156 PHYSOSTOMI. 



quay at Plymoutli whicli, according to Couch, leaves no doubt as to its being this 

 species. In September, 1796, one was said to have been seen at Allonby 

 (Heysbam, Catal. Cumbei-land Animals). 



In Ireland examples have several times been observed off the south coast. 



2. Exocoetus evolans, Plate CXXIX, fig. 1. 



Flying fish. Pennant, Brit. Zool. (ed. 1776), iii, p. 333, pi. Ixvii (Ed. 1812) iii, 

 p. 441, pi. Ixxviii ; ? Thompson, Natural History of Ireland, iv, p. 143. 



Exoccetus evolans, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 521 ; Gmel. Linn. p. 1400 ; Bloch, 

 t. cccxcviii ; Bonnaterre, Ency. Ich. p. 182, pi. c, f . 400 ; Bl. Schn. p. 430, t. Ixxxiv ; 

 Cuv. and Val. xix, p. 138 ; Bonap. Peso. Eur. p. 81 ; Gronov. ed. Gray, p. 145 ; 

 Bleeker, Cape of Good Hope, p. 76, and Atl. Ich. vi, p. 69 ; Yarrell, Brit. Fish, 

 (ed. 2), i, p. 458 (ed. 3), i, p. 474, c. fig. ; Giinther, Catal. vi, p. 282; Kner, 

 Novara Fische, p. 326 ; Day, Fish. India, p. 519, pi. cxx, f. 5 ; Giglioli, Peso. Ital. 

 p. 43 ; Canesti'ini, Fauna Ital. Pesc. p. 132 ; Liitken, Diag. Poiss. Vol. Joum. Zool. 

 t. vi, p. 110 ; Moreau, Poisson. France, iii, p. 484. 



Exoccetus volitans, pt. Lacep. v, p. 402, t. xii, f. 2 ; Donovan, Brit. Fish, ii, 

 pi. xxxi ; Turton, Brit. Fauna, p. 106 ; Fleming, Brit. An. p. 185 ; Jenyns, Brit. 

 Vert. p. 420 ; Brown, Phil. Trans. Ixviii, p. 790, pi. xii ; Bennett, Whaling 

 Voyage, ii, p. 284. 



B. ix-xii, D. 12-14, P. 14-16, V. 6, A. 13-15, C. 17-19, L. 1. 40-42, Vert. 25/19. 



Length of head 5 to 55, of caudal fin 45- of 5, height of body 6 to 7 in the 

 total length. Eyes — of each 3j to 4 diameters in the length of the head, 3/4 of a 

 diameter from the end of the snout, and 1 to Ij apart. Interorbital space flat. 

 The greatest height of the head equals its length anterior to the hind edge of the 

 preopercle. Snout obtuse when the mouth is closed, rendering the dorsal and 

 abdominal profiles equally convex. Teeth — minute or absent. Fins — anterior 

 dorsal rays not half so long as the head : the fin arises above or slightly in 

 advance of the origin of the anal. Pectoral reaches to the base of the caudal. 

 Ventral short, about half as long as the head, and reaching half-way to the anal. 

 Caudal lobed, the lower much the longer. Scales — 6| rows between the origin 

 of the dorsal fin and the lateral- line. Colours —bluish along the back, becoming 

 lighter on the sides and beneath. Pectoral gray or black with a light edge. 



Breeding. — Of this but little is knowu : the eggs have external filaments as 

 observed upon respecting the gar-fish (p. 146). Mr. Howard Saunders (Zool. 

 1874, p. 3838) says that some years since, when at the Chincha Islands, on the 

 coast of Pera, I observed they appeared about the last week in March, and the 

 water round the rocks was alive with them. At this period of the year, when 

 heavy in spawn, they were not noticed "on the wing." They literally swarmed 

 into the crevices and fissures of the rocks, and were evidently spawning. 



Mr. Flower exhibited at the Zoological Society, July 13th, 1858, a flying fish 

 (Exoccefus volitans}, to which was attached a specimen of Penellus Blainvillii, 

 Milne Edwards, 2J inches long, its head and three hornlike processes being buried 

 in the muscular mass on the right side of the spinal column of the fish, and the 

 whole of the exposed part gave lodgment to a colony of little cirripeds, Concho- 

 derma virgata, Spengler. The specimen was taken in the Atlantic, about 5° 17' 

 outh latitude. 



As food. — Of a fairly moderate description, but rather dry. 



Habitat. — Tropical and temperate seas. It has been obtained off the Atlantic 

 coast of France. 



In June, 1765, Pennant mentions an example of the flying-fish having been 

 captured a short distance below Carmarthen, in the river Towy, in Wales. He 

 figures Exoccetus evolans, but does not expressly state that his drawing was from 

 the Welsh specimen ; and Couch suggests it was drawn from a preserved example. 

 This may be so, and it is therefore with doubt that I insert this species among 

 the British Fauna. Couch, however, does not state that his figure was made 

 from a British example, but he says there is no doubt but that those captured 

 along the south coast belonged to Exoccetus volitans. 



The example figured is one in the British Museum collection. 



