ee 
ON THE FLIGHT OF THE FLYING-FISH. A479 
That Mobius does not regard this hypothetical quivering as 
in any sense a true flying movement, he states in the most 
unequivocal manner, and goes on to ask, ‘‘ How, then, are the 
Exoceti able, without touching the water, to rise over the waves? 
For this also they make no fin-strokes. They do not raise 
themselves, but are passively raised by the ascending currents of 
air, which are caught in the grooves on the under surface of their 
pectoral fins” (p. 371). Notwithstanding the oft-repeated affirma- 
tion that Flying-fish do not actually fly, our author seems, in one 
place, to admit the possibility of the flapping of the fins during 
flight. ‘These explanations of the movement of the Flying-fish 
do not imply that an Hxocetus or a Dactylopterus cannot make 
powerful and plainly recognisable movements with its tail and 
pectorals during its ascent (out of the water), and even occasionally 
in the middle of its course, if prompted thereto by a strong 
wetting of the body by the waves”’ (p. 372). 
This statement, interpreted in the light of the context, cannot 
be said, however, to involve a contradiction; the author simply 
means that the fins and tail may be used in getting out of the 
water, and that these movements may possibly be recognised 
just as the fish rises. But he still maintains that the wing-like 
movement attributed to them by many observers, ‘‘arises not 
through muscular action, but through the elasticity of the out- 
spread fins and the pressure of the air, which act alternately 
against each other” (p. 358, 354). 
Passing on from these explanations, which presume to reconcile 
conflicting statements by pronouncing all that will not be recon- 
ciled fallacious, and by substituting others of a less obstinate but 
of a purely hypothetical nature, which seem to admit of a quasi- 
explanation, we have next to notice the arguments urged from an 
anatomical and physiological standpoint. 
“T believe, then,” says Mébius, “that I have refuted on 
anatomical and physiological grounds, the opinion that Flying- 
fish use the pectoral fins as wings” (p. 368). 
In this entire discussion, Mébius tacitly assumes that Here 
can be but two opinions on this question, namely, his own 
opinion, which he shares with many others, and the opinion 
attributed, with more or less justice, to A. v. Humboldt, Kneeland 
and others, that the fins are flapped with great rapidity throughout 
the entire flight. While the claim to have refuted the latter 
