110 PILOT FISH. 



descriptions left us of its shape and size are insufficient and 

 contradictory; and the figure given by Ruysch, in his "Theatrura 

 omnium Animalium," pi. iv, f. 4, of the fish which he terms 

 Mysticetus Balcnce Dux, acknowledged from Aldrovandus, is 

 wholly imaginary. Modern observation therefore has failed in 

 recognising this Guide or Pilot by any other character than 

 that implied by its name; but it is only necessary for us to 

 substitute the Shark in the place of the Whale to enable us to 

 discover how fittingly the history answers to the fish we are 

 speaking of. 



It is the firm belief of sailors that such a fish is known to 

 them; and that it ventures to be in close companionship with 

 those ferocious inhabitants of the ocean without fear or danger, 

 and even with signs of attachment; while the Sharks also seem 

 conscious of a sympathetic feeling for their little friend. This 

 widely-spread belief is remarkably corroborated by the narrative 

 of the late Lieutenant-Colonel C. Hamilton Smith, who himself 

 was well known as an eminent naturalist, as the Captain Richards 

 he mentions was also a man of unquestionable truth, and a 

 correct observer. It Avas in the Mediterranean that, on a fine 

 day, a Blue Shark followed the ship, attracted perhaps by a 

 corpse which had been commited to the waves. After some 

 time a Shark-hook, baited with pork, was flung out. The Shark, 

 attended by four Pilot Fishes, repeatedly approached the bait, 

 and every time he did so one of the Pilot Fishes, preceding 

 him, was distinctly seen from the taffrail of the ship, to run 

 his snout against the side of the Shark's head, and turn it away. 

 After some farther play the fish swam ofi" in the wake of the 

 vessel, his dorsal fin being long distinctly visible above the 

 water. When he had gone, however, a considerable distance, 

 he suddenly turned round, darted after the vessel, and before 

 the Pilot Fish could overtake him and interpose, snapped at the 

 bait and was taken. In hoisting him up one of the Pilot Fishes 

 was observed to cling to his side until he was half above water, 

 when it fell off. All the Pilot Fishes then swam about awhile, 

 as if in search of their friend, with every apparent mark of 

 anxiety and distress, and afterwards darted suddenly down into 

 the depths of the sea. The Colonel believed these observations 

 on the Pilot Fish to be perfectly correct, as he had himself 

 watched with intense curiosity an event in all respects precisely 



