THE SUCKING-FISH. 333 



that they are flexible, and can be curved in any direction. It 

 is really beautiful to see the manner in which a Star-fish will 

 glide along by means of its suckers, its arms accommodating 

 themselves to the irregularities of the ground, and its multi- 

 tudinous suckers protruded and withdrawn with a never- 

 ceasing movement. 



And, as the Star- fish is apparently blind, not having any 

 organs which can even be conjectured to serve the purpose of 

 vision, this mode of directing its course is not easily under- 

 stood. Yet, blind though it may be, it guides itself with as 

 much accuracy as if it possessed eyes, and evidently does so 

 with a definite purpose, using its suckers with as much decision 

 as a centipede uses its legs. 



These suckers can be seen very well by placing a Star-fish in 

 a shallow vessel of sea- water, and laying it on its back. The 

 suckers immediately protrude themselves from their little 

 apertures, and the arms slowly curve themselves so as to find 

 something to which the suckers can adhere. Presently one or 

 two of the suckers will take hold of the bottom of the vessel. 

 Others soon follow, and in a very short time the Star- fish is on 

 its legs, if we may so call them, and is quietly gliding on its 

 way. 



BELOW the Star-fish is seen the celebrated Sucking-fish 

 (Echeneis remora) about which so many strange tales have been 

 told, and which is possessed of a structure remarkable enough 

 to need no aid from invention. The dorsal fin of this fish is 

 modified in a most singular manner. The spines of which it is 

 so largely composed are metamorphosed into flattened plates 

 very much resembling the laths of a Venetian blind, and form 

 an instrument of suction identical in principle, though not in 

 form, with those which have already been described. When 

 the sucker is pressed against a smooth surface, a vacuum is 

 formed, and the fish in consequence adheres firmly to the 

 object. 



The fact has been known for centuries, though it has only 

 been lately discovered, that the sucker was not a separate 

 apparatus, but merely one of the fins modified in a simple 

 though effective manner. Indeed, any one who has some 

 slight notion of the structure of a fin can easily see, by looking 



