THE SEA LAMPREY. 277 



" The seamen run confus'd, no labor spared, 

 Let fly the sheets, and hoist the topmast yard; 

 The master bids them give her all the sails, 

 To court the winds and catch the coming gales; 

 But though the canvas bellies with the blast, 

 And boisterous winds bend down the cracking mast. 

 The bark stands firmly rooted on the sea. 

 And all unmov'd as tower or towering tree." 



Pliny writes : ** Wliy should our fleets and armadas at 

 sea make such turrets on the walls and forecastles, when one 

 little fish (see the vanity of man!) is able to arrest and stay, 

 perforce, our goodly and tall ships?" 



These are droll fancies ; but, tested by the fact, the adhe- 

 sive powers of this fish are very remarkable, great weights 

 being dragged by it, and retaining its hold with a bull-dog 

 tenacity, even submitting to be torn to pieces before it will 

 relinquish its hold. It is frequently seen among other fishes 

 in the Atlantic, attaching itself to some one or other by its 

 sucker, and often, also, to the rudder or bottom of a ship. 



The length of the Mediterranean remora is about eight- 

 een inches, and the length of the head is nearly one-fifth of 

 the proportion of the whole fish. Feeding principally on 

 the small animals diffused throughout the waters of the 

 ocean, it probably receives a suflSciency of food even when 

 attached to a moving object, as a ship or large fish, merely 

 by opening its mouth, which has a very large gape. 



Belonging to a distinct family, but employing its mouth 

 as a powerful sucker, is the Sea-Lamprey, a species resem- 

 bling eels in the rounded shape of the body and a certain 

 similarity of habits. The mouth is circular, armed with 

 hard tooth-like processes, and provided with a flexible lip. 

 So great is the power of suction which it possesses, that a 

 stone has been raised by it out of the water, weighing ten 

 or twelve pounds, and yet the fish measures but from two 

 to three feet. 



The historical renown of the lamprey is very great. It 



