496 THE SUCKING-FISH. 



THE ECHENEIS, REMORA, OR SUCKING-FISH. 



No fish has been the subject of greater exaggeration 

 on the part of those naturalists who delight in wonders, 

 and eschew the calm research of science, than the remora 

 or echeneis ; yet its organization is in itself so curious 

 and admirable, that it required no embellishments of 

 fancy to render it an object of interest. 



Let us hear, however, what the ancients had to say 

 about it. 



According to Pliny, it is a small fish accustomed to 

 dwell among the rocks, which attaches itself to the keel 

 of ships, and retards or arrests their progress ; which is 

 used in the composition of love-potions ; which, owing to 

 some singular moral force inherent in it, can delay the 

 action of justice and the jurisdiction of tribunals; which 

 can secure pregnant women from the dangers of prema- 

 ture delivery ; and which, when preserved in salt, ac- 

 quires a magnetic power, and extracts from the depths of 

 wells whatever treasures they may contain. 



The current of the sea is great, says the Latin natu- 

 ralist,* its tides are mighty, the winds puissant and 

 forcible, and, more than that, oars and sails withal to 

 help forward the rest are mighty and powerful ; and yet 

 there is one little silly fish, echeneis, that checketh, 

 scorneth, and arresteth them all : let the winds blow as 

 much as they will, rage the storms and tempests never so 

 strong, even yet this little fish commandeth their fury, 

 restraineth their puissance, and, maugre all their force, as 

 great as it is, compelleth the ships to stand still 1 Why 

 should our fleets and armadas at sea make such turrets 



* Pliny, "Nat. Hist.," translated by Philemon Holland. 



