A VACATION TRIP TO BRAZIL. 645 
which were engaged in catching the flying-fish as they rose, 
so that the poor little animals found themselves safe no- 
where. 
The distance flown by one of these fishes varies greatly, 
and depends much on the wind. They frequently go two . 
hundred to three hundred feet without moving the fins, 
but the little ones never fly far.* In these cases, the fish 
glides through the air with an initial velocity, obtained by 
the action of its tail-fin before leaving the water, and the 
flight is no more like the flight of a bird, than is that of 
the flying-squirrel, or the Galeopithecus. I have had a 
few opportunities of witnessing the flight of flying-fish 
during calm weather, when I have then repeatedly seen 
the common Exoccetus fly more than a hundred yards, and, 
in two or three instances, I have seen what appeared to 
be a different species fly at least a thousand feet in a kori- 
zontal line, with a perfectly well seen continuous move- 
ment of the fins like a bird. The first specimen I saw I 
took to be a little bird, and I should never have known it 
to be a fish had I not seen it disappear in the water, and 
soon afterwards seen others rise near the ship. These 
observations were made near Barbadoes, and at the time 
there was not a ripple to disturb the glassy surface of 
the ocean waves. This SJlying species seemed to me to 
be quite different from the common Exocetus, having 
broader and darker-colored fins; but I did not see it 
sufficiently clearly to enable me tó speak confidently of 
other than its general appearance, as my attention was 
occupied with its flight. Was it not a Flying Gurnard, 
or Sea Robin? (Dactylopterus). 
When but a short distance north of the Amazonas, on 
*Some of the little animals which leap out of the water in shoals, and are often 
Mistakea for eee are cuttle-fishes. 
