466 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



of their tails, fins, and spines attached to the gill covers; but I 

 doubt it. Still, there are said to be fish tliat use their fins for 

 feet, and walk or jump on sand. And others of the Barbel spe- 

 cies are known to live in a thermal spring, at Constantina, which 

 for more than one hundred and fifty years has maintained 202 

 degrees Fahrenheit — almost boiling water. 



It is a paradoxical fact, that sailors eat fewer fish than any 

 other class of people. The reason is plain; few fish are so con- 

 structed as to live permanently at sea, remote from land, where 

 the water is more than three hundred feet in depth; as pressure 

 regulates the general distribution of fishes in the sea. They are 

 chiefly found in the bays, straits, and along the coasts, where their 

 food abounds — with the exception of dolphins and flying fish. 

 The Dolphin^ {Delphinus Delphis) commits great ravages among 

 the enormous shoals of flying fish {Exocetus Volitans) inhabiting 

 the temperate latitude; and it is a very remarkable fact, that he 

 necessarily seizes it as it endeavors to escape him, behind; and 

 were it not for provident nature, he could not swallow it, on 

 account of its wings. The moment, however, it enters his mouth, 

 some internal management reverses the fish, and it passes down 

 his throat head first. This cetaceous animal much resembles the 

 porpoise, but has a longer snout and more slender body; it grows 

 to ten feet in length, and is possessed of the most brilliant colors. 

 The back is spangled with rich green spots, the fins and tail are 

 the color of gold, the lustre of which nothing can surpass. They 

 have one young at a time, which is suckled by the mother. They 

 inhabit every ocean from the poles to the equator, and are capable 

 of enduring the two extremes of heat and cold equally well ; they 

 respire through the medium of lungs, and come to the surface to 

 breathe, throwing out water from an aperture in the head, pre- 

 cisely like a jet of steam from an engine; this hole is supplied 

 with a valvular apparatus, and opens, if I recollect right, directly 

 above the eyes. I had the pleasure of examining one at sea, and 

 imagined that I had never seen any thing more strikingly beautiful. 

 It had several flyi^ig fish in its stomach of the oceanic specie, 

 {exocetus exilieus.) The one I examined had a large head, large 

 eyes, a silver color combined with gold, large round scales, and a 



