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377 



and spend a great deal of their time on the ground, 

 though most of them are also birds of ready wing 

 when they do take the air. The third family, Cidtri- 

 rostrcs (knife-shaped bills), are, generally speaking, 

 birds of much larger size than those of the second 

 division, if we except the bustards. They are also 

 more aquatic in their habits, and the flesh of most 

 of them is very inferior for food. They include 

 the cranes, the storks, the herons, the boatbi'.ls, 

 and various others. The bills of all this species 

 are fitted for seizing prey of considerable dimen- 

 sions, which is, however, more frequently fish, rep- 

 tiles, or garbage, than warm blooded animals in the 

 living state. Some of them have the bill of immense 

 size, an instance of which will be found in the article 

 ADJUTANT. The fourth family, Longirostres (long 

 bills), have that organ generally much produced, but 

 varying much in texture and in form, according to the 

 kind of their food, and the mode in which they obtain 

 it. Some of them range along the banks of streams, 

 and pick up refuse, but the greater part feed upon 

 insects, worms, and other small animals, in or near 

 the shallow waters, or the sludgy mud. The fifth 

 family, Macrodaclylcs (long toes), includes those spe- 

 cies which have the toes proportionally much larger 

 than those of any of the other species. Some of them 

 have the toes without webs, or only with mere rudi- 

 ments ; but others have them partially webbed or 

 margined for their whole length, and can either run 

 alone: the waters or occasionally swim. The carrying 

 bird of New Holland, the pratincole, and the flamingo, 

 are the principal ones which stand apart, and do not 

 strictly belong to any of the five families. 



ECHENEIS (Remora, or Sucker-fish). A genus 

 of soft-tinned fishes, with the ventral fins immediately 

 under the pectorals. Their most singular character 

 is the sucker with which they are furnished on the 

 upper part of the head, and by means of which they 

 can attach themselves to rocks, to the bodies of other 

 fishes, to the bottoms of ships, to floating wood, or 

 other substances. But though this organ is called a 

 sucker, it is not capable of performing the operation 

 usually called sucking ; that is, they do not, by 

 means of it, extract any part of the substance of that 

 to which they fasten themselves, either for the 

 purpose of holding on in currents, or for that of 

 being borne along on that which floats or otherwise 

 moves in the water. Various stories have been told 

 of those fishes arresting the course of vessels in full 

 sail, and doing other things equally marvellbus ; but 

 we need hardly add that these are wholly destitute 

 of truth. That a ship would not sail the faster for 

 having these fishes on it is true, for in equal numbers 

 they would have nearly the same retarding effect as 

 bernacles or sea-weed, but it would take a great 

 number of them to have any effect. 



The sucker consists of a number of transverse 

 cartilaginous lamina 1 , which are directed obliquely 

 forwards at their external extremities, denticulated on 

 their posterior edges, and moveable at pleasure by the 

 fish. 



All the>- genus have the body elongated and 

 covered with small scales. They have a single soft 

 dorsal fin placed immediately over the anal. The 

 head is quite flat on the upper side ; the eyes are 

 placed in the sides : the mouth opens horizontally, 

 and is rounded at the muzzle ; the lower jaw is the 

 longest, and both are furnished with small teeth 

 placed cardwisc, but with a more regular row around 



the sides of the jaws ; the front edge of the vomer is 

 also covered with small teeth ; the gill-flaps contain 

 eight rays ; the stomach is a large cul-de-sac ; they 

 have eight or nine caecums ; their intestinal canals 

 are short and simple, and they are without any air- 

 bladder. 



These fishes, in one or other of their species, are 

 found in almost all seas, and their peculiar form early 

 drew the attention of observers, and gave occasion to 

 those fabulous stories to which we have already 

 alluded. That the singular apparatus with which the 

 heads of these fishes are furnished answers some 

 important purpose in their economy cannot for a 

 moment be doubted, because we never find a specific 

 organ in any animal without a specific use to which 

 that organ is applied. The sucker in these fishes is 

 fit only for one purpose, that of adhering, and there- 

 fore there can be no doubt that this is precisely the 

 use which they make of it ; and as it is equally fitted 

 for adhering to fixed and to moveable substances, it is 

 equally efficient as an instrument of repose and an in- 

 strument of motion. Furnished with this simple but 

 beautifully-formed apparatus, they have a perfect com- 

 mand of themselves in all seas without the muscular 

 effort necessary for maintaining their position in 

 spile of currents, and making their way for long dis- 

 tances without exertion of their fins. Adhering to the 

 rock by means of the sucker, they can, as the flood 

 races by loaded with those small animals on which they 

 feed, remain perfectly at rest in the very turmoil of 

 the waters, and feed in safety where no other fish 

 can maintain its position. It will be readily under- 

 stood, that, as the sucker holds on by a perfect 

 expulsion of the water from the surface to which it 

 attaches itself, it will retain its position by not only 

 the pressure of the air, but by that of all the depth of 

 water over it, and if this happens to be equal to about 

 thirty-three feet, it will adhere with the force of about 

 thirty pounds upon each inch of the sucker. This is 



uite sufficient to retain a small and slender-bodied 

 sh against any rush of the water which we can 

 imagine to occur in the sea ; nor would it be easy to 

 pull any of those fishes from the rock by main force. 

 In consequence of this powerful means of adhesion, 

 it can select the swiftest and most powerful fishes in 

 the sea for its beasts of burden, and ride safely 

 through the water, without effort on its own part, and 

 also without very much impeding the motion of the 

 fish to which it adheres. It attaches itself to most of 

 the fast-swimming fishes which play near the surface ; 

 but we believe the shark, in one or other of its 

 species, is the one which it prefers, and it is often 

 seen attached to this powerful fish when racing along 

 the deep with more velocity than the fleetest horse 

 can display upon land. In these its excursions, it no 

 doubt finds abundance of food in those small animals 

 which float near the surface, especially in the warmer 

 seas ; and while it can be thus employed, it is itself 

 perfectly secure from danger, because if it once gets 

 hold, the fish to which it is attached can do it no 

 harm, however voracious that fish may naturally be. 



There are several species of this fish, and though 

 they are very generally distributed, they are much 

 more abundant in the warm seas than in the cold 

 ones, being most plentiful near the equator, and espe- 

 cially in those intertropical regions, where currents of 

 the "water are continually setting. Except for the 

 peculiarity of its structure no fish of this genus is of 

 much interest. They are hardly ever used for food, 



