4 
FLYING-FISH. 
On quitting the town, I was disposed to conclude, that it had been 
much improved since it was visited by its last describers ; but as it 
was Sunday when I was there, and all classes were enjoying the lei- 
sure of the day in their best apparel, and as first impressions are 
frequently erroneous, I shall confine myself to the remark, that what 
I saw did not correspond with what I had read. 
When I reached the Alceste, I found that I might have remained 
on shore several hours, as some circumstances had occurred, which 
prevented her immediate sailing ; and she did not leave Funchal 
Roads till the evening, when we got under weigh with a fine breeze. 
As we proceeded on our voyage towards the Line, the tedium of 
our situation was in some measure relieved, by the amusement we 
derived from observing the habits of the flying-fish, which continually 
surrounded us. This animal, equally interesting in its structure, and 
in the circumstances of its persecuted life, has been so often the 
theme of the traveller’s description, that its very mention comes 
with the heaviness of a twice-told tale. Yet, although its descrip- 
tions are numerous, much is still wanting to the completion of its 
natural history ; and it is a subject of regret with naturalists, that its 
species met with by voyagers, are not ascertainable. For these 
reasons, and because “ nature is an inexhaustible source of inves- 
tigation,” I shall state the few observations which I made on a 
specimen that was brought me on the morning of the 27th February, 
when in lat. 10° 38' N., and 25° 47' W. long. ; and I do this the more 
readily, as its characters did not entirely accord with the description 
of any other species. 
The colour of its back was a deep blue, which passed on its sides 
into a yellowish green, terminating in a silvery white, which, near 
its tail, had a pinkish hue. Several small patches of white reached 
from above its eye, to the pectoral fin. Its fins were six in number ; 
two pectoral, two ventral, one caudal, and one dorsal. The pectoral 
fin consisted of fourteen rays, and was five inches in its greatest 
length, and as much in its greatest width. The two undermost rays, 
when the wing was expanded, were very short, and scarcely distin- 
