628 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
i 
which Nature has gifted them is their misfortune ;' it betrays them to 
their enemies, which are found in the air as well as in the water ; and, 
without their prodigious fecundity, many species would long” since 
have disappeared. 
' Many species of the genus 77ig/a are known. ‘In the British 
seas the commonest species is the Grey Gumard (Z7igla gurnardus).. 
a silvery-grey fish, more or less clouded with brown and speckled 
with black. A rare species with us, but very common in the Medi- 
terranean, is the Red Gurnard, Z) rigla pini (Fig. 396). It is of a 
SSS 
Fig. 397.—The Flying Gurnard (Dactylopterus volitans). 
fine bright rose-red colour, paler beneath and more vivid about the 
fins, of which there are two dorsal and one ventral. Beneath the 
pectorals aresthree detached rays ; both jaws and front of the lower 
palate are armed with fine velvety teeth. The Perlon, or Sapphirine 
Gurnard (7. hirundo), is a large and handsome fish, remarkable for 
the lively green‘ and blue hués’ of the inner surface of its large 
pectoral fins. 
The Flying Gurnard (Dactylopterus volitans) somewhat resembles 
the Grey Gurnard, but differs in having the fin-tays of the pectorals con- 
nected by. membranes, by which it is enabled to support itself some 
time in, the, air, ike the flying-fish ; the ‘pectorals, when extended, 
