ORIENTAL OUUNA.UD. PerisUOiiu oriental* 



Its colour is red like that of the red Gurnard. Nearly all the rays of the first dorsal fin 

 are extremely elongated, and, together with the mailed body, the armed head, and the double 

 snout, give to the fish a most singular aspect. The total length of the Mailed Gurnard is 

 about two feet. 



THE two extraordinary and beautiful fishes which are represented in the accompanying 

 illustration are remarkable, not only for the very great development of the pectoral fins, 

 their muscles and attachments, but for the unexpected use to which those members are 

 occasionally subservient. 



These fishes, together with one or two other species, hereafter to be described, possess 

 the power of darting from the water into the air, and by the mingled force of the impetus 

 with which they spring from the surface, and the widely spread wing-like fins, to sustain 

 themselves for a short space in the thinner element, and usurp for a time the privileges 

 of the winged beings whose trackless path is through the air. 



The object of exercising these strange powers seems to be, not the pleasure of the fish, 

 but the hope of escaping from the jaws of some voracious monster of the deep, whose sub- 

 aquatic speed is greater than that of the intended victim, but whose limited powers 

 are incapable of raising it into the air. Foremost among these persecutors is the coryphene, 

 often called the dolphin by sailors, and which is the so-called " dolphin" whose colours 

 glow with such changeful beauty during its death pangs. 



Little, however, do the powers of flight avail the unfortunate fish, for winged foes ; 

 known by the name of albatros, frigate-bird, and similar titles, are hovering above iu 

 waiting for their prey, and no sooner does the Gurnard launch itself fairly into the 

 air, and so escape the open jaws of the pursuer coryphene, than the albatros swoops 

 down with extended wings, snatches up the fish in its beak, and without altering the bold 

 and graceful curve in which it has made the stoop, sweeps up again into its airy height, 

 where it wheels on steady wing awaiting another victim. 



Between the hungry coryphene below, and the voracious albatros above, the poor Flying 

 Gurnard leads no very happy life, and its intermediate existence, persecuted on either side, 

 has been often employed as a type of those unfortunate persons who are ashamed of the 

 3. 8 



