I6 HUNTING EXTINCT ANIMALS 



The class held its reunion June 25 to 28, and on July 3 

 the party started from New York on the steamship Byron 

 to take its chance of finding the extinct animals which 

 should be the key to solving the above problems. New 

 York was boiling hot, but once outside the harbor, none 

 of the excessive heat prevalent all over the northern United 

 States and Europe was encountered. Day after day the^ 

 quiet, found only on a small boat, contrasted with the 

 excitement of the Commencement reunion and the hurry 

 of preparation. 



We studied Spanish a little every morning and swam in- 

 the canvas tank an hour or more every afternoon. When 

 five or six days out we began to see the small flying 

 fishes and spent hours watching them; trying to form an 

 opinion as to whether they actually flew using the large 

 front fins as wings, or simply glided, the fins acting as a 

 monoplane and the start from the water furnishing the 

 propelling force. Sitting on the bow, one could readily 

 see them dart about with quick movements not unlike 

 those of a trout. For two days the sea was oily smooth, 

 and gave a fine opportunity to study their movements. 

 On the approach of the boat they would dart aside, swim- 

 ming five or ten feet before leaving the water, then rise 

 above the surface and skim along just above the water, 

 rising to go over a swell or sinking when passing over a 

 trough in the waves. The flights were from a few feet up 

 to over one hundred, and the speed very uniform from 

 beginning to end, 15 to 20 feet per second as timed by our 

 watches. Many a time we located a fish while stationary 

 in the water, saw it start, and within three feet leave the 

 water and travel perhaps fifty feet in the air. From this 

 small start it did not seem possible it could glide so fan 

 Then too the speed was not sufficient to maintain the fish 

 so long in the air. But what was most convincing and 

 easily noted in the still water was a series of ripples begin- 

 ning at the point where the fish left the water and extending^ 



