FLYING-FISH. 451 
with great speed without reference to the course of the 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-fish which fly against or with the 
wind continue in their whole course of flight in the same di- 
rection in which they come out of the water. Winds which 
blow from one side on to the original track of the fish bend 
their 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. 407.—The Large Chub, Semotilus rhotheus, one fifth 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 bya vessel. In the 
daytime flying-fish seldom fall on the deck of the ship, but 
mostly in the night; never in a calm (Moebius). Whitman 
claims that they truly fly and can change their course in 
mid-air. We have seen one rise and fall during flight. 
Following the flying-fish is the family represented by the 
silver gar or bill-fish (Belone longirostrus Mitchill, Fig. 408). 
The sucker (Hcheneis remora Linn.) occurs along the 
whole coast of the United States, and is found all over the 
