286 Mr. E. W. Gudger on the 



in their usual fashion, to these have been falsely attributed 

 the cause of their detention." 



It will be shown later how closelv Du Tertre came to a 

 true explanation, and. it is to be regretted that in substituting 

 one mythical explanation for another lie narrowly missed 

 the truth. Therein he was better churchman than natu- 

 ralist. 



Le Maire (1(595) writes u Le Sucez [Echeneis] is so called 

 because it attaches itself by sucking. It is in size about 

 equal to a sole. When it attaches itself to the rudder, it 

 retards the vessel, but does not stop it as the Re mora is 

 falsely said to do." 



In the face of what has just been quoted there is now to 

 be presented from one of the most remote corners of the 

 world another and much later story of the Myth. Faber, in 

 his 'Natural History of the Fishes of Iceland' (1829), gives 

 the following circumstantial account : — 



" In Jan Olsen's MS. it may be read [that] : ' In the year 

 1720, by chance it happened, on the strand before Hunevand's- 

 Harde (in Nordisland) with a boat which had been rowed 

 out for the autumn fishery, that when the fishermen wished 

 to return they could not move the boat, although they rowed 

 with all their might. Then there was noticed behind on the 

 rudder a short stumpy fish, blackish-gray in color, which 

 moved itself a little and adhered so solidly to the boat that 

 one could scarcely pull it loose with the hand. It left 

 behind on the boat a mark of its body, and when it was 

 pulled loose the boat went forward. The fishermen burned 

 it on the shore whereby a great stench was produced. This 

 animal appears to have been a Remora, and through this 

 account the matter seems to be confirmed that there are 

 really such living fish which can bring a ship to a standstill/ " 

 Faber then concludes : " The exaggeration of the account 

 being allowed for, it is not to be doubted this was a sucking 

 fish." 



There is now to be given the latest and most modern 

 account of retardation by the Remora that has come to light. 

 In 1778 there was published in London, "Translated under 

 the author's inspection," the ' Travels in Dal matia ' of the 

 Abbe Alberto Fortis. The locality, it should be noted in 

 passing, is not very far removed from the countries Greece 

 and Rome, in which the legend originated. In a letter to 

 Signior Marsili, Professor of Botany in the University of 

 Padua, Fortis writes: — " I will finish this letter by relating 

 a fact, to which you may give that degree of faith which 

 you think it merits. You have often read in ancient natu- 



