Myth of the Sli ip-holde r. 2 8 L 



that he quotes his predecessors by name only, rarely hy hook 

 or chapter: He adds nothing to our knowledge of the 

 Myth. 



Gesner, however, is the first writer since the ancients to 

 attempt a description of Echeneis. This description, which 

 is found in the last paragraph of his section on the Echeneis, 

 is evidently that of a goby, and is quoted here that the 

 reader may judge for himself, and not be led into the error 

 of crediting (Testier with the first description. 



"There is a little fish found in the ocean at Emda in 

 Prisia (so a certain friend has related tome) four digits long, 

 of very slimy skin, without scales, having a head large in 

 proportion to its body, eyes small, the rest of the body cone- 

 shaped. Under its chin it had the form of a sucker by 

 which it probably adheres to rocks, for when he pressed this 

 cavity with his finger (so my friend narrated it) it adhered 

 to it so that it could be carried about." 



In Chapter XXXVII. of Liber X. of his ' Operum/ pub- 

 lished at Lugduni in 1561, Jerome Cardan writes of the 

 action of the Remora as if it were a settled fact, but adds 

 nothing of value to detain us here. He will be referred to 

 later as offering an explanation of the ship-staying powers 

 of the fish. 



Departing from the beaten track of repeating what some 

 previous writer had copied, the Dutchman, Jan Huygen van 

 Linschoten, or, as his name is Latinized, Joannes Hugo 

 Linscotanus (1596), • gives the following interesting and 

 detailed account of the ship-holding power of the Remora: — 



"And because I am now in hand with the Fishes of India, 

 I will here declare a short and true Historie of a Fish, 

 although to some it may seeme incredible, but it standeth 

 painted in the Viceroyes Pallace in India, and was set downe 

 by true and credible witnesses that it was so, and therefore 

 it standeth there for memorie of a wonderful thing j together 

 with the names and surnames of the ship, Captaine, day, & 

 yere when it was done, and as yet there are men living at 

 this day, that were in the same shippe and adventure, for 

 that it not long since, and it was thus. That a ship sayling 

 from Mosambique into India, and they having f aire weather, 

 a good fore winde, as much as the Sayles might brave before 

 the winde, for the space of fourteene dayes together, directing 

 their course towards the Equinoctiall line, every day as they 

 tooke the height of the Sunne, in stead of diminishing or 

 lessening their degrees, according to the Winde and course 

 they had and held, they found themselves still contrarie, 

 and every day further backwards then they were, to the 



