230 NEW-YORK FAUNA. 



bers in October, where they are considered as a very nutritious and grateful food. A few 

 stragglers are occasionally taken on the coast of New- York, which is presumed to be the 

 extreme limits of its southern range. 



GENUS EXOCETUS. Linneus, Cuvier. 



Pectorals nearly as long or longer than the body, and sufficiently developed to enable them 

 to suspend themselves in the air. Head and body scaly. Jaws with pointed, and pharyn- 

 geals with paved teeth. In some species a row of carinate scales on each side of the abdo- 

 men. Air-bladder very large. 



THE NEW- YORK FLYING-FISH. 



ExOCETUa NOVEBORACENCIS. 



PLATE XXXVI. FIG. 114. 



The New-York Flying-fish, E. noveboracerms. Lit. and Phil. Soc. pi. 5, fig. 3 ; Am. Month. Mag. Vol. 2, p. 323. 



Characteristics. Dark green above. Abdomen carinate on the sides. Teeth very minute. 

 No filaments to the lower jaw. Length 12 inches. 



Description. Head smooth, trigonal. Scales thick and deciduous. A row of carinated 

 scales on each side of the abdomen, from the lower edge of the gill-covers to the tail. Eyes 

 large, with a moderate depression between them, and three small pores on each side, and 

 small channelled lines along the back. Dorsal fin with its commencement over the ventrals, 

 and containing fourteen rays. Pectorals five and a half inches long, with fifteen branched 

 rays. Ventrals three inches long, and with six rays. Anal longer than high, with eight short 

 subequal rays. Caudal deeply lunate, with its lower lobe much longer. Branchial rays ten. 



Color. Above, dark greenish ; beneath white. Irides silvery yellow. 



Length, 12-0. Depth, TS. 



Fin rays, D. 14 ; P. 15 ; V. 6 ; A. 8. 



The number of rays in the dorsal and anal fitns of this fish must separate it from exiliens, 

 to which it has been referred. The specimen which furnished Dr. Mitchill with the above 

 description, was taken in a seine near New- York. Although natives of the tropical seas, 

 they have been known to ascend along the European shores of the Atlantic as high as 50° 

 north latitude. 



