Myth of the Ship-holder. 273 



In corroboration of the foregoing, Hasselquist may he 

 quoted. In his c Journey to Palestine' (1757) he notes 

 that the Arabs at Alexandria called the sucking-fish 

 (Eche/ieis neuc rates) " 'Chamei 'I Ferrhun." Dr. Frank R. Blake 

 of the Johns Hopkins University has been good enough to 

 pass on this Arabic name. He writes that Chamei means 

 louse, and that ferrhun is probably — or, at any rate, possibly 

 — an erroneous transliteration for th&Arahic ferihun, meaning 

 agile or nimble. And that this meaning fits the actions of 

 the fish, anyone knows who has ever tried to catch with a dip- 

 net a shark-sucker from off its selachian host — it dodges as 

 expertly as a squirrel around a tree. However, Dr. Blake 

 says that there is an Ethiopic word ferihun, meaning terrible, 

 and that Hasselqui?t's name may mean " the louse of the 

 terrible one,*' and since this fish is found most frequently 

 adhering to the shark, this translation seems the most logical 

 one. 



In further corroboration of the contention that the 

 " dolphin's louse " is the Echeneis, another eastern traveller, 

 Forskal (1775), may also be quoted. At Djidda, a town on 

 the eastern side of the lied Sea about midway between Suez 

 and Aden, Forskal collected Echeneis neucrates, and was at 

 especial pains to note that the Arab fishermen there called 

 it " Keide " or " Kami el Kersh," which he translates " the 

 louse of the shark " ; while at Loheia, a town on the same 

 side of the sea, but further towards the south-east, it is called 

 " Keda." Dr. Blake has further obliged me by passing on 

 these terms also. He finds that " Kami el Kersh " means 

 " the louse of the fish of prey," which fish Forskal tells us 

 in the context was a shark belonging to the genus Carcharias. 

 Keda, he thinks, is probably a transliteration of the Arabic 

 Keide, a fetter or band, hence " the attached one/' Still 

 other testimony may be adduced as to the even more recent 

 use of this name. The German traveller Riippell in his 

 ' Fische des Rothen Meeres * (1835), published only some 

 eighty years ago, says of Echeneis : " In the northern part 

 of the Red Sea it is called Delka or else Gammet el Kersh, 



of the dolphin's louse as Naucrates ductor is erroneous as is Aristotle's 

 calling the little fish which lives among rocks Echeneis. The latter 

 was identified as a goby and the " dolphin's louse " was shown to he a 

 sucker-fish. Prof. Thompson on receiving this short paper very kindly 

 wrote me that, while there might be still some uncertainty about the 

 rock-dweller, he agreed aa to the identity of the " dolphin's louse.'' 

 And now it seems well to incorporate this note in these introductory 

 paragraphs and to add certain other data which have come to hand since 

 the above article was published. 



Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 9. Vol. ii. 21 



