4 A NATURALIST IN THE TRANSVAAL. 



whilst a few, and generally the larger specimens, pursue 

 a more prolonged flight. Although I have never been 

 able to detect any flapping of the wing-like pectoral 

 fins of the flying-fish, I could not but agree with a 

 previously recorded observation, that there appears to 

 be a vibrating movement, as in the wings of a grass- 

 hopper*. The question, however, is dependent on the 

 evidence of the senses and is difficult to determine. 

 One very large school of Porpoises, an occasional Shark, 

 basking or sleeping near the surface, many specimens 

 of the " Portuguese Man-of-War " (Physalice] as we 

 passed through the tropics, and oceanic birds (Molly- 

 mauks, Albatrosses, and Petrels) as we approached the 

 cooler regions of the Cape, were all that gratified the 

 greedy eye of a naturalist. 



^fSflfc/--. . 



PIER-HEAD, CAPE TOWN. 



We reached the Cape in fifteen days after leaving 

 Madeira, at least a day late, and our impatience was 



* For the argument and evidence against the non-flapping of the wings of 

 the Flying-fish see Prof. Carl Mobius, " Die Bewegungen der fliegendeu 

 Fische durch die Luft " (Zeitschrift fur wissenschaftliche Zoologie, Suppl. 

 vol. xxx. p. 343, 1878). An opposite opinion has been advanced by C. O. 

 Whitman (' American Naturalist/ vol. xiv. p. 641, 1880). 



