different
parts of the world have equally received this characteristic
appellation. A word or two about each sort must suffice.

First, then, there are two species belonging to the genus _Trigla_, or
the Gurnards, to which Monsieur La Cepede has given the name of
_Dactylopterus_.

One species is found in the Mediterranean, and individuals, from a foot
to fifteen inches in length, are often taken by the fishermen, and
brought to the markets of Malta, Sicily, and even to the city of Rome.
The other species of flying gurnard occur in the Indian Ocean and the
seas around China and Japan.

The true _flying-fish_, however, that is to say, those that are met with
in the great ocean, and most spoken of in books, and in the "yarns" of
the sailor, are altogether of a different kind from the gurnards. They
are not only different in genus, but in the family and even the order of
fishes. They are of the genus _Exocetus_, and in form and other
respects have a considerable resemblance to the common pike. There are
several species of them inhabiting different parts of the tropical seas;
and sometimes individuals, in the summer, have been seen as far north as
the coast of Cornwall in Europe, and on the banks of Newfoundland in
America. Their natural habitat, however, is in the warm latitudes of
the ocean; and only there are they met with in large "schools," and seen
with any frequency taking their aerial flight.

For a long time there was supposed to be only one, or at most two,
species of the _Exocetus_; but it is now certain there are several--
perhaps as many as half a dozen--distinct from each other. They are all
much alike in their habits,--differing only in size, colour, and such
like circumstances.

Naturalists disagree as to the character of their flight. Some assert
that it is only a leap, and this is the prevailing opinion. Their
reason for regarding it thus is, that while the fish is in the air there
cannot be observed any movement of the wings (pectoral fins); and,
moreover, after reaching the height to which it attains on its first
spring, it cannot afterwards rise higher, but gradually sinks lower till
it drops suddenly back into the water.

This reasoning is neither clear nor conclusive. A similar power of
suspending themselves in the air, without motion of the wings is
well-known to belong to many birds,--as the vulture, the albatross, the
petrels, and others. Besides, it is difficult to conceive of a l