166 VERTEBRATA. PISCES. 



and manner of swimming, the young of the White 

 Shark. Most of those were about two feet in length, 

 very slender, and, when taken out of water, were 

 covered with a viscid slime, which concealed a sur- 

 face of small oblong bony scales, detected only by 

 a roughness when the hand was passed against the 

 grain. The mouth opened on the upper side, from 

 the projection of the lower jaw. While at liberty, 

 these fishes were close attendants on a large Shark, 

 one or two on each side, generally just over his pec- 

 toral fins, keeping their position with respect to him, 

 like the Pilotfish ; sometimes they were seen belly 

 upward, adhering by the sucker to the upper side of 

 the Shark's fin ; at other times they were detached, 

 and numbers were around, without so closely accom- 

 panying him. We noticed some attach themselves 

 to the rudder of the ship ; one would swim up with 

 his back turned towards it, and stick on in an instant, 

 the vessel moving at about three knots ; there it 

 would remain off and on several hours, sometimes 

 detaching itself, and adhering again instantly; for 

 what end it would be difficult to say. When in 

 captivity, we found that the sucker adhered to 

 everything it touched, provided the surface would 

 cover the organ, apparently without the volition of 

 the animal, and so strongly, as to resist our endea- 

 vours to drag it off, without inserting something 

 beneath the sucker. In Griffith's Cuvier, it is stated 

 that the Echenei's is used to capture turtles. "In. 

 1809, when Mr. H. Salt, was at Mozambique, 

 having received a present of one of these fish, all 



