428 Acanthopterygii; Synentognathi 
the fish to be capable of such flights, for the fins, though numerous, 
are small, and the pectoral far from large, though the angle 
of their articulation is well adapted to raise the fish by the 
direction of their motions to the surface.” 
A similar species, Cololabis saira, with the snout very much 
shorter than in the Atlantic skipper, is the Samma of the fisher- 
men of Japan. 
The hard-head (Chriodorus atherinoides) has no beak at all 
and its tricuspid incisor teeth are fitted to feed on plants. In 
this genus, as in the flying-fishes, there are no finlets. The hard- 
head is an excellent food-fish abundant about the Florida Keys 
but not yet seen elsewhere. 
Another group between the gars and the flying-fishes is that 
of the halfbeaks, or balaos, Hemirhamphus, etc. These are also 
Fig. 885.—Saury, Scombresox saurus (L.). Woods Hole. 
vegetable feeders, but with much smaller teeth, and the lower 
jaw with a spear-like prolongation to which a bright-red mem- 
brane is usually attached. Of the halfbeaks there are several 
genera, all of the species swimming near the surface in schools 
and sometimes very swiftly. Some of them leap into the air 
and sail for a short distance like flying-fishes, with which group 
the halfbeaks are connected by easy gradations. The com- 
Fic. 336 —Halfbeak, Hyporhamphus unifasciatus (Ranzani). Chesapeake Bay. 
monest species along our Atlantic coast is Hyporhamphus unt- 
jasciatus; a larger species, Hemirhamphus brasiliensis, abounds 
about the Florida Keys. Euleptorhamphus longirostris, a ribbon- 
shaped elongate fish, with long jaw and long pectorals, is taken 
in the open sea, both in the Altantic and Pacific, being common 
in Hawai. The Asiatic genus Zenarchopterus is viviparous, 
