ABOUT THE REMOKA. 499 



An eel-like clinging kind, of dusky looks, 

 Its jaws display tenacious rows of hooks ; 

 The sucking-fish beneath, with secret chains 

 Beneath its teeth, the sailing ship detains." 



Badham identifies the echineis with the lamprey ; but 

 we see no reason for disputing the usual classification of 

 zoologists, and prefer to regard it as the same with our 

 modern remora, or sucking-fish. That it is incapable of 

 performing the marvels ascribed to it by Pliny, Oppian, 

 and .^Elian, we need hardly say ; on the other hand, its 

 adhesive qualities are certainly remarkable. Its fins are 

 so feeble as to afford it but little support, and therefore 

 it attaches itself to various solid objects, to the keel of a 

 ship, to whales, sharks, and other fishes ; and so tena- 

 ciously does it cling, that it is exceedingly difficult to 

 accomplish the work of separation without the destruction 

 of the unfortunate remora. 



It is principally an inhabitant of the Mediterranean 

 and Atlantic waters. Its general colour is a dusky brown. 

 The skin is smooth and destitute of scales, but punctured 

 with numerous impressed points or pores. The mouth, 

 which is of large size, is armed with a number of small 

 teeth, and the lower jaw is longer than the upper. The 

 eyes are small, with yellow irises. The lateral line be- 

 gins above the pectoral fins, and from thence, descending 

 somewhat abruptly, runs straight in the tail, which is 

 slightly forked, or, more strictly speaking, cuneated. 



The adhesion of the remora is not effected by its 

 mouth, as in the case of the lamprey, whose mouth is a 

 complete sucking apparatus, but by a very curious and 

 even complex mechanism, which occupies the upper part 

 of the head. This may be compared to the lattice of a 

 small window of an elongated oval shape, the bars of the 



