584 
THE OCEAN WORLD. 
the attacks of its enemies. When it leaps from the sea to the height 
of five or six feet, it sustains itself for several hundred feet, changing 
its direction. In its flight it may be compared to that of the flying 
dragon ; the popular name given to it is said to be derived from the 
grunting noise they make on being taken out of the water. 
Labybothifokm Pharyngeans. 
In the fishes of this order- the superior pharyngeal bones are divided 
into numerous and irregular little leaflets, which intersect the cellules 
situated under the operculum, which again serve to retain a certain 
quantity of water. This water preserves the gills, however, when the 
animal is dry, which permits them to live on shore, where they 
frequently contrive to creep over great distances in search of water. 
The genus Andbas, from dvafialvco, to ascend, possess this pecu- 
liarity of organization in a remarkable degree; it enables them to 
leave the rivers and marshes and little watercourses of Borneo and 
Java, and other islands of the Indian Archipelago, and creep through 
the herbage or along the ground by means of the inflexions of their 
bodies, the dentation of their opercules, of their spines and fins. This 
fact, although only recently known to modern naturalists, was well 
known to the ancients, and has been recorded by Theophrastus. 
The family of the Scomberoides is the most important group in the 
order, comprehending some of the fishes most useful to man, from their 
size, the excellence of their flesh, and their abundance. The Tunny 
( Thynnm , Cnv.), the Mackerel (Scomber seombrus ), and the Bonita 
(Thynnus jpelamys), have yielded, from the remotest antiquity, immense 
resources as human food, both in the fresh and preserved state. 
The tunny, while resembling the mackerel in many respects in its 
general form, is rounder, and attains a much larger size, being some- 
times found eight and nine feet in length, and weighing three to four 
hundred pounds. The upper part of the body is a bluish-black ; the 
belly is grey, with silvery spots. These fishes sometimes present 
themselves in the Atlantic, but in the Mediterranean they are very 
abundant. At some periods of the year they approach the coast in 
innumerable shoals, and in numerous serried ranks, forming a vast 
battalion, which conceals itself under the waves, and only betrays 
