The Drum 319 



built, thick-set, " double-decked," dark grayish fish 

 come slowly out of the gloom of the channel. It 

 swam with great deliberation, and I quickly recog- 

 nized the high forehead, the big dorsal fin, of the 

 drum, or " big porgy." On it came, until it reached 

 a pile not six feet from me, when it stopped and 

 began, after the fashion of its kind, to dine upon 

 barnacles and teredos incrusting the woodwork, 

 making the rotten and disintegrating wood fly 

 in every direction. As the fish poised and moved 

 around the pile, I noticed something peculiar 

 about it. It had several horizontal stripes which 

 were not fixed, but undulating and wavy, and 

 presently I saw that they were remoras, the pecul- 

 iar fishes which attach themselves to sharks by 

 the sucking plates upon their heads. There were 

 four of these fishes clinging to the drum, which 

 patiently towed them about wherever it went, bear- 

 ing them not only without the slightest protest, 

 but with absolute indifference. As the pieces of 

 teredo-infested wood began to permeate the water 

 with a dusky cloud, the remoras disconnected 

 themselves and darted rapidly about, evidently 

 feeding. The fish was one of the largest I had 

 seen, and I determined to attempt its capture. 

 Not fifty feet away, alongshore, were the remains 



