1690.] FLYING FISH. 9 



AVe coasted aloni^- the Island Forteventura, with a Larboard 

 Tack, a whole Day, and in the Evening, about Sun-set we 

 perceiv'd the Grand Canaries; we past by it in the Night 

 without meeting with any Ship, tho' commonly they are to 

 be met with thereabouts, especially Tiirlcs ; they post them- 

 selves there to lie in wait for the Ships that come out loaden 

 with Wines, in hopes of picking up some of them. 



The 28th we were in the height of 24 deg. 29 min. and 

 saw a vast Number of flying Fish about us. I observ'd one 

 of them very exactly ; 'twas about 10 Inches long ; there are 

 few larger, and abundance shorter : Its Back was of a Eusset- 

 brown Colour, speckled with blue Spots, inclining to a 

 greenish, with a little black amongst it. Its naked Belly 

 was black, and blue, and its Sides covered with little Scales 

 of dark red. Its long Wings or Fins were brown, with Sea- 

 green Spots upon them. The young Ones are of a light grey, 

 and their Tail the same. Its Eye is great and rais'd; the 

 Sight of it large and blae, the rest black. The Prickles upon 

 the Head of it are of a greyish Colour, and like a sort of 

 ycrj rough Chagreen. 



Our Books represent tliis Fisli^ after another manner ; and 

 I doubt not but there are some of them of different sorts of 

 Figures ; for Nature varies in every thing. The Irish Horses 

 are not of a like make with those of Frisdand, nor Kentish 

 Cows like Middlesex, tho' those two Counties are contigu- 

 ous ; much less are they like those of Iseland, which have 

 no Horns. And, without going out of our own Species, 



1 " When, for instance, he (Leguat) obtained the first flying-fish, he 

 examined, described, represented, and compared them with the repre- 

 sentations of other authors, discovering at once that there exists among 

 these animals two forms, those now called Dactijlopterns and Exococlus. 

 He appends, for this reason, to his drawing the copies of three figuns 

 of these fish taken from other works, and on that of Olearius makes 

 the true observation that it had probably been drawn from a dried 

 specimen, and was therefore inaccurate ; for he says, ' qitand ecu ani- 

 in<iux-la cicinient a /ic scchcr, il est difficile il'ca observer la veritable 

 fvrme.^'^ (Professor Schlogel, Ibis, 186G, p. 151.) 



