ORDER II. BONY FISHES. MALACOPTERYGII ABDOMINALES. 179 
spring or leap they make on leaving their native element. Their flight, as 
it is called, carries them fifteen or eighteen feet above the water, and the 
lines which they traverse when they enjoy full liberty of motion, are very 
low curves, and always in the direction of their previous progress in the 
usual element of fishes. Their silvery wings and blue bodies, glittering be- 
neath the rays of a tropical sun, afford a most beautiful spectacle, when, as 
is frequently the case, they rise into the air by thousands at once, and in all 
possible directions. The advantage afforded them by their wing-like fins, 
in escaping from the pursuit of the bonitos and albacores, often, however, leads 
to their destruction in another element, where gulls and frigate-birds frequently 
seize them with lightning-like rapidity ere they fall back again into the ocean. 
It is interesting to observe a bonito swimming beneath the feeble aeronaut, 
keeping him steadily in view, and preparing to seize him at the moment of 
his descent. But the Flying-fish often eludes the bite of his enemy by in- 
stantaneously renewing his leap, and not unfrequently escapes by extreme 
agility. 
The specific gravity of the Flying-fish can be most admirably regulated 
in correspondence with the element through which it may move. The swim- 
ming-bladder, when distended, occupies nearly the entire cavity of the 
abdomen, thus containing a large volume of air; and, in addition to this, 
there is a membrane im the mouth which can be inflated through the gills. 
The pectoral fins, though so large when expanded, can be folded into an 
exceedingly slender, neat, and compact form, so as to be no hinderance to 
swimming. <A light displayed from the chains of a vessel in a dark night 
will bring many Flying-fishes on board, where they are esteemed as a great 
delicacy. Their fate, thus to be persecuted in both elements, and to find 
security nowhere, has often been pitied in prose and verse; but, although 
they excite so much sentimental commiseration, they are themselves no less 
predaceous than their enemies, feeding chiefly on smaller fishes. 
The Flying-fish of the West-Indian waters is frequently allured by the 
tepid waters of the Gulf Stream into higher latitudes, and Pennant cites 
several examples of its having been found near the British coast. 
One species, /. volitans, is common in the Atlantic, and is said to have 
the power to leap more than two hundred yards in distance, and upwards of 
twenty feet in height. It sometimes, but rarely, visits our shores. 
Smurm® (Sheat-fish). Third Family of the Malacopterygii Ab- 
dominales. 
“These fishes are distinguished from all the rest of the order by the want 
of true scales, having only a naked skin, or large bony scales. The inter- 
maxillaries, suspended under the ethmoid, form the margin of the upper 
