FLYING FISH. 



401 



element ; for, on watching them, I have often seen them fall 

 much below the elevation at which they first rose from the 

 water, but never in any one instance could I observe them 

 raise themselves from the height at which they first sprang ; 

 for I regard the elevation they take to depend on the power 

 of the first spring or leap they make on leaving their na- 

 tive element." 



The writer of the supplementary part to the class Fishes 

 in Mr. Griffith's edition of Cuvier's Animal Kingdom 

 agrees with Mr. George Bennett. He states that the Fly- 

 ing Fishes " rise into the air by thousands at once, and in 

 all possible directions. Their flight, as it is called, carries 

 them fifteen or eighteen feet out of the water : but it is an 

 error to call them Flying Fishes ; they do not in reality fly — 

 they only leap into the air, where they have not the power 

 of sustaining themselves at will. They never come forth 

 from the water except after a rapid course of swimming. 

 When put alive into a vessel « of sea water, in which there 

 was not sufficient space to acquire momentum, they were 

 only able to rise out of it a few inches. The lines Avhich 

 they traverse when they enjoy full liberty of motion are 

 very low curves, and always in the direction of their previous 

 progress in the water." 



The recent observations of both these writers confirm the 

 view taken by Cuvier of the powers of Flying Fishes, as 

 described in the Regne Animal* of that author ; who, using 

 the words flight and wings figuratively only, says, their 

 flight is never very long, and their wings only serve them as 

 parachutes. 



" The Flying Fishes themselves feed on mollusca and any 



* " Leur vol n'est jamais bien long; s'elevant pour fuirles poissons voraces, 

 ils retombent bientot, parce que leurs ailes ne leur servent que de parachutes." 

 — Regne Animal, torn. ii. p. 287. 



VOL. I. 2d 



