EXOCOETUS. FLYING-FISH. 



Generic Character. 



Caput squamosum : maxillis 



utroque latere connexis. 



Membr : branch : racliis de- 



cem. 



Pinna pectorales maxima?, 

 volatiles. 



Head scaly : connected on 



each side. 

 Gill-membrane ten- rayed. 



Pectoral fins very large, 

 giving the power of flight. 



MEDITERRANEAN FLYING-FISH. 



Exocoetus Exiliens. E. argenteus, dorso sulfiisco, pinnis I'cnt- 



ralibus pone medium abdominis. 

 Silvery Flying-Fish, with brownish back, and ventral fins 



situated beyond the middle of the abdomen. 

 Exocoetns exiliens. E. pinnis ventralibus caudam att'mgcntibus. 



Lin. Gmel. p. 1400. 

 Exocoetus pinnis ventralibus elongatis prope anum. Block, t. 



397- 



Hirundo Plinii. Aldrov. p. 144. 

 Rondine. Salv.p.lS5. Mugil alatus. Rondel. Will. $c, 



JL H E fishes of this genus, which are very few in 

 number, are remarkable for the extreme length 

 and size of their pectoral fins, by which they are 

 enabled to spring occasionally from the water, and 

 to support a kind of temporary flight or continued 

 motion through the air, to the distance of two or 

 three hundred feet, when, the fins becoming dry, 



