Dr. A. Giinther on the History o/ Echeneis. 389 



(Iter, p. 180) ; he observed the fish in the tropical parts of the 

 Atlantic, and, without alluding to its supernatural powers, he 

 adds, as a new fact to its history, that it adheres not only to 

 vessels, but to other large fishes : " Tiburoni (Zygsena malleus) 

 firmiter hceret in venire.' 3 Nieuhoff* says the same, very di- 

 stinctly representing Echeneis remora, to which he applies the 

 Dutch name of Zuiger. Dampierf, an accomplished sailor, was 

 well acquainted with the " Sucking-fish," and gives a true ac- 

 count of its habits when accompanying a vessel. He represents 

 the fish as being of the size of a large Whiting, and describes 

 the " excrescence on the head of a flat oval form, about 7 or 8 

 inches long and 5 or 6 broad, and rising about half an inch 

 high." This would indicate that E. albescens or clypeata, to 

 which these statements and the figure (Voy. to New Holland, i. 

 tab. 1. fig. 6) may be applied, grow to a length of 2 feet ! 



An original figure, which has been copied by several authors, 

 is to be found in Olearius (Gottorffschen Kunst-Kammer, tab. 

 25. f. 2). It will be difficult to decide whether it has been 

 taken from E. remora or naucrates, as it represents the number 

 of lamina? of the former species, and the slender form of the 

 body of the latter. 



The figure and the account of Marcgrave have been copied 

 by Willughby (p. 119. tab. G. 8. f. 2), by Ray (p. 71), and by 

 Jonston (/. c. tab. 39. f. 8). Ruysch again reproduces both the 

 figures from Jonston's work (Theatr. Univers. p. 7, tab. 4. f. 3, 

 tab. 39. f. 8), and adds a third, and very bad one, in the Pise. 

 Amboin. p. 13. No. 13 (Coupang-Visch), tab. 7. f. 13. 



II. Foundation of the Genus, and its place in the System. 



The father of ichthyology, Artedi, recognized in the Echeneis 

 of the Greeks the type of a peculiar genus, to which he gave 

 that name, and which he characterized by " caput plagioplateum, 

 superue striis transversis asperis notatum." (Genera, p. 14.) 

 Finding, however, a single dorsal fin only, without spinous rays, 

 he placed the genus in the Malacopterygii. All subsequent 

 systematists and writers, from Linnaeus down to Cuvier, have 

 left its characters and its position unaltered. Voigt (System 

 der Natur, pp. 482, 835) first directed attention to the buckler 

 of the head being a modified dorsal fin : he pronounces it to be 

 a fin the rays of which have been bent downwards on both sides ; 

 they are provided with small hooks, which have the same func- 

 tion as in several species of Batistes. 



After Voigt, Blainville comes to the same conclusion; but 

 both leave the fish among the Malacopterygii, and it was left to 



* Bras. Zee- en Lant-Reize, ii. p. 2/4. f. 67. 

 t Voyage round the World, i. p. 64. 



