13 



ticular study. Nature is an inexhaustible source 

 of investigation, and in proportion as the domain 

 of science is extended, she presents herself to 

 those, who know how to interrogate her, under 

 forms which they have never yet examined. 



I have named the flying fish in order to fix the 

 attention of naturalists on the enormous size of 

 their natatory bladder, which, in an animal of 

 6*4 inches, is 3*6 inches long, 0*9 of an inch 

 broad, and contains three cubic inches and a 

 half of air. As this bladder takes up more than 

 half the size of the fish, it is probable that it 

 contributes to it's lightness. We may assert, 

 that this reservoir of air is more fitted for flying 

 than swimming ; for the experiments * made by 

 Mr. Proven zal and myself, have proved, that, 

 even in the species which are provided with this 

 organ, it is not indispensably necessary for the 

 movements of ascension toward the surface of 

 the water. In a young flying fish 5*8 inches 

 long, each of the pectoral fins, which serve as 

 wings, presented a surface to the air of 37 

 square inches. We observed, that the nine 

 branches of nerves, which go to the twelve rays 

 of these fins, are almost three times the size of 

 the nerves that belong to the ventral fins. When 

 the former of these nerves are excited by gal- 



* Researches on the respiration of fishes, and their air- 

 bladder, in the Memoires de la Societe d'Arcueil, vol. ii, 

 p. 359. 



