Page:Natural History, Fishes.djvu/140

126 waters of the southern seas, and flinging back the blaze of a tropical sun. Its long dorsal is sky-blue, with the rays gold coloured; its caudal green; the body is green on the upper parts, mottled with orange, and the under parts shine with the lustre of burnished silver, divided from the green hue by a yellow lateral line.

In the tropical parts of the Atlantic we have been familiar with a species akin to this, but apparently distinct from it. In those waters, especially in the calms that so frequently prevail where the trade-wind ceases, the Coryphenes, or as seamen incorrectly name them, Dolphins, are very common. One is never weary of admiring their beauty. Their form is deep, but thin and somewhat flattened: and their sides are of brilliant pearly white, like polished silver. In small companies of five or six, they usually appear and play around and beneath the ship, sometimes close to the surface, and sometimes at such a depth that the eye can but dimly discern their shadowy outline. When playing at an inconsiderable depth, in their turnings hither and thither, the rays of the sun, reflected from their polished sides, as one or the other is exposed to the light, flash out in sudden gleams, or are interrupted, in a very striking manner. Night and day these interesting creatures are sporting about, apparently insusceptible of weariness. Their motion is very rapid, when their powers are put forth, as in pursuit of the timid little Flying-fish.

In all books of Natural History we see accounts of the fleeting hues which play over the body of the Coryphene in the agonies of death;