“3 FISH. Master, I marvel how the fishes live in the sea. 1 FISH. Why, as men do a-land; the great ones eat up the little ones.” PERICLES. Of fishes which are remarkable for beauty names might be mentioned by the hundred; alike of food-fishes, of powerful and fierce-tempered kinds, and of those which may be described as purely ornamental. Not all are graceful in shape; but vast numbers are exquisite in colouring, especially when first drawn from the water. As they gasp out their lives, the brilliant tinting fades. Among harmless and lovely kinds, perhaps not many could vie with the small radiant creatures of Coral-reefs, described by many a traveller in terms which tell of a lack of sufficient variety in adjectives. But words in these cases convey a dim impression of the reality. Fish-beauty must be seen, and seen at its best, to be appreciated. Among curiosities of Fish-existence, too many to name, a few may be cited in passing. Flying-fishes, with their blue bodies and wing-like fins of silver, are well known to voyagers. They rise from the water with a vigorous upward spring, which will bear them to a height of fifteen feet or more above the surface; and there they skim lightly along, with apparently thorough enjoyment. Sometimes thousands are seen at once, all leaping out of their native element, and taking to the air for a variety. Often they do this to escape from a pursuing foe below; but the plan is not always successful, since they have other enemies above. Many a flying-fish in its aerial career is snapped up by a hungry gull. One uncouth specimen is the “Frog-fish,” known also as the “Fishing-frog” or “Goose-fish,”--a flat thick rounded creature, with a cocked-up tail, an enormous mouth nearly as wide as its whole body, and knowing eyes. It bears a certain resemblance to a frog. Many instances are related of fishes “imitating” or “copying”--to use very inadequate terms--different land animals. The Bat-fish, for example, bears a curious likeness to a Bat. The Snipe-fish might be mistaken for first cousin to a Snipe. There is also the Pelican-fish, an inhabitant of deep-water. It has a mouth of portentous dimensions, with a huge pelican-like pouch hanging loosely below. Little is known of its habits; but it is supposed to swim about near the ocean-bed, with its enormous jaws extended in a stereotyped yawn, taking food in a vast and wholesale fashion. Another oddity, known as the Spook, though not interesting in its ways, has a most “bizarre” look. Its body is long and winding, almost like that of an eel; its fins are large; its eyes are big; and, judging from its picture, its head seems to be a cross between that of a fish and that of a quadruped. Among innumerable fish gormandisers one particular specimen carries off the palm, and might win the first prize in a world-wide competition for excellence in voracity.