NATURAL HISTORY of NORWAY. in 



der, marked with a crofs on one fide. " PafTer pifcis 1650^ a pif- 

 catoribus Bergis Norveg. captus, fignum crucis crafTioris in ventre 

 gerebat manifeftum idque in fumma cute. Ad ufum menfse, 

 culinse D. Jani Schelderupii, Epifc. Bergenfis, afiinis mei hono- 

 randi, inferebatur. Sed ancilla, vifo crucis figno, perterrita, cul- 

 trum fufpendit, pifcemque illuftrem plurium curiofitati referva- 

 vit. Anguli crucis & latera sequalia, fuperficies plana £C cum 

 cute sequalis, &c. in exficcato piice diiparuit fere crux. Cent. ii. 

 Hift. 33, p. 225." Yet it is not uncommon to fee upon Floun- 

 ders, Piaife, Square Fifh, and other Sea-Fifh fkins, the figures 

 of ftars, circles, fquares, and other marks, which give them 

 a particular aipecl:. 



Floy-fifk, or Flying-fifh, is fo called from his flying above the Flo x fijk - 

 water : the largeft I have feen are hardly a foot long. This Fifh 

 has a pretty large, tho' thin and light head ; the mouth I have 

 always found open, perhaps to catch the air, and lighten them- 

 felves in fome degree with it ; the body is fmall, roundifh, and 

 runs tapering towards the tail : it is nearly like a large Herring 

 in fhape. Befides the ufual fins, they have under their necks 

 three broad and pretty long ones., of a different and more fubtil 

 ftruclure : thefe are nearly as thin as a fly's wings^, but they are 

 fbengthened with half a fcore rows of bone,, running between 

 the two membranes. On the back part of their neck they have 

 alfo a wing, or flying fin, about fix inches long, quite erecl: ; 

 and lower down the back, another fhorter, but broader. Thefe Privilege for 

 wings are the gift of nature to fave themfelves with, when pur- 

 fued by thofe that are too powerful for them. They are feen in 

 their flight to raife themfelves feveral feet above the water, and 

 purfue their courfe the length of two or three gun-fhot, then 

 they muft drop, becaufe their wings grow dry, which are of no 

 ufe to them any longer than they hold moift *. 



I do not know whether thofe Norway Flying-fifh, which were 

 prelented me at Bergen on Sundmoer, may be accounted the fame 



* If it was not for the natural property of the wings, which makes it impoffiblc 

 for them to fly far, then I might agree with thofe expounders of Scripture, whp 

 are of opinion that the great quantity of Selavim, which, in Numbers, Chap. xi. 

 v. 31. is generally tranflated Quails, and which were brought by a great wind from the 

 fea to the camp of the Ifraelites, were not Birds, but Flying-filli, according to Rudbeck's, 

 Ludolf s, and Zeltner's opinion ; to which kind alfo the foregoing 22d verfe feems to 

 allude; as alfo what direclly follows, in the 3 2d verfe, that they were fpread, and hung 

 up about the camp ; which feems to agree beft with the manner of curing Fifh that is to 

 be dry'd : if it be fo, then we muft firft obferve that thofe Oriental Selavim have 

 more ftrength in the ftructure of their wings to fupport themfelves in a long flight, 



than our Norvegian Flying-fifh. 



with 



