Another group between the gars and the flying-fishes is that of the halfbeaks, or balaos, _Hemirhamphus_, etc. These are also vegetable feeders, but with much smaller teeth, and the lower jaw with a spear-like prolongation to which a bright-red membrane is usually attached. Of the halfbeaks there are several genera, all of the species swimming near the surface in schools and sometimes very swiftly. Some of them leap into the air and sail for a short distance like flying-fishes, with which group the halfbeaks are connected by easy gradations. The commonest species along our Atlantic coast is _Hyporhamphus unifasciatus_; a larger species, _Hemirhamphus brasiliensis_, abounds about the Florida Keys. _Euleptorhamphus longirostris_, a ribbon-shaped elongate fish, with long jaw and long pectorals, is taken in the open sea, both in the Atlantic and Pacific, being common in Hawaii. The Asiatic genus _Zenarchopterus_ is viviparous, having the anal fin much modified in the male, forming an intromittent organ, as in the _Pœciliidæ_. One species occurs in the river mouths in Samoa. The flying-fishes have both jaws short, and at least the pectoral fins much enlarged, so that the fish may sail in the air for a longer or shorter distance. [Illustration: FIG. 168.—Sharp-nosed Flying-fish, _Fodiator acutus_ (Val.). Panama. ] The smaller species have usually shorter fins and approach more nearly to the halfbeaks. _Fodiator acutus_, with sharp jaws, and _Hemiexocœtus_, with a short beak on the lower jaw, are especially intermediate. The flight of the flying-fishes is described in detail on p. 157, Vol. I. The Catalina flying-fish, _Cypselurus californicus_, of the shore of southern California is perhaps the largest of the known species, reaching a length of 18 inches. To this genus, _Cypselurus_, having a long dorsal and short anal, and with ventrals enlarged as well as pectorals, belong all the species strongest in flight, _Cypselurus heterurus_ and _furcatus_ of the Atlantic, _Cypselurus simus_ of Hawaii and _Cypselurus agoo_ in Japan. The very young of most of these species have a long barbel at the chin which is lost with age.