406 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



injured). Ventral fins inserted about midway between the pupil 

 and the last caudal vertebrae. The first ray of the anal nearly 

 vertical with middle of dorsal, and its base 1^ in. long. 



Its Food.— Concerning the nature of its food, the stomach 

 and intestine contained only remnants of a semi-digested, light 

 buff-coloured, pulpy substance. This, under the microscope, 

 gave no indications of minute crustacean or molluscan structures, 

 all being reduced to a state of granular consistence. But on 

 opening the mouth the presence of a fish's tail revealed a small 

 whitebait (a couple of inches or so long), which had got stuck in 

 the throat, and reaching to as far as the oesophageal entrance of 

 the stomach. It broke to pieces on the endeavour to extract it, 

 so I cannot say with certainty whether young of Herring or 

 Sprat. 



The ordinary and prevalent diet of the Flying Fishes has 

 been far less studied than their aerial movements. Professor 

 Mobius* opened one (E. hr achy soma, Bleeker) about 8 inches 

 (=20 centimetres) long, which flopped right on to him aboard 

 ship, at sunset, in the neighbourhood of Seychelles, Indian Ocean. 

 Its alimentary tract contained pulpy matter, among which were 

 diminutive crustaceans. (Couch, 'Brit. Fishes,' vol. iv.) sur- 

 mises that minute Crustacea and Mollusca form their aliment. 

 Jordan and Evermannt only ambiguously say of the group — 

 " carnivorous and herbivorous," but give no data. Judging from 

 the Swale example, fish may at times form a considerable pro- 

 portion of their food, and even lead to seasonal migrations (see 

 remarks further on). In support of their being consumers of 

 fish, we may quote F. D. Bennet,! who says: — " Their flesh is 

 the bonne louche of travellers ;§ it bears some resemblance to that 



* " Die Bewegungen der fliegenden Fische durch die Luft," Zeitsch. fur 

 Wissensch. Zool., Bd. xxx. Suppl. p. 344. 



f ' Bull. U.S. National Museum,' pt. i. p. 727 (1896). 



J ' Narrative of a Whaling Voyage round the Globe from the Years 1883 

 to 1836,' vol. ii. p. 286. 



§ Brown-Goode observes : " They are considered excellent food" ('Fishery 

 Industries of United States,' pt. i. p. 459) ; Dr. Gunther, speaking of E. 

 callopter us, adds: " They are excellent eating" (' Introd. Study of Fishes,' 

 p. 622) ; Messrs. Jordan and Evermann declare that the Sharp-nosed Flying 

 Fish (E. acutus) and the California Flying Fish (E. californicus) are both 

 " good food-fish," and the latter "sometimes taken by thousands off Santa 



