INTRODUCTION. ^7 



according to Mr Bennet, to a height of from two 

 to twenty feet. 



Another manner of transportation is by means 

 of an apparatus by which the animal can fix itself 

 to any object in motion. Many fishes are sup- 

 plied with an organ of this kind, which also seems 

 to be used as a means of keeping themselves 

 secure amidst the turmoil of a storm, affixing 

 themselves to rocks and other steady substances 

 Among the most remarkable of these is the Re- 

 mora, or Sucking Fish, far famed in ancient story 

 for its power over the vessels of the mariner. These 

 fishes are of a narrow lengthened form, the head 

 large in proportion to the body, and furnished 

 with a flat oval shield composed of transverse 

 plates, each furnished with a row of fine teeth : 

 this is termed the sucking plate, and by means of 

 it they attach themselves firmly to the bodies of 

 larger fish, or the bottoms of ships, and are thus 

 transported. The common White Shark seems to 

 be their most frequent carrier, to which four or 

 five have been often found attached. The tail 

 and fins of the Remora are all comparatively very 

 small, and the fish has no air bladder. 



The Perca scandens transports itself, and scales 

 rocks, and even plants that grow from the water, 

 by means of the alternate use of the spines of the 

 pectoral fins, and M. Renau has asserted that he 



