454 



ZOOhOGT. 



with great speed without reference to the course of tlie wind 

 and waves. They make no regular flying motions with their 

 pectoral and ventral fins, but spread them out quietly, 

 though very rapid vibrations can be seen in the outstretched 

 pectoral fins. They usually fly farther against the wind than 

 with it, or if their track and the direction of the wind form 

 an angle. Most flying-fisli which fly against or with the 

 wind continue in their whole course of flight in the same di- 

 i-ection in which they come out of the water. Winds which 

 IjIow from one side on to the original track of the fish bend 

 tlieir course inward. All fish which are at a distance from 

 the vessel hover in their whole course in the air near the sur- 

 face of the water. If in strong winds they fly against the 



Fig. 415.— The Large C'liul), Semotilus rhotheus, one fitth natural size.— From Abbot. 



course of the waves, then they fly a little higher ; sometimes 

 they cut with the tail into the crest of the waves. Only 

 such flying-fish rise to a considerable height (at the highest, 

 by chance, five metres above the surface of the sea) whose 

 course in the air becomes obstructed by a vessel. In the 

 daytime flying-fish seldom fall on the deck of the ship, but 

 mostly in the night ; never in a calm, but only when the 

 wind blows. (Moebius.) 



T'ollowing the flying-fish is the family represented by the 

 silver gar or bill-fish {Belonc loiujirnstrus Mitchill, Kg. 416). 



The sucker {Eclieneis remora Linn.) occurs along the 

 whole coast of the United States, and is found all over the 



