354 SUPPLEMENT ON 



have all the influence over the shark, which the author in 

 question supposes, it must be owned that they rendered him a 

 very ill service, and that in this instance they would better 

 have deserved the epithet of traitors than that of pilots. 



These fishes suffer themselves to be conducted to immense 

 distances by their ardent pursuit of ships. Dutertre says that 

 he saw one of them which followed his vessel for more than 

 five hundred leagues. It may be observed that the name and 

 habits of the pilot have been applied to other fish. It is 

 found in all parts of the Mediterranean, is spread through the 

 Atlantic, and even comes into the Channel. It has also been 

 supposed that it has been seen in the Indian Ocean. With 

 its habits of following vessels with so much pertinacity, it 

 would not be astonishing if the pilot should be found in lati- 

 tudes very remote from its original habitat. 



Rhynchobdella, Macrognathus, Mastacembe- 

 lus, and Notacanthus, are all fishes of the fresh waters 

 of Asia, and have been found from Syria as far as the Sunda 

 islands, the Moluccas, and China. 



Their muzzle furnishes them with a delicate organ of 

 touch, which it appears they employ in seeking in the mud 

 for small worms, and other slender substances on which they 

 feed. They are generally considered as fish of good flavour, 

 whose flesh has some resemblance to that of the eel. 



The Seriola is a genus very much approximating to the 

 Caranx, of which we shall speak presently. The species 

 Seriola Durnerilii is called Caranx Dumerilii by Risso. 

 This fish attains to the remarkable weight of from one hun- 

 dred and sixty to two hundred pounds, and inhabits the 

 inaccessible places of the sea of Nice, where it was first 

 observed by M. Risso. It does not approach the shores but 

 when it appears to be attracted thither by hunger. Its flesh 

 is reddish, firm, and of an exquisite flavour. 



Commerson was the first who designated, under the name of 



