334 F L Y I N G F I S H. Class IV. 



Gidlsj or the Alhatrofs^ or Is forced down again 

 into the mouth of the inhabitants of water, who 

 below keep pace with its aerial excurfion. Neither 

 is it unfrequent that whole fhoals of them fall on 

 board of fhips that navigate the feas of warm cli- 

 mates : it is therefore apparent, that nature in this 

 creature hath fupplied it with inftruments that fre- 

 quently bring it into that deftruclion it drives to 

 avoid, by having recourle to an element unnatural 

 to it. 



The antients were acquainted with this fpecies : 

 Tliny mentions it under the name of Hinindo^ and 

 fpeaks of its flying faculty. It is probable that 

 Oppian intended the fame by his ^«£iaj %E^ife^, or 

 the fwift fwallow fifh. What Athenaus and the 

 laft cited author mean by the Elo/^oiTo,- and Adicv:;, 

 is not fo evident : they afiert it quitted the water 

 and flept on the rocks, from whence it tumbled 

 with precipitation when difturbed by the unfriendly 

 birds : on thefe accounts Icthyologifts feem to have 

 made it fynonymous with iht flying fip, 

 Pescrip. Ic refembles the herring in form of the body, 

 but the back is flat : the fcales large and filvery : 

 the dorfal fin is fmall, and placed near the tail : 

 the pedVoral fins, the inftruments of flight, ar<i 

 almoft as long as the body : the tail is bifurcated. 



Eight 



