270 ORDER III. THORACICI REMORA. 



ORDER III. THORACICI. 



THE distinguishing character of this order is, that the 

 ventral fins are placed beneath the pectoral. There are 

 seventeen genera, and upwards of two hundred and twenty 

 species ; the most curious and valuable of which shall be 

 here noticed in their order. 



THE REMORA, OR SUCKING-FISH. 



This creature, which bears some resemblance to the her- 

 ring, is the echeneis of the Greeks ; and has been celebrated 

 from remote antiquity for its singular faculty of adhesion. 

 The head is thick, depressed, naked, and marked on the 

 upper side with transverse rough striae. The body, which 

 is of a hoary colour, is oblong, roundish, and naked ; 

 and the tail is bifid. 



The ancients, who ascribed marvellous qualities to every 

 object which they could not clearly comprehend, uni- 

 formly believed and reported that the sucking-fish was 

 capable of stopping a vessel in full sail, or a whale in 

 swimming. It is, however, very justly remarked, that 

 even several of these fishes together possess no more effi- 

 cacy to interrupt bodies moving in the sea than shells and 

 corals, which, by adhesion, occasion a slight incumbrance 

 only ; and several of them have in fact been taken from 

 the body of a shark. 



THE PARROT-FISH. 



This fish, which has received its name from the beauti- 

 ful variety of its tints, is found only about the coasts of 

 St. Domingo, Cuba, and the Bahamas. It has a large 

 mouth, filled, and almost paved as it were, with blunt 

 teeth closely connected. The body is covered with large 

 green scales ; the eyes are red and yellow ; the upper 

 part of the head is brown, the lower part of the gills 

 blue, bordered with a dusky red ; and a streak of red 

 extends from the throat behind the gills, at the upper end 



