^70 MALACOPTERYGII. — ECHENEIDID^. 



Mediterranean; a specimen of which was taken 

 by Dr. Turton from the back of a Cod at Swan- 

 sea, in the year 1806. The coronal disk in this 



species contains about eighteen pairs of plates ; 

 the fins are leathery, the caudal forked. The 

 body is of a dusky hue, darker on the upper 

 parts and paler below. 



The natives of Hispaniola and Jamaica are 

 described by the early Spanish writers as in the 

 habit of using a species of this genus in fishing. 

 The fisherman, carrying the Remora out in his 

 canoe, attached around its tail a slender line of 

 great length, and threw it overboard. The in- 

 stinct of the Remora impelled it to fasten on any 

 fish that chanced to swim by, when the owner 

 hauling upon the line, gradually drew in both 

 fishes, the hold of the sucker pertinaciously re- 

 taining the prey in spite of all its efforts to 

 escape. From some observations of our own on 

 the habits of a large West Indian species, we are 

 inclined to believe this account, though we do 

 not know that the device is at present employed. 

 At Mozambique, an oriental species is said to be 

 used in exactly the same manner for the capture 

 of Turtle sleeping at the surface. 



