’*In many cases fear is probably the first cause of the 
aerial flight of the Flying-fishj as we Imve just observed with respect 
to the Saury, the Flying-fish also seeks refuge in the air from its 
pursuers, especially the Dolphin-fishes ( Coryphaena ) and Bonitos, or 
sometimes springs up in terror before the bow of a vessel under way. 
Often, however, this habit is due to the same instinct that impels the 
Garpike to leap out of the water as if in sport; and like other fishes 
that are closely packed in shoals, they often leap in order to escape 
the crush or to pass one another. They appear on the wing oftener in r 
stormy weather or a steady breeze than in a dead calm. They generally 
I 
keep only a few feet above the surface; and when thej: rise higher, as 
in the cases where they have fallen in the deck of a vessel as much 
as 5 metres above the water, this is also due, says MBbius, to the 
influence of the air-currents. The Flying-fish always come on board on 
the windward side in a fresh breeze and, in most oases, at night, when 
in spite of their large eyes they cannot see the ship and avoid it. 
On the widward side of vessels that have sailed during the night through 
* 
some part of the ocean where Flying-fish abomd, spots of blood and the 
scales of Flying-fish are often fovind in the morning; and when the 
sailors swab the decks, they sometimes come across no small numbers of 
Flying-fish, a welcome and agreeable change in the seamen’s fare. Some 
of the Flying-fish have thus been dashed against the vessel’s side in 
their rapid flight and killed; but others have been borne over the bulwark 
by the current of air that rushes up the widdward side of the vessel, 
and have fallen on deck.” (Smitt.) 
