REMORA. 113 



to drive away the water, so that, by a process of exhaustion, it may 

 adhere with the firmness it is known to be capable of exerting, which 

 is so great that the strength of a man is scarcely sufficient to tear it 

 away. Even in death itself the close attachment continues, although 

 a sliding motion may without much difficulty loosen its hold. To the 

 fish itself this removal is easy, and is accomplished chiefly by an action 

 of the border, that permits a little water to pass among the attaching 

 lamina?. From the drawing of a foreign species in my possession, I 

 am led to conclude that when the sucking apparatus is not in action 

 the sides of the disk are capable of being brought together for the 

 purpose of covering and protecting the laminae of the disk. 



KEMORA. 



SUCKING FISH. 



Remora, "Willottghby; Appendix, table ix. 



Echeneis remora, Linnaeus. Cuvier. Bloch; pi. 172. 



" " Lacepede. Risso. 



Jexyns; Manual, p. 473. 

 " " Yarrell; Br. Fishes, vol. ii, p. 377. 



" " Gunther; Annals, etc. of Natural History 



for 1860, p. 6; and Catalogue of British 

 Museum, vol. ii, p. 378. 



It does not appear that when left to itself this fish is capable 

 of long continued or very rapid motion; and yet it is found to 

 be distributed over a wide extent of ocean, in regions where 

 the climate is sufficiently accommodated to its nature; but it has 

 not been met with northward of the temperate zone; beyond 

 which the water appears to be cold for its sensations. It is 

 said to be common in the Pacific Ocean, East and West Indies, 

 and on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as in the Mediter- 

 ranean; although, at least in the sea last mentioned, it is 

 represented, as we have seen, to shun a near approach to the 

 land; a habit which, according to Risso, has been accounted 

 for by supposing that it is influenced by dislike to the diluted 

 condition of the water, where a river pours its stream to mingle 

 w r ith the Salter fluid of the deep. But whatever be the cause, 

 there is reason to think there is truth in the supposition that 

 VOL. II. Q 



