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FLYING COLUMN
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FLYING See also:COLUMN , in military organization, an See also:independent See also:corps of troops usually composed of all arms, to which a particular task is assigned. It is almost always composed in the course of operations, out of the troops immediately available. Mobility being its raison d'etre, a flying column is when possible composed of picked men and horses accompanied with the barest minimum of baggage. The See also:term is usually, though not necessarily, applied to forces under the strength of a See also:brigade. The " See also:mobile columns " employed by the See also:British in the See also:South See also:African See also:War of 1899-1902, were usually of the strength of two battalions of See also:infantry, a See also:battery of See also:artillery, and a See also:squadron of cavalry—almost exactly See also:half that of a mixed brigade. Flying columns are mostly used in See also:savage or See also:guerrilla warfare. " FLYING DUTCHMAN," a spectre-See also:ship popularly believed to haunt the See also:waters around the Cape of See also:Good See also:Hope. The See also:legend has several variants, but the commonest is that which declares that the See also:captain of the See also:vessel, Vanderdecken, was condemned for his See also:blasphemy to See also:sail See also:round the cape for ever, unable to " make " a See also:port. In the Dutch version the skipper is the See also:ghost of the Dutch See also:seaman See also:Van Straaten. The See also:appearance of the " Flying Dutch-See also:man " is considered by sailors as ominous of disaster. The See also:German legend makes one Herr Von Falkenberg the See also:hero, and alleges that he is condemned to sail for ever around the See also:North See also:Sea, on a ship without helm or steersman, playing at See also:dice for his soul with the See also:devil. See also:Sir See also:Walter See also:Scott says the " Flying Dutchman " was originally a vessel laden with See also:bullion. A See also:murder was committed on See also:board, and thereafter the See also:plague See also:broke out among the See also:crew, which closed all ports to the See also:ill-fated See also:craft. The legend has been used by See also:Wagner in his See also:opera Der fliegende Hollander. FLYING-See also:FISH, the name given to two different kinds of fish. The one (Dactylopterus) belongs to the See also:gurnard See also:family (Triglidae), and is more properly called flying gurnard; the other (Exocoetus) has been called flying See also:herring, though more nearly allied to the gar-See also:pike than to the herring. Some other fishes with See also:long See also:pectoral fins (Pterois) have been stated to be able to See also:fly, but this has been proved to be incorrect. The flying gurnards are much less numerous than the Exocoeti with regard to individuals as well as See also:species, there being only three or four species known of the former, whilst more than fifty have been described of the latter, which, besides, are found in numerous shoals of thousands. The Dactylopteri may be readily distinguished by a large bony See also:head armed with spines, hard keeled scales, two dorsal fins, &c. The Exocoeti have thin, See also:deciduous scales, only one dorsal fin, and the ventrals placed far backwards, below the See also:middle of the See also:body; some have long barbels at the See also:chin. In both kinds the pectoral fins are greatly prolonged and enlarged, modified into an See also:organ of See also:flight, and in many species of Exocoetus the ventral fins are similarly enlarged, and evidently assist in the aerial evolutions of these fishes. Flying-fishes are found in the tropical and subtropical seas only, and it is a singular fact that the See also:geographical See also:distribution of the two kinds is nearly identical. Flying-fish are more frequently observed in rough See also:weather and in a disturbed sea than during calms; they dart out of the See also:water when pursued by their enemies or frightened by an approaching vessel, but frequently also without any apparent cause, as is also observed in many other fishes; and they rise without regard to the direction of the See also:wind or waves. The fins are kept quietly distended, without any See also:motion, except an occasional vibration caused by the See also:air whenever the See also:surface of the wing is parallel with the current of the wind. Their flight is rapid, greatly exceeding that of a ship going ro m. an See also:hour, but gradually decreasing in velocity and not extending beyond a distance of 50o ft. Generally it is longer when the fishes fly against, than with or at an See also:angle to, the wind. Any See also:vertical or See also:horizontal deviation from a straight See also:line is not caused at the will of the fish, but by currents of the air; thus they
retain a horizontally straight course when flying with or against the wind, but are carried towards the right or See also:left whenever the direction of the wind is at an angle with that of their flight. However, it sometimes happens, that the fish during its flight immerses its caudal fin in the water, and by a stroke of its tail turns towards the right or left. In a See also:calm the line of their flight is always also vertically straight or rather parabolic, like the course of a projectile, but it may become undulated in a rough sea, when they are flying against the course of the waves; they then frequently overtop each See also:wave, being carried over it by the pressure of the disturbed air. Flying-fish often fall on board of vessels, but this never happens during a calm or from the See also: FLYING-See also:FOX, or, more correctly, Fox-See also:BAT. The first name is applied by Europeans in See also:India to the See also:fruit-eating bats of the genus Pteropus, which contains more than half the family (Pteropidae). This genus is confined to the tropical regions of the Eastern hemisphere and See also:Australia. It comprises numerous species, a considerable proportion of which occur in the islands of the See also:Malay See also:Archipelago. The flying-foxes are the largest of the bats, the kalong of See also:Java (Pteropus edulis) measuring about a See also:foot in length, and having an expanse of wing-membrane measuring 5 ft. across. Flying-foxes are gregarious, nocturnal bats, suspending themselves during the day head-downwards by thousands from the branches of trees, where with their wings gathered about them, they See also:bear some resemblance to huge shrivelled-up leaves or to clusters of some See also:peculiar fruit. In Batchian, according to See also:Wallace, they suspend themselves chiefly from the branches of dead trees, where they are easily caught or knocked down by sticks, the natives carrying them See also:home in basketfuls. They are then cooked with abundance of spices, and " are really very good eating, something like See also:hare." Towardsevening these bats bestir themselves, and fly off in companies to the See also:village plantations, where they feed on all kinds of fruit, and so numerous and voracious are they that no See also:garden See also:crop has much See also:chance of being gathered which is not specially protected from their attacks. The flying-fox of India (Pteropus medius) is a smaller species, but is found in See also:great See also:numbers wherever fruit is to be had in the See also:Indian See also:peninsula. FLYING-See also:SQUIRREL, properly the name of such members of the squirrel-See also:group of rodent mammals as have a See also:parachute-like expansion of the skin of the flanks, with attachments to the limbs, by means of which they are able to take long flying-leaps from See also:tree to tree. The parachute is supported by a See also:cartilage attached to the See also:wrist or carpus; in addition to the lateral membrane, there is a narrow one from the cheek along the front of each See also:shoulder to the wrist, and in the larger species a third (interfemoral) connecting the See also:hind-limbs with the See also:base of the long tail. Of the two widely distributed genera, Pteromys includes the larger and Sciuro- pterus the smaller species. The two differ in certain details of dentition, and in the greater development in the former of the parachute, especially the interfemoral portion, which in the latter is almost absent. In Pteromys the tail is cylindrical and comparatively thin, while in Sciuropterus it is broad, See also:flat and laterally See also:expanded, so as to compensate for the See also:absence of the interfemoral membrane by acting as a supplementary parachute. In See also:general appearance flying-squirrels resemble ordinary squirrels, although they are even more beautifully See also:col- oured. Their habits, See also:food, &c., are also very similar to those of the true squirrels, except that they are more nocturnal, and are therefore less often seen. The Indian flying-squirrel (P. oral) leaps with its parachute extended from the higher branches of a tree, and descends first directly and then more and more obliquely, until the flight, gradually becoming slower, assumes a horizontal direction, and finally terminates in an ascent to the See also:branch or See also:trunk of the tree to which it was directed. The presence of these rodents at night is made known by their screaming cries. Sciuropterus is represented by S. vclucella in eastern See also:Europe and See also:northern See also:Asia, and by a second species in North See also:America, but the other species of this genus and all those of Pteromys are Indo-Malayan. A third genus, Eupetaurus, typified by a very large, long-haired, dark-See also:grey species from the mountains to the north-west of See also:Kashmir (Eu. cinereus), differs from all other members of the squirrel-family by its tall-crowned molar See also:teeth. It has a See also:total length of 37 in., of which 22 are taken up by the tail. In Africa the name of flying-squirrel is applied to the members of a very different family of rodents, the Anomaluridae, which are provided with a parachute. Since, however, this parachute is absent in some members of the family, the most distinctive See also:character is the presence of a See also:double See also:row of spiny scales on the under surface of the tail, which apparently aid in climbing. The flying species are also distinguished from ordinary flying-squirrels by the circumstance that the additional See also:bone serving for the support of the fore part of the flying-membrane rises Pigmy African Flying-Squirrel (Idiurus zenkeri). from the See also:elbow-See also:joint instead of from the wrist. The family is represented by two flying genera, Anomalurus and Idiurus; the latter containing only one very See also:minute species (shown in the cut) characterized by its small ears and elongated tail. Most of the species are West African. In habits these rodents appear to be very similar to the true flying-squirrels. The species without a parachute constitutes the genus Zenkerella, and looks very like an ordinary squirrel (see See also:RODENTIA). Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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