486 THE FLYING-FISH. 
exactly in the centre of the body, that if the fish is ‘held by it, the body 
exactly balances; while in the herring the dorsal fin is placed rather back- 
wards, so that when suspended, the fish hangs with its head downwards. 
Unlike the herring, which visits every part of our coast, the Pilchard is 
only found on the’shores of Devonshire and Cornwall. Here, however, the 
enormous shoals that annually make their appearance fully compensate for 
the limited space occupied by them. Occasionally a few shoals are seen on 
the southern coast of Ireland. The coasts of France and Spain are tolerably 
frequent resorts of this fish. ; 
The fish are usually taken in an enormous building of. nets, called “sean 
nets.” The nets used in the sea fishery are two, a large net called the “ stop 
sean,” about a quarter of a mile in length, and a hundred feet in depth ; and 
a smaller net, called the “tuck sean,” about a furlong in length, and a hun- 
dred and twenty feet in depth, the average value of the two nets being 500/, 
When the fishermen see a shoal of pilchards approaching, they immediately 
set out in two fishing boats, one of which carries the tuck sean and the other 
the stop sean. Guided by signs from the master-seamen, they silently 
surround the shoal with the nets, the larger of which is used to enclose a 
large number of fish, and the smaller to pass within the other net, to bring 
the mass of fish into a small compass, and finally to prevent them from 
escaping until the fishermen have leisure to remove them to the boats. 
When landed, the Pilchards are taken to the storehouses, salted, and after 
reinaining in heaps for five or six days, are pressed into casks by powerful 
levers. During the pressure, 
which lasts about a foit- 
night, fresh layers of fish 
being added as the form:r 
are pressed close, an abund- 
ance of excellent oil escapes 
from holes made in the cask 
for the purpose. The entire 
refuse of the fish, consisting 
of the superabundant sult, 
the scales and other rejected 
portions, is sold to the far- 
mers as a valuable manure. 
The refuse of each pilchard 
is calculated to manure one 
square foot of land. 
THE far-famed FLYING 
FISH exists in many of the 
FLYING-FISH.—(Zxocetus volitans.) warmer seas, and derives its 
popular name from _ its 
wonderful powers of sustaining itself in the air. 
The passage of this fish through the atmosphere can Jay no just claim to — 
the title of flizht, for the creature does not flap the wing-like pectoral fins 
on which it 1s upborne, and is not believed even to possess the power of 
changing it3 course. 
In allusion to the habits of this remarkable fish, Mr. F. D. Bennett, in his 
“ Narrative of a Whaling Voyage,” has the following valuable remarks :— 
“ The principal external agents employed in this mode of locomotion are 
the large lobe of the tail fin and the broad transparent pectoral fins, which, 
on.this occasion, serve at least as a parachute, and which, being situated 
close o the back, place the centre of suspension higher than the centre «¢ 
gravity. It is also curious to notice how well the specific gravity of the fisk 
