353 



TROPICAL AND SOUTHERN FISHES 



Gar Pikes. 



Among members of a distinct group, the so-called Percesoces, 

 reference may be made to the gar-pikes of the family iScombresocidce, 

 of which the European representative is Belone vulgaris. In calm weather this 

 pike-like fish may often be seen disporting on the surface, leaping from wave to 

 wave in much the same manner as its relative the skipper (Scombresox saurus), 

 from which it differs by the possession of Unlets. This leaping habit culminates 

 fi in Fish in tlle % in g" fisnes of tlle genus Exocoetus, as typified by the ordinary 

 E. volitans, in which the pectoral fins are so elongated and expanded 

 as to serve the purpose of wings. Of these well-known fishes there are more than 

 a couple of score of species, distributed all over the tropical seas, and occasionally 

 straggling into the English Channel. They average about one foot in length, and 

 generally associate in shoals. When flying, they always start from the crest of a 



FLYiXO-FISH. 



wave, out of which they shoot like arrows; but how the flight is performed is a 

 matter which has given rise to much difference of opinion. In reviewing the 

 question whether flying-fishes — which, as previously stated, belong to two distinct 

 groups, the flying-herrings, or true flying-fishes, and the flying-gurnards — really 

 use their ' wings ' after the manner of bats, or whether such wings merely serve 

 the same purpose as the flying-membrane or parachute of the flying-squirrels, a 

 foreign naturalist, in the case of both groups, denies that the wings are ever used 

 as instruments of active flight. As regards the former group, this opinion accords 

 with one long held by the majority of competent observers. In regard to the 

 flying-gurnards it has, however, been stated that these fishes differ from the members 

 of the former group in that the wings are moved rapidly during the course through 

 the air, thus producing a mode of flight recalling that of many grasshoppers. This 

 assertion is, however, controverted by the naturalist referred to, who urges that such 



