skim along the surface they turn on their 

 sides, so as to fully display their beautiful fins, taking a flight 

 of about a hundred yards, rising and falling in a most graceful 

 manner. At a little distance they exactly resemble swallows, 

 and no one who sees them can doubt that they really do fly, 

 not merely descend in an oblique direction from the height 

 they gain by tlieir first spring." 



It seems likely that this description applies to some species 

 not of Exocoetus, but of Dactylopterus. It is, however, not 

 altogether inapplicable to Exocoetus, which turns on its side 

 frequently when struck by currents of wind, and, when 

 skimming along the surface of the water, renews its flight 

 whenever contact takes place bj" an almost imperceptible 

 muscular effort. I have often observed this, as well as the 

 resemblance to the flight of a swallow. This results from 

 the perception of the up-and-down movements of several fish, 

 which, moving in company, the eye is unable to separate. 



* ' The Malay Archipelago,' &c., cd. of }8'J8, p. 310. 



