Flying Fish and their Enemies. 265 



their motions are regulated by hungry pursuers swimming 

 in the rear. On such emergencies the shoal keeps well 

 together. I noticed that the "flights" consisted generally 

 of fish of uniform size, and not of an admixture of great and 

 small. 



The most numerous shoals were of fish that could not 

 have been over six inches long, and this I take to be the 

 average dimensions of the species. Perhaps not more than 

 a dozen individuals of the multitudes I watched without 

 tiring in the Indian Ocean were a foot in length, and the 

 people on board were unanimous in saying that fourteen 

 inches is an extreme size. The majority of the fish reminded 

 one of the swallow tribe as much from their bulk as from 

 their rapid airy flights. At fifty yards' distance a flying shoal 

 might be likened to a handful of half-crowns hurled into the 

 air by some submerged distributor of largess ; should the 

 ship come unexpectedly into the very thick of the gathering 

 they would disperse on either hand with a flutter that might 

 go far to excuse the alarm of " Breakers under the bow." 



The theory that the large pectoral fins, or wings, do not 

 actually flap may, after all, be well grounded. The doctor 

 of the ship and myself resolved ourselves into acommitttee 

 of investigation to decide this point, and leaning over the 

 bow we loyally performed our duties for the space of an 

 hour, during which hundreds of flying fish of all sorts and 

 sizes passed under our review; and frequently at such close 

 quarters that we could clearly mark the shape of their large 

 round eye. Notwithstanding these favourable opportunities 

 we could not agree in the result. The fish were here now, 

 and the next moment gone like a gleam, touching the top 

 of a wave perhaps fifty yards off, and away again with un- 

 diminished rapidity. I was certainly at first rather inclined 

 to the non-flapping theory as far as the major wing-fins are 



