286 Mr. E. W. Giulgcr o?i the. 



in their usual fasliion, to these have been falsely attributed 

 the cause ol their detention." 



It will he shown hiter how closelv Du 'Tertre eanie to a 

 true explanation, and it is to be regretted that in substituting 

 one mythical explanation for another he narrowly missed 

 the truth. Therein he was better ehurehman than natu- 

 ralist. 



Le Mairc (1(595) writes '' Le Sucez [Eeheneis] is so called 

 l)eeause it attaches itself by sucking. It is in size about 

 equal to a sole. When it attaciies itself to the ruchier, it 

 retards the vessel, but does not stop it as the Reuiora is 

 falsely said to do." 



In the face of what has just been quoted thei*e is now to 

 be presented from one of the most remote corners of the 

 world another and much later story of the Myth. Faber, in 

 iiis 'Natural History of the Fishes of Iceland ' (1829), gives 

 the following circumstantial account : — 



" In Jan Olsen's MS. it may be read [that] : ' In the year 

 1720, by chance it hajjpened on the strand before Ilunevand's- 

 Harde (in Nordisland) with a boat which had been rowed 

 out for the autumn fishery, that when the fishei'men wished 

 to return tiiey could not move the boat, although they rowed 

 with all their might. Then there was noticed behind on the 

 rudder a short stumpy fi">h, blackish-gray in color, which 

 moved itself a little and adhered so solidly to the boat that 

 one could scarcely pull it loose with the hand. It left 

 behind on the boat a mark of its body, and when it was 

 l)ullcd loose the boat went forward. The fishermen burned 

 it on the shore whereby a great stench was produced. This 

 animal ap[)ears to have been a Remora, and through this 

 account the matter seems to be confirmed that there are 

 really such living fish which can bring a ship to a standstill.' " 

 Faber then concludes : " The exaggeration of the account 

 being allowed for, it is not to be doubted this was a sucking 

 fish.'' 



There is now to be given the latest and most modern 

 account of retardation by the Remora that has come to light. 

 In 1778 there was published in London, "Translated under 

 the author's inspection, '^ the 'Travels in Dalmatia' of the 

 Abbe Alberto Fortis. The locality, it should be noted in 

 passing, is not very far removed from the countries Greece 

 and Rome, in which the legend originated. In a letter to 

 Signior Marsili, Professor of Botany in the University of 

 Padua, Fortis writes: — " I will finish this letter by relating 

 a fact, to which you may give that degree of faith which 

 vou tliink it merits. You have often read in ancient natu- 



