GAR-PIKE AND FLYING-FISH. 
401 
during their development the lower jaw becomes for a time much longer than the 
upper one. Both jaws are beset with a number of rugosities, and likewise with a 
series of long, conical teeth placed at considerable intervals. A peculiarity of 
these fish is to be found in the green colour of their bones. Whereas the British 
species does not exceed a couple of feet in length, some of the foreign repre¬ 
sentatives of the genus may grow to as much as 5 feet. Dr. Gunther writes that, 
skimming along the surface of the water, the gar-pike seize with their “ long jaws 
small fish, as a bird would seize them with its beak; but their gullet is narrow, so 
that they can swallow small fish only. They swim with an undulating motion of 
the body; but although they are in constant activity, their progress through the 
water is much slower than that of the mackerels, the shoals of which sometimes 
appear simultaneously with them 011 our coasts.” Frequently they may be seen 
leaping out of the water over small floating objects in sportive play, and when 
gar-pike (£ nat. size). 
struck by the hook throw themselves above the surface in violent contortions. 
The saury, or skipper (Scombresox saurus), is the British representative of a much 
smaller genus, differing from the gar-pikes by the minute size of the teeth, and 
likewise by the presence of a number of small finlets behind the dorsal and anal 
fins. On the other hand, the half-beaks (HemirhamjAtus), some of which inhabit 
fresh water, have the lower jaw larger than the upper throughout life. 
Perhaps few sights are more pleasing during a long sea-voyage 
in an ocean steamer than to stand in the bows and to watch the 
flying-fish rising—sometimes singly, but more frequently in larger or smaller 
shoals—from beneath the vessel to take their beautiful flight over the crest of the 
waves, till they once more disappear from view beneath the deep blue waters. 
Represented by more than forty species from tropical and subtropical seas, the flying- 
fishes, of which the common species (Exoccetus evolans ) is shown in the illustration 
on p. 314, form a genus which may be at once recognised by the great length of 
vol. v .—26 
Flying-Fish. 
