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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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. Thus, on the banks of the Orinoco, herds of the Cabiai,
which rush from the water to escape the crocodile, become the prey
of the jaguar, which awaits their arrival.
I doubt, however, whether the flying-fish spring out of the water
merely to escape the pursuit of their enemies. Like swallows, they
move by thousands in a right line, and in a direction constantly
opposite to that of the waves. In our own climates, on the brink of
a river, illumined by the rays of the sun, we often see solitary
fish fearlessly bound above the surface as if they felt pleasure in
breathing the air. Why should not these gambols be more frequent
with the flying-fish, which from the strength of their pectoral
fins, and the smallness of their specific gravity, can so easily
support themselves in the air?
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