396 Dr. A. Giinther on the History of Echeneis. 



distinguish it specifically by the same incorrect character from 

 E. remora, viz. '' cauda integra." The description given by Lace- 

 pede is of special value, as in this species also he had the 

 advantage of using the manuscripts of Commerson, who made 

 detailed observations on the living fish. He says that the num- 

 ber of the laminfe of the buckler varies between twenty-two and 

 twenty-six; but he considers the vertical or rounded max'gin of 

 the caudal fin as a constant character. An account of a rather 

 singular manner of catching sleeping turtles by means of a 

 sucking-fish, held by a ring fastened round its tail, appears to 

 have originated rather from an experiment than from a regular 

 sport. The story is copied by Shaw *. 



Russell (Fishes of Coromandel, i. p. 39, pi. 49) figures a spe- 

 cimen with twenty-five laminae, under the name of Ala Mottah, 

 given by the natives to the fish. I do not know whether this 

 variety is identical with a fish described by M. Lienard in the 

 ' Quatrieme Rapport Annuel sur Ics Travaux de la Societe 

 d'Histoire Naturelle de I'lle Maurice^ (a work not accessible to 

 me), and shortly mentioned in Proc. Zool. Soc. 1835, p. 205, or 

 whether the latter is a truly different species. 



The first attempt to separate specifically some forms very 

 similar to E. naucrates was made by Mitchill. Schcepff^ 

 Storer \,- and Mitchill himself § had been of opinion that the 

 larger species of Sucking-fish on the North American coast was 

 identical W\i\\ E. nauc7-ates; and Richardson || mentions its oc- 

 currence even as far northwards as the coast of Newfoundland, 

 where it had been fovmd by Audubon. At a later period, how- 

 ever, Mitchill^ was struck by the white margin of the fins, which 

 is more or less conspicuous in all specimens, especially in those 

 of younger age ; he named this imaginary species Echeneis albi- 

 cauda, which name, as is quite clear, was originally not intended 

 for the fish afterwards described by Holbrook as E. lineata, but 

 merely for specimens of E. naucrates with a marked white mar- 

 gin to the fins. We cannot expect to find the question of the 

 existence of a second large species in the Atlantic settled by 

 Dekay. He ** adopts for the species found at New York the 

 name oiE. alhicauda, adding that he had never seen E. naucrates ; 

 he repeats from Mitchill that its principal character is the white 

 margin of the fins; his statement, that the number of laminae 



* Zool. iv. p. 209, pi. 31 (half-grown s))ecimen). 



t Schi-iften der Gesellsclijift naturforsch. Freunde zu Berlin, viii. p. 145. 



X Report Fishes Massach. p. 153. 



§ Lit. and Phil. Trans. New York, i. p. 377. 



II Faun. 15or. Amer. iii. p. 266. 



11 Amer. Month. Magaz. ii. ]). 244. 



** New York Fauna\ Fishes, pp. 307, 308, pi. 54. f. 117. 



