18 Mr. E. W. Gudger on the 



his book*, published at Basilise in 1557, his description 

 of the ship-retarder, which he denominates Mustela marina, 

 is very inexact ; but when he says that it has seven round 

 openings on each side of its neck, we recognize it as a 

 lamprey-eel. The interesting thing in his account is his 

 recital of a voyage on the Liger River in the spring, when 

 seven large specimens were detached from the prow of the 

 boat, where they acted as very effectual remoras — delayers. 

 In this account Cardan effectually corroborates Rondeletj-, 

 who says that he has seen a lamprey-eel attach itself to a 

 boat and actually retard its progress. Both these ancients 

 in turn are corroborated fully by one of the most distinguished 

 ichthyologists of the present day, Mr. David G. Stead, of 

 Australia J, who tells of an instance coming under his own 

 observation of a vessel in tropical waters being actually 

 " considerably delayed through a school of ' suckers' attaching 

 themselves all round its sides and bottom." 



Next we come to the old Jesuit, Athanasius Kircher 

 (1643), who goes very carefully into the matter of the ship- 

 holder. Not to weary the reader, the gist of Kircher's 

 dissertation is to be found in the following paragraph. He 

 contends that the explanation of the retardation of ships by 

 a fish is as fabulous as that this is due to magnetic rocks, 

 and goes on to offer the following explanation of his own : — 



" Nevertheless I do not deny that ships in their course do 

 stand still. But I do not think to ascribe this to any occult 

 quality, nor to any virtue derived from heaven, nor to any 

 fantastic cause whatever, but to contrary upheavals or 

 currents in the sea. For unless I had observed such a 

 happening myself, I would myself scarcely believe that 

 which I am going to set forth. Truly it happens not in- 

 frequently in the Strait of Sicily that a huge ship with all 

 sails set to a following wind sticks fast in the middle of the 

 sea as if she had been affixed to a spike in a beam, the other 

 ships in the neighbourhood holding their courses. This I 

 allege not only on the testimony of my own eyes, but of 

 that of the inhabitants of Messina, who frequently enjoy 

 this spectacle. In like fashion the imperial fleet of Anthony 

 at the battle of Actium was detained in the narrows of the 

 Archipelago. This I would ascribe to the currents and 



* Cordano, Girolanio. ' Ilieronymi Cardani Mediolanensis Medici de 

 Rerum Yarietate Libri XVII.' Basiliee, 1557, chapter 31. 



t Rondelet, Guillaume. 'L'Histoire Entiere des Poissons.' Lion, 

 1558, p. 313. The original edition of this great work was published in 

 Latin in 1554. 



\ Stead, David G. ' Fishes of Australia.' Sydney, 19C6, pp. 190-191. 



