FISHES. 565 
length ; the body is covered with triangular scales, commonly of a 
bluish colour. They live on worms, fishes’ eggs, and fragments of 
organic substances which they find at the bottom of the sea. 
TIT. —PHARY NGOGNATHA, 
This order contains fishes in which the inferior pharyngeal bones 
are so completely coalescent as to form a single bone, which is 
usually armed with teeth. Professor Muller divides this sub-order 
into two groups, that in which the fins are partially spinous (Acanthop- 
terygi2), and that in which the fins are soft (A@a/acopterygii). Of this 
latter group we have one interesting family, that of the Scomder- 
esocide, to which the genus Exocetus belongs. 
Flying is so much associated in our minds with the usual denizens 
of the air, that the idea of flying-fishes seems to be a contradiction. 
Nevertheless, some fishes possess that power, the fins being trans- 
formed into wings, which they are enabled to raise for a few seconds. 
These wings, however, are neither long nor powerful, for they rather 
act the part of a parachute than wings. The distinguishing charac- 
teristic of the xocetus, or flying-fish, is its pectoral fins, which are 
nearly the length of the body, the head is flattened above and on the 
sides, the lower part of the body furnished with a longitudinal series 
of carinated scales on each side, the dorsal fin placed above the 
anal, the eyes large, and the jaws furnished with small pointed teeth. 
The flying-fishes (Fig. 372) in their own element are harassed by 
attacks of other inhabitants of the ocean, and when, under the excite- 
ment of fear, they take to the air, they are equally exposed to the 
attacks of aquatic birds, especially the various species of gulls. We 
have said that in their leap from the water their fins sustain them 
rather as parachutes than wings, with which they beat the air. Mr. 
Bennett’s description is pretty clear on this point. ‘I have never,” 
he says, ‘‘ been able to see any percussion of the pectoral fins during 
flight ; and the greatest length of time I have seen this volatile fish 
on the fly has been thirty seconds by the watch, and the longest 
flight, mentioned by Captain Basil Hall, has been 200 yards, but he 
thinks that subsequent observation has extended the space. The 
usual height of their flight, as seen above the surface of the water, is 
from two to three feet ; but I have known them come on board at the 
height of fourteen feet and upwards; and they have been well 
ascertained to come into the chains of a line-of-battle ship, which is 
considered to be upwards of twenty feet. But it must not be sup- 
posed that they have the power of raising themselves into the air after 
