FLYING FISH IN MEDWAY AND SWALE. 411 



The above demonstrates — a, wide intervals of yearly dates ; 

 b, midsummer and more frequently autumn their visitation 

 period ; c, neighbourhood of S.W. counties of England and S.E. 

 of Ireland forming a central rendezvous ; d, shoals seen in a 

 third of the cases ; e, individuals run into shallow waters, even 

 up rivers. 



As to the wide gaps in dates, this perhaps means little else 

 than paucity of registered observation. Seeing that there is a 

 tolerably regular annual migration of them in great schools to 

 and from the Mediterranean, and if more sparsely even northerly 

 along the Atlantic seaboard, presumably their presence in South 

 British waters is more frequent than records show. Be that as 

 it may, we have analogous phenomena of great hordes and more 

 scattered troops of several species of Flying Fish sojourning on 

 both sides of the American continents, and migrating like those 

 frequenting the Atlanto-European seaboard. 



Taking the matter in a broad sense, from what has been 

 said, it is pretty evident that the bulk of the adult Flying Fishes 

 make annual summer and partly autumnal migrations from their 

 ordinary mid-ocean centres. For what purpose, then, these 

 wanderings ? Is it search for food, effects of seasonal changes, 

 or stimulus for breeding purposes ? Their spawning-grounds 

 are still doubtful, while again there are records of presence of 

 their fry in shoals a thousand miles from land.* These reflec- 

 tions open a wide field for speculation, and emphasize the fact 

 that there is yet a great deal to be learned respecting their 

 economical relations. Hitherto their mode of flight seems mostly 

 to have captivated voyagers and naturalists generally. 



That the adults are fish-feeders may be taken for granted. Is 

 it possible, then, that subsequent to their breeding season adults 

 in squadrons start off on their travel after food. Sardines, other- 

 wise Pilchards, swarm in congregations, and are fished for around 

 the Canaries. They flock into the Mediterranean, other sections 

 traverse the Atlantic border, and, as is well known, are abundant 

 on the French maritime and S.W. neighbourhoods of the English 

 Channel. Can this account for the presence of the Flying 

 Fishes who follow the young Clupeoids, and their restriction 

 (within limits) to the British area where observed during mid- 



* See Gervaae F. Mathew in ' Zoologist,' 1873, p. 3739. 



