206 ACANTHOPTERYGII. MACKEREL FAMILY. 



Shark, and accompany and befriend it as opportu- 

 nity offers. Notwithstanding the prevalence of this 

 assertion, it has been denied by others, who hold 

 that these tales are quite apocryphal, and allege 

 that the fact is reduced to this, that the Pilot 

 follows vessels like the Shark, and with still greater 

 perseverance, solely for the purpose of obtaining a 

 share of the garbage which may be thus procured : 

 this, it is held, explains the apparent alliance, and 

 with the greater appearance of probability, that M. 

 Bosc assures us that he has seen hundreds of these 

 fish, which always kept at some distance from the 

 Shark, but as soon as crumbs and fragments were 

 thrown overboard, stopped to seize them ; thus for 

 the time abandoning both Shark and ship, and 

 manifesting the real object which attracted them. 



All this is so far well ; but it does not account 

 for all the facts which have been noted regarding 

 the habits of this fish. Thus, our able coadjutor, 

 Colonel Hamilton Smith, many years ago, furnished 

 to Mr. Griffiths' edition of Cuvier, the following in- 

 formation : " Capt. Richards, R. N., during his last 

 station in the Mediterranean, saw on a fine day a 

 blue Shark, which followed the ship. After a time, 

 a shark-hook baited with pork was flung out. The 

 Shark, attended by four Pilot-fish, repeatedly ap- 

 proached the bait ; and every time he did so, one 

 of the Pilots preceded him, was distinctly seen from 

 the taffrail of the ship to run his snout against the 

 side of the Shark's head to turn it away. After 

 this continued for a time, the Shark swam off in the 



