222 INTRODUCTION TO ZOOLOGY. 



swimming, and, for a resting-place, it fixed itself on the back 

 of the Pipe-fish, close to the tail. The fish had not been a 

 consenting party to this arrangement, and soon evinced its 

 dissatisfaction, by lashing the tail with great violence on each 

 side, to dislodge the intruder. He, however, kept his hold; 

 and so soon as the fish ceased for a few seconds, he crept a 

 little further up on the back, as if aware that the velocity of 

 movement was less near the centre of the circle. The fish 

 lashed the water again with great violence, but without any 

 good result; and so soon as it stopped, the Gammarus crept 

 up a little nearer to the head. The Gammarus seemed to be 

 the marine prototype of the old Man of the Mountain, whose 

 pertinacity in retaining his place on the back of Sinbad the 

 Sailor is a portion of that lore of our boyhood that is never 

 afterwards forgotten. The Pipe-fish then changed its tactics. 

 Instead of lashing with its tail, it gave to its whole body the 

 kind of movement it might have had if fixed on a Lilliputian 

 spit, and in the act of being roasted. The body was made to 

 revolve round and round on its longitudinal axis; but the 

 Gammarus still held on, and, at each interval of rest, made 

 a few steps further in advance. This was more than once 

 repeated, until, pitying the poor Pipe-fish, we removed the 

 cause of its annoyance to another vessel. 



In the Flying-fish (Fig. 183, Exoccetus volitans), more 



Fig. 183. FLYING-FISH. 



than one species of which have been taken off the British 

 coasts, the pectoral fins are extremely large, and remind us of 

 wings. But in reality the fins never act as wings; nor can 

 these fish, with correctness, be said to fly. They have the 

 power of springing out of the water with such force, that 



