198 ACANTHOPTERYGII. — FISTULARIADiE. 
are secluded from observation for the greatest part 
of their time, the depth of only a few feet of water 
precluding the possibility of our watching them 
with that care and perseverance necessary for the 
ascertaining of facts ; while the desire of retire- 
ment manifested by these in common with most 
animals for the carrying on of the most important 
and interesting oiEces of their economy and in- 
stinct, combined with their timidity, prompts them 
to dwell in holes and caverns in the banks, or 
beneath the shelter of stones, or among the dense 
beds of waving weeds, or in the ooze and mud of 
the bottom, where the eye of the most patient and 
experienced observer can but now and then obtain 
a momentary glance at their forms, but is abso- 
lutely interdicted from perceiving what they are 
doing. 
If this be true of our common lacustrine and 
fluviatile fishes, how much more applicable is it to 
the thousands which are marine, and especially to 
those which are pelagic ! Who can penetrate into 
the depths of ocean to trace the arrowy course 
of the mailed and glittering beings that shoot 
along like animated beams of light? Who can 
follow them to their rocky beds and coral caverns ? 
The wandering mariner sees with interested curio- 
sity the Flying-fish leap in fiocks from the water, 
and the eager Bonito rushing after them in swift 
pursuit; but who can tell what the Flying-fish is 
doing when not pursued, or how the Bonito is 
engaged when the prey is not before him ? How 
many pleasing traits of conjugal or parental attach- 
ment the waves of the fathomless sea may conceal, 
we know not : what ingenious devices for self- 
protection ; what structures for the concealment of 
