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HISTORY OF FISHES. 



class, one is sometimes at a loss whether it be 

 a lish or an insect that lies before him. Thus 

 the hippocampus and the pipe-fish bear a strong 

 resemblance to the caterpillar and the worm ; 

 while the lesser orb bears some likeness to the 

 class of sea-eggs to be described after. I will 

 conclude this account of cartilaginous fishes 

 with the description of an animal which I 

 would scarcely call a fish, but that Father La- 

 bat dignifies it with the name. Indeed, this 

 class teems with such a number of odd-shaped 

 animals, that one is prompted to rank every 

 thing extraordinary of the finny species among 

 the number : but besides, Labat says, its bones 

 are cartilaginous, and that may entitle it to a 

 place here. 



The animal I mean is the Galley Fish, 

 which Linnaeus degrades into the insect tribe, 

 under the title of the medusa, but which I 

 choose to place in this tribe, from its habits, 

 that are somewhat similar. To the eye of an 

 unmindful spectator, this fish seems a trans- 

 parent bubble swimming on the surface of the 

 sea, or like a bladder variously and beautifully 

 painted with vivid colours, where red and 

 violet predominate, as variously opposed to 

 the beams of the sun. It is, however, an ac- 

 tual fish ; the body of which is composed of 

 cartilages, and a very thin skin filled with air, 

 which thus keeps the animal floating on the 

 surface, as the waves and the winds happen to 

 drive. Sometimes it is seen thrown on the 

 shore by one wave, and again washed back 

 into the sea by another. Persons who happen 

 to be walking along the shore often happen to 

 tread upon these animals ; and the bursting of 

 their body yields a report like that when one 

 treads upon the swim of a fish. It has eight 

 broad feet, with which it swims, or which it 

 expands to catch the air as with a sail. It 

 fastens itself to whatever it meets by means 

 of its legs, which have an adhesive quality. 

 Whether they move when on shore, Labat 

 could never perceive, though he did every 

 thing to make them stir ; he only saw that it 

 strongly adhered to whatever substances he 

 applied it. It is very common in America, 

 and grows to the size of a goose-egg, or some- 

 what more. It is perpetually seen floating; 

 and no efforts that are used to hurt it can sink 

 it to the bottom. All that appears above water 

 is a bladder clear and transparent as glass, 



and shining with the most beautiful colours of 

 the rainbow. Beneath, in the water, are four 

 of the feet already mentioned, that serve as 

 oars, while the other four are expanded above 

 to sail with. But what is most remarkable 

 in this extraordinary creature, is the violent 

 pungency of the slimy substance with which 

 its legs are smeared. If the smallest quantity 

 but touch the skin, so caustic is its quality, 

 that it burns it like hot oil dropped on the 

 part affected. The pain is worst in the heat 

 of the day, but ceases in the cool of the even- 

 ing. It is from feeding on these that he 

 thinks the poisonous quality contracted by 

 some West Indian fish may be accounted for. 

 It is certain these animals are extremely 

 common along all the coasts in the gulf of 

 Mexico; and whenever the shore is covered 

 with them in an unusual manner, it is con- 

 sidered as a certain forerunner of a storm. 1 



1 The Remora or Sucking- Fish. (See Plate XXI. 

 fig. 16.) This extraordinary fish is furnished with a 

 most peculiar apparatus, on the crown of its head, by 

 which it is enabled at will to fix itself firmly to any other 

 body. For what purpose this uncommon arrangement 

 of parts has been bestowed on it, we have no certain 

 means of judging; for the wonders of the deep are but 

 partially unfolded to our view, and the deep recesses of 

 its caves, the feeding-grounds of fish, are completely 

 out of our reach. We may, however, by observing the 

 peculiar formation of the remora, make some reasonable 

 conjecture at the intention of Providence in thus depart- 

 ing from its ordinary course. 



The small size of the fins in this fish, take away 

 from it the power of rapid motion ; it may therefore be 

 supposed, that at times it fixes itself to the moving 

 bodies, such as ships, or larger fish, on which it is fre- 

 quently found, for the purpose of rest, or to help it more 

 rapidly onward in its course. It may also feed, in one 

 instance, on substances thrown overboard by the sailors, 

 and in the other, on such portions of food as its larger 

 companion rejects or lets slip. In addition to this, the 

 power of attaching itself to rocks or other fixed bodies at 

 the bottom of the sea, while waiting for the passing by 

 of any small object on which it can prey, will, no doubt, 

 at times, be of great advantage to its possessor. 



A foolish idea prevailed, in former times, that when 

 this fish attached itself in great numbers to the bottoms 

 of vessels, it impeded, or even stopped them in their 

 course, and many fabulous tales have been told to that 

 effect. If no other object has been gained, by the 

 study of natural history, than the removal of such 

 simple prejudices, which would seem to imply that one 

 part of the creation was made for the useless destruction 

 of another, still that study would be a useful object of 

 cultivation. 



