THE SEA LOCUST. 



249 



The general color of the Red Fire-fish is pinky brown, barred with darker brown, 

 and the head is redder than the body. The huge pectoral and dorsal fins are reddish 

 brown, crossed with bold bars of black; the ventral fin is black, dotted with white 

 spots, and the rest of the fins, including that of the tail, are light brown, spotted with 

 black. It is by no means a large fish, being generally about seven or eight inches 

 in length. There are nine or ten species of this genus. 



ONE or two notable fishes require a cursory notice. 



The SEA LOCUST (Apistos Israelitbruni) is a native of the Red Sea, and is remarkable 

 as being the only flying fish of those strange waters. It is particularly plentiful on 

 that part of the coast near which the Israelites were forced to wander for a space of 

 forty years, and on that account has received its specific title. Ehrenberg has noticed 



RED FIRE-FISH.-Ptero/s volltaas. 



that it is very abundant near Tor, and that several specimens fell into his boat almost 

 every time that the sea was agitated. He further throws out a suggestion, that the 

 quails to which allusion is made in the sacred volume are really the Sea locusts, but 

 this conjecture seems to be entirely gratuitous, and is unsupported by facts. 



There is, in truth, no particular reason why the Hebrew word, which is translated 

 as " quails," should not signify the bird in question ; and at all events, it certainly 

 seems to be a feathered being of some kind, and not a fish, even though that fish does 

 occasionally raise itself into the air for a brief space. The Arab name for this fish is 

 Gherad-el-bahr, signifying literally, locust of the sea. The generic name, Apistos, 

 signifies faithless or treacherous, and is given to this fish on account of the sharp 

 spines which jut from the head, and which can inflict a painful wound. 



