ACANTHOPTEItYGH. 3515 



sacred. What they tell of the external characters of this 

 Pompilius, of its resemblance to the pelamys, and its 

 variegated colour, accords perfectly well with the naucrates. 



The fable of this fish serving as a guide to the shark has 

 not been transmitted to us by antiquity, though it is certainly 

 an imitation of what Pliny says concerning a small fish, the 

 conductor of the whale. It appears to have been applied to 

 the shark in modern times by navigators. At least the 

 ichthyologists of the sixteenth century say nothing of it in 

 their history of that Squalus; and the first mention of it is in 

 the description of the Antilles, by Dutertre, printed in 1667. 

 But since that time it has been carefully repeated by a crowd 

 of travellers of all nations, and Osbeck makes it a subject of 

 pious reflection on the admirable ways of Providence. 



Others confound or mingle the history of the remora with 

 that of the pilot, and talk of pilots being attached to the back 

 of the shai'k. The fact appears to be reduced to this, that 

 the pilot follows vessels like the shark, but with still greater 

 perseverance, to obtain what falls from them, and that the 

 shark does not attack it, or is not sufficiently prompt in its 

 motions to make it its prey. It is thus that Dutertre has ex- 

 plained their apparent alliance, and his assertion is confirmed 

 by the best observers. M. Bosc, who has seen hundreds of 

 these fish, assures us that they always keep at some distance 

 from the shark, and that they swim swiftly enough in all 

 directions to be certain of avoiding it. If any food be thrown 

 out to them they stop to seize it, and abandon both the 

 vessel and the shark, which can leave no doubt respecting 

 the object which attracted them. 



M. Geoffroy, however, in a memoir on the mutual affection 

 of some animals, in the annals of the Museum, tells a story 

 of two pilots which seemed to lead, and with no small degree 

 of pains and exertion, a shark towards the bait which was 

 laid for him. Admitting, however, says M. Cuvier, that they 



vol. x. A a t 



