FISHES. 567 
water, the chances are in favour of its meeting its fate in the Scylla ot 
the atmosphere ; if it escapes the jaws of the shark, it will probably 
fall to the share of the sea-gull. The delphin is also a formidable 
enemy to the much-persecuted flying-fish. Captain Basil Hall gives 
a very animated description of their mode of attack.* He was ina 
prize, a low Spanish schooner, rising not above two feet and half out 
of the water. “ Two or three dolphins had ranged past the ship in 
all their beauty. The ship in her progress through the water had 
put up a shoal of these little things (flying-fish), which took their 
flight to windward. A large dolphin, which had been keeping com- 
‘pany with us abreast of the weather gangway at the depth of two or 
three fathoms, and, as usual, glistening most beautifully in the sun, no 
sooner detected our poor dear friends take wing than he turned his 
head towards them, darted to the surface, and leaped from the water 
with a velocity little short, as it seemed to us, of a cannon-ball. But 
though the impetus with which he shot himself into the air gave him 
an initial velocity greatly exceeding that of the flying-fish, the start 
which his fated prey had got enabled them to keep ahead of him 
for a considerable time. The length of the dolphin’s first spring 
could not be less than ten yards, and after he fell we could see him 
gliding like lightning through the water for a moment, when he again 
rose, and shot upwards with considerably greater velocity than at 
first, and of course to a still greater distance. In this manner 
the merciless pursuer seemed to stride along the sea with fearful 
rapidity, while his brilliant coat sparkled and flashed in the sun quite 
splendidly. As he fell headlong in the water at the end of each 
leap, a series of circles were sent far over the surface, for the breeze— 
just enough to keep the royals and topgallant studding-sails extended 
—was hardly felt as yet below. 
“The group of wretched flying-fishes, thus hotly pursued, at 
length dropped into the sea; but we were rejoiced to observe that 
they merely touched the top of the swell, and instantly set off again 
in a fresh and even more vigorous flight. It was particularly in- 
teresting to observe that the direction they took now was quite 
different from the one in which they had set out, implying but too 
obviously that they had detected their fierce enemy, who was follow- 
ing them with giant steps along the waves, and was gaining rapidly 
upon them. His pace, indeed, was two or three times as swift as 
theirs, poor little things ! and the greedy dolphin was fully as quick- 
sighted ; for whenever they varied their flight in the smallest degree, 
‘Lieutenant and Commander.” By Captain Basil]Hall. Bellj& Daldy, London, 
