EELS. 259 



The Rexnora,* or Sucking-Fish (Echeneis Remord), and its history is 

 loaded with fable. It was pretended that this fish lived by a species of suction 

 exerted by means of the disk above mentioned ; and the power of arresting 



FIG. 275. THE REMOKA. 



the fastest sailing vessel in her course was attributed to it. A much larger 

 species is common in the Isle of France ; and it is said that on the coast of 

 Caffraria it is employed in fishing, being sent off in pursuit of fishes and turtles, 

 and drawn in by a line attached to the tail as soon as it has fixed itself to its 

 victim. 



FOOTLESS SOFT-FINNED FISHES. ORDER MALACOPTERYGII 



APODES.f 



All the fishes belonging to this Order have an elongated form, 

 a thick, soft, and but slightly scaly skin ; their chief characteristic, 

 however, is their want of ventral fins. They form a single family, 



The Anguilliforines,J which includes the Eels, Gymnotits, &c. 

 All these fishes have the operculum very small, and opening far 

 back by a hole or sort of tube an arrangement enabling them 

 to live for some time out of water. 



The Eels (Anguilld) are characterized by having the openings of the gills 

 placed beneath the pectoral fins. They are too well known to require minute 

 description. Eels are very voracious and extremely agile. They swim equally 

 well backward or forward', and their skin is so slippery that it is difficult to hold 

 them. During a great part of their life they inhabit fresh water, and frequent 

 ponds and lakes as well as rivers. By day they almost always keep buried 

 in the mud, or lie concealed in holes that they excavate near the shore. These 

 holes are sometimes very extensive, and lodge a great number of eels ; but 

 in general their diameter is small, and they open externally at both ends, 

 thus enabling the animal to escape more easily when threatened with danger. 

 When the season is very warm, and the stagnant waters of the pool begin to 

 putrefy, the eels leave the bottom and conceal themselves in the herbage of 

 the shore, or even cross the land in search of a more favourable locality ; 

 they can, in fact, crawl on the ground like serpents, and remain a consider- 

 able time out of the water without perishing. Ordinarily they make these 

 singular journeys during the night. When the ponds dry up, they bury them- 

 selves in the sand and remain there till the \vater returns. The length of 



* Remora, a hindrance: so called because they were said to detain ships, 

 t a, a, without; TTOI-?, 7ro56j, pous, poclos, afoot. J Eel-shaped. 



17 2 



