Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 1 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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I Do Not Hesitate To Speak On A
Subject Of Which Voyagers Discourse As Frequently As Of Dolphins,
Sharks, Sea-Sickness, And The Phosphorescence Of The Ocean.
None of
these topics can fail to afford interesting observations to
naturalists, provided they make them their particular study.
Nature
is an inexhaustible source of investigation, and in proportion as
the domain of science is extended, she presents herself to those
who know how to interrogate her, under forms which they have never
yet examined.
I have named the flying-fish, in order to direct the attention of
naturalists to the enormous size of their natatory bladder, which,
in an animal of 6.4 inches, is 3.6 inches long, 0.9 of an inch
broad, and contains three cubic inches and a half of air. As this
bladder occupies more than half the size of the fish, it is
probable that it contributes to its lightness. We may assert that
this reservoir of air is more fitted for flying than swimming; for
the experiments made by M. Provenzal and myself have proved, that,
even in the species which are provided with this organ, it is not
indispensably necessary for the ascending movement to the surface
of the water. In a young flying-fish, 5.8 inches long, each of the
pectoral fins, which serve as wings, presented a surface to the air
of 3 7/16 square inches. We observed, that the nine branches of
nerves, which go to the twelve rays of these fins, are almost three
times the size of the nerves that belong to the ventral fins. When
the former of these nerves are excited by galvanic electricity, the
rays which support the membrane of the pectoral fin extend with
five times the force with which the other fins move when galvanised
by the same metals. Thus, the fish is capable of throwing itself
horizontally the distance of twenty feet before retouching the
water with the extremity of its fins. This motion has been aptly
compared to that of a flat stone, which, thrown horizontally,
bounds one or two feet above the water. Notwithstanding the extreme
rapidity of this motion, it is certain, that the animal beats the
air during the leap; that is, it alternately extends and closes its
pectoral fins. The same motion has been observed in the flying
scorpion of the rivers of Japan: they also contain a large
air-bladder, with which the great part of the scorpions that have
not the faculty of flying are unprovided. The flying-fish, like
almost all animals which have gills, enjoy the power of equal
respiration for a long time, both in water and in air, by the same
organs; that is, by extracting the oxygen from the atmosphere as
well as from the water in which it is dissolved. They pass a great
part of their life in the air; but if they escape from the sea to
avoid the voracity of the Dorado, they meet in the air the
Frigate-bird, the Albatross, and others, which seize them in their
flight.
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