268 By Stream and Sea. 



cumstance of dead flying fish being found on a vessel's deck 

 at daybreak did not happen to us. This was a matter of 

 special regret to me. I do not deny that I should have 

 been very glad of so agreeable an addition to the pleasures 

 of the table, but that there was a higher motive than that I 

 would fain protest. 



Years ago, I remembered, the Rev. Mr. Wood, in his 

 " Popular Natural History," pointed out that the climbing 

 perch and other fish of similar habits possessed certain 

 reservoirs of water which oxygenized the blood, but that 

 such a provision was not found in the flying fish. Mr. 

 Wood upon this a'sked whether the fish might not be wrought 

 into a temporary intoxication through the excess of oxygen 

 caused by its passage through the air, and he suggested that 

 it would be an interesting experiment to test the temperature 

 of the blood of a newly-caught flying fish, and mark the 

 length of time it would live out of water. 



Those experiments may have been made long ago, but in 

 the absence of any knowledge to that effect I had deter- 

 mined, if ever the chance came in my way, to distinguish 

 myself in the cause of science, and perhaps give to the 

 world a new and wondrous locomotive power that should 

 far surpass steam, electricity, or ballooning. It was not to 

 be ; the instrument was ready for thrusting into the fish's 

 mouth, or under its pectoral fin, the instrumentalist was 

 both willing and anxious to find out the precise temperature ; 

 the drawback was fatal: we could not secure a single subject. 



The mariner will tell you that deep-sea fishes as a rule are 

 dry and tasteless, and that the flying fish, which, in spite of 

 its occasional trips into the upper air, must rank as one of 

 the class, is the one delightful exception. It is likely that 

 a similar opinion is entertained by three, if not more, pre- 

 datory inhabitants of the seas — namely, the dolphin, bonito, 



