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NA TUBAL HISTOR Y. 



pursued, they spring to the height of several feet, leap over each other 

 in singular confusion, and again sink beneath. Still further urged, they 

 rush along the surface by repeated starts for more than one hundred feet, 

 without once dipping beneath, or scarcely seeming to touch the water." 



The belones, needle-fishes, or gar-fishes have the same long beak as the 

 bill-fish, and a striking peculiarity of all is that their bones are green in 

 color, a fact which prejudices many against using them as food, though 

 Mr. Goode pronounces our common species "exceedingly palatable." Some 

 of the species of the tropical seas reach a considerable size, and their sharp 

 beaks make them an object of danger to bathers in the eastern seas. 

 According to Professor Moseley they rush blindly about when alarmed, and 

 strike any object haphazard. He was told that in the Pacific islands the 

 natives were in this way not infrequently speared by these fishes, and that 

 death sometimes ensued from the peritonitis which resulted. 



■ 



The barracudas of the warmer seas (one of which is represented in the 

 upper part of our cut) are even more dreaded by bathers, but from a dif- 

 ferent reason. They grow to a large size, frequently weighing forty 

 pounds, and their carnivorous habits and the powerful armature of their 

 jaws render them feared almost as much as the larger sharks, as they are 

 ready to attack man, and are capable of inflicting serious if not fatal 

 wounds. The flesh of the barracudas is highly esteemed in most places, 

 but in Cuba it is under the ban because there have been instances of severe 

 sickness caused by eating it. These may have been caused by some pecul- 

 iarity in the food ; indeed, Gunther states that it results from their feeding 

 on smaller poisonous fishes. 



The term mullet is applied to various fishes, among them the mullet 

 of the ancient Romans as well as to some of the suckers. With us, how- 

 ever, except away from the sea, it is restricted to a group most of the 

 members of which are fond of brackish water. There are about seventy 

 species known, but with us but two attain any importance. They are 

 possibly the most abundant species along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of 

 the United States. They furnish an abundant supply of food. " During 

 the fall," says Mr. Stearns, " they move in such immense schools that the 

 noise of their splashing resembles distant thunder ; and to persons living 

 near the river or bay their noise, kept up day and night, becomes very 

 annoying. . . . When one fish finds a spot rich in their desired food, its 

 companions immediately flock around in a manner that reminds one of 

 barnyard fowls feeding from one dish." Their food consists almost solely 

 of the microscopic forms found in the mud on the bottoms, and the throat 

 is so constructed that no large particles can pass down it. 



