1880. | Do Flying Fish Fly ? 641 
137. Colymbus torquatus Brin. (Northern diver).—Occasional 
along the rivers. 
138. Podiceps californicus Her. (California grebe)—-I saw an 
example that I referred to this species. 
139. Podiceps clarki Lawr. (Clarke’s grebe).—Occasional along 
the rivers. 
140. Podilymbus podiceps L. (dabchick)—More common than 
the last. i 
-:0: 
DO FLYING FISH FEY? 
BY C. O. WHITMAN. 
F all the modes of animal locomotion, none has excited more 
general attention than that of flying creatures; and this is 
none the less so now that many of those who believe in the ulti- 
mate success of “ the flying machine,” have discarded the balloon 
theory, and come to regard nature’s contrivances for flight as the 
true models for aérial locomotives. Among those animals that 
enjoy the much-envied power of flight, none has elicited such 
universal interest and comment, from old and young, layman and 
scientist, as that anomalous member of the finny tribe, the flying 
fish. Science, poetry and fable have conspired to extend the fame 
of this little denizen of tropical seas, and philosophy has more 
than once attempted to find some adequate cause for the enor- : 
mous development of its pectoral limbs, hoping to find here one 
more important link between swimming and flying animals. 
This fish owes its generic name to a curious belief which is 
Said to have been current among the ancients. They supposed 
that the flying fish —“ sea swallows” they called them—left the 
Ocean at night and slept on shore, to avoid the attacks of their 
Marine enemies. From this habit of ‘sleeping out,” they were 
called Erocæti. 
_ Besides Exoccetus, which includes between forty and fifty dif- 
_ ferent species, there is a genus of flying fish called Dactylopterus 
(finger-winged), from the fact that the fin rays extend, finger-like, 
beyond the margin of the fins. This genus, popularly named the 
flying gurnard, is represented by comparatively few species which 
inhabit the Atlantic, the Mediterranean sea, the Indian ocean and 
archipelago, and the Japan seas. 
To those who may never have had the opportunity to observe 
