certain limits, their inadequate dimensions and limited range alone preventing them from sustaining the fish in the air for indefinite periods. When the fins are fully flexed, as happens when the fish is swimming, they are arranged along the sides of the body; but when it takes to the air, they are raised above the body and make a certain angle with it. In being raised they are likewise inclined forwards and outwards, the fins rotating on their long axes until they make an angle of something like 30° with the horizon-this being, as nearly as I can determine, the greatest angle made by the wings during the down stroke in the flight of insects and birds.

The pectoral fins, or pseudo-wings of the flying-fish, like all other wings, act after the manner of kites—the angles of inclination which their under surfaces make with the horizon varying according to the degree of extension, the speed acquired, and the pressure to which they are subjected by being carried against the air. When the flying-fish, after a preliminary rush through the water (in which it acquires initial velocity), throws itself into the air, it is supported and carried forwards by the kite-like action of its pinions ;—this action being identical with that of the boy's kite when the boy runs, and by pulling upon the string causes the kite to glide upwards and forwards. In the case of the boy's kite a pulling force is applied to the kite in front. In the case of the flyingfish (and everything which flies) a similar force is applied to the kites formed by the wings by the weight of the flying mass, which always tends to fall vertically downwards. Weight supplies a motor power in flight similar to that supplied by the leads in a clock. In the case of the boy's kite, the hand of the operator furnishes the power; in flight, a large proportion of the power is furnished by the weight of the body of the flying creature. It is a matter of indifference how a kite is flown, so long as its under surface is made to impinge upon the air over which it passes.1 A kite will fly effectually when it is neither acted upon by the hand nor a weight, provided always there is a stiff breeze blowing. In flight one of two things

1 "On the Various Modes of Flight in relation to Aëronautics." By the Author.-Proceedings of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, March 1867.

is necessary. Either the under surface of the wings must be carried rapidly against still air, or the air must rush violently against the under surface of the expanded but motionless wings. Either the wings, the body bearing them, or the air, must be in rapid motion; one or other must be active. To this there is no exception. To fly a kite in still air the operator must run. If a breeze is blowing the operator does not require to alter his position, the breeze doing the entire work. It is the same with wings. In still air a bird, or whatever attempts to fly, must flap its wings energetically until it acquires initial velocity, when the flapping may be discontinued; or it must throw itself from a height, in which case the initial velocity is acquired by the weight of the body acting upon the inclined planes formed by the motionless wings. The flapping and gliding action of the wings constitute the difference between ordinary flight and that known as skimming or sailing flight. The flight of the flying-fish is to be regarded rather as an example of the latter than the former, the fish transferring the velocity acquired by the vigorous lashing of its tail in the water to the air,-an arrangement which enables it to dispense in a great measure with the flapping of the wings, which act by a combined parachute and wedge action. In the flying-fish the flying-fin or wing attacks the air from beneath, whilst it is being raised above the body. It has no downward stroke, the position and attachments of the fin preventing it from descending beneath the level of the body of the fish. In this respect the flying-fin of the fish differs slightly from the wing of the insect, bat, and bird. The gradual expansion and raising of the fins of the fish, coupled with the fact that the fins never descend below the body, account for the admitted absence of beating, and have no doubt originated the belief that the pectoral fins are merely passive organs. If, however, they do not act as true pinions within the limits prescribed, it is difficult, and indeed impossible, to understand how such small creatures can obtain the momentum necessary to project them a distance of 200 or more yards, and to attain, as they sometimes do, an elevation of twenty or more feet above the water. Mr. Swainson, in crossing the line in 1816, zealously attempted

to discover the true action of the fins in question, but the flight of the fish is so rapid that he utterly failed. He gives it as his opinion that flight is performed in two ways,—first by a spring or leap, and second by the spreading of the pectoral fins, which are employed in propelling the fish in a forward direction, either by flapping or by a motion analogous to the skimming of swallows. He records the important fact, that the flying-fish can change its course after leaving the water, which satisfactorily proves that the fins are not simply passive structures. Mr. Lord, of the Royal Artillery,1 thus writes of those remarkable specimens of the finny tribe :— "There is no sight more charming than the flight of a shoal of flying-fish, as they shoot forth from the dark green wave in a glittering throng, like silver birds in some gay fairy tale, gleaming brightly in the sunshine, and then, with a mere touch on the crest of the heaving billow, again flitting onward reinvigorated and refreshed.”

Before proceeding to a consideration of the graceful and, in some respects, mysterious evolutions of the denizens of the air, and the far-stretching pinions by which they are produced, it may not be out of place to say a few words in recapitulation regarding the extent and nature of the surfaces by which progression is secured on land and on or in the water. This is the more necessary, as the travelling-surfaces employed by animals in walking and swimming bear a certain, if not a fixed, relation to those employed by insects, bats, and birds in flying. On looking back, we are at once struck with the fact, remarkable in some respects, that the travellingsurfaces, whether feet, flippers, fins, or pinions, are, as a rule, increased in proportion to the tenuity of the medium on which they are destined to operate. In the ox (fig. 18, p. 37) we behold a ponderous body, slender extremities, and unusually small feet. The feet are slightly expanded in the otter (fig. 12, p. 34), and considerably so in the ornithorhynchus (fig. 11, p. 34). The travelling-area is augmented in the seal (fig. 14, p. 34; fig. 36, p. 74), penguin (figs. 46 and 47, pp. 91 and 94), sea-bear (fig. 37, p. 76), and turtle (fig. 44, p. 89). In the triton (fig. 45, p. 89) a huge swimming-tail is added to the 1 Nature and Art, November 1866, p. 173.

feet the tail becoming larger, and the extremities (anterior) diminishing, in the manatee (fig. 34, p. 73) and porpoise (fig. 33, p. 73), until we arrive at the fish (fig. 30, p. 65), where not only the tail but the lower half of the body is actively engaged in natation. Turning from the water to the air, we observe a remarkable modification in the huge pectoral fins of the flying-fish (fig. 51, p. 98), these enabling the creature to take enormous leaps, and serving as pseudo-pinions. Turning in like manner from the earth to the air, we encounter the immense tegumentary expansions of the flying-dragon (fig. 15, p. 35) and galeopithecus (fig. 16, p. 35), the floating or buoying area of which greatly exceeds that of some of the flying beetles.

In those animals which fly, as bats (fig. 17, p. 36), insects (figs. 57 and 58, p. 124 and 125), and birds (figs. 59 and 60, p. 126), the travelling surfaces, because of the extreme tenuity of the air, are prodigiously augmented; these in many instances greatly exceeding the actual area of the body. While, therefore, the movements involved in walking, swimming, and flying are to be traced in the first instance to the shortening and lengthening of the muscular, elastic, and other tissues operating on the bones, and their peculiar articular surfaces; they are to be referred in the second instance to the extent and configuration of the travelling areas—these on all occasions being accurately adapted to the capacity and strength of the animal and the density of the medium on or in which it is intended to progress. Thus the land supplies the resistance, and affords the support necessary to prevent the small feet of land animals from sinking to dangerous depths, while the water, immensely less resisting, furnishes the peculiar medium requisite for buoying the fish, and for exposing, without danger and to most advantage, the large surface contained in its ponderous lashing tail,—the air, unseen and unfelt, furnishing that quickly yielding and subtle element in which the greatly expanded pinions of the insect, bat, and bird are made to vibrate with lightning rapidity, discoursing, as they do so, a soft and stirring music very delightful to the lover of nature.

PROGRESSION IN OR THROUGH THE AIR.

THE atmosphere, because of its great tenuity, mobility, and comparative imponderability, presents little resistance to bodies passing through it at low velocities. If, however, the speed be greatly accelerated, the passage of even an ordinary cane is sensibly impeded.

This comes of the action and reaction of matter, the resistance experienced varying according to the density of the atmosphere and the shape, extent, and velocity of the body acting upon it. While, therefore, scarcely any impediment is offered to the progress of an animal in motion, it is often exceedingly difficult to compress the air with sufficient rapidity and energy to convert it into a suitable fulcrum for securing the onward impetus. This arises from the fact that bodies moving in the air experience the minimum of resistance and occasion the maximum of displacement. Another and very obvious difficulty is traceable to the great disparity in the weight of air as compared with any known solid, this in the case of water being nearly as 1000 to 1. According to the density of the medium so is its buoying or sustaining power.

The Wing a Lever of the Third Order. To meet the peculiarities stated above, the insect, bat, and bird are furnished with extensive surfaces in the shape of pinions or wings, which they can apply with singular velocity and power, as levers of the third order (fig. 3, p. 20),1 at various angles, or by alternate slow and sudden movements, to obtain the

1 In this form of lever the power is applied between the fulcrum and the weight to be raised. The mass to be elevated is the body of the insect, bat, or bird, the force which resides in the living pinion (aided by the inertia of the trunk) representing the power, and the air the fulcrum.