RfiMORA. 511 



crat the said porcellans within their temples of Venus. Some of 

 our Latin writers do call the said fish that thus staieth a ship, by the 

 name of remora." 



The real fact is, that the remora, being a fish of Tery weak 

 fin, takes the advantage of occasionally attaching itself to any large 

 swimming body, whether animate or inanimate, which it happens 

 to encounter ; adhering to ships, as well as whales, sharks, and 

 many other of the larger fishes : is has even been observed by 

 Commerson, that the remora is so ill calculated for supporting a 

 long and laborious course in the water, that when left to its own 

 exertions, it generally swims on its back, and that in an unsteady 

 and feeble manner. It is therefore necessary that it should avail 

 itself of the occasional assistance of some larger floating body. For 

 this purpose the upper part of the head is wonderfully constituted; 

 presenting a large, flat, oval shield or area, traversed by numerous 

 dissepiments or partitions, each of which is fringed at the edge by a 

 row of very numerous perpendicular teeth or filaments, while the 

 whole area or oval space is strengthened by a longitudinal division 

 or septum. So strong is the power of adhesion which the fish by 

 this apparatus is enabled to exert, that we are assured by Commer- 

 son, whose observations on this subject are detailed by Cepede, 

 that, on applying his thumb to the shield of a living remora, it was 

 affected not only with a strong stupor, but even with a kind of pa- 

 ralysis, which continued for a considerable time after withdrawing 

 his hand. When attached, as is frequently the case, to the skin of 

 a shark or other large fish, it quits not its hold when the former is 

 drawn out of the water, but continues adhering after the death of 

 the animal ; nor is it easy for the strongest arm to effect its separa- 

 tion, unless it be pulled in a lateral direction, so as to force it to 

 slide along the surface of the skin. When a great many of these 

 fishes are thus adhering at once to the sides of a ship, they may in 

 some degree retard its motion, by preventing its easy passage 

 through the water, in the same manner as other extraneous sub- 

 stances are known to do ; nor can it be thought improbable that 

 the adhesion of these fishes in considerable numbers to the side of a 

 small canoe in the earlier ages of mankind, may have operated still 

 more powerfully, and not only have impeded its progress, but even 

 have caused it to incline towards one side ; and the tale once re- 



