THE COMMON REMORA, OR SUCKING-FISH. 421 



introduced into the Lake of Geneva and might be placed advantageouslv 

 for culture in many other waters. To this family also belong the Bib 

 and Pout, the Poor, the Coal Fish and the Pollock. 



THORACIC FISH. 



OF THE SUCKING-FISH TRIBE. 



THE Sucking-fishes have a naked, flat, and oily head, surrounded by 

 a narrow margin, and marked with several transverse streaks or 

 grooves. They have also ten rays in their gill-membrane; and their 

 body is destitute of scales. 



There are only three known species ; these are occasionally seen in 

 the Mediterranean Sea, and the Pacific Ocean. 



THE COMMON RBMORA, OR SUCKING-FISH. 



From the time of Aristotle to the present day, this fish has been an 

 object of constant attention 

 and surprise. The ancient 

 naturalists, not satisfied with 

 imputing to it wonderful 

 qualities, and very extraor- 

 dinary powers, proceeded 



so far as even to regard its wmm BHIOIlAa 



properties among what they 



denominated the occult qualities of nature. The Remora, in almost 

 all ages, has ranked high in the writings of poets, in the comparisons 

 of orators, the narrations of travellers, and the descriptior.% of natu- 

 ralists. 



The ancients absurdly believed that, small as it is, this fish had the 

 power of arresting the progress of a ship in its fastest sailing, by 

 adhering to its bottom. 



It inhabits most parts of the ocean, and is often found so strongly 

 adhering to the sides of Sharks and other fish, by means of the process 

 on the upper p irt of its head, as not to be separated without great 

 difficulty. Five of these fish have been taken off the body of a single 

 Shark. St. Pierre says, he has put some of them on an even surface 

 of glass, from which he could not afterwards remove them. 



The Indians of Jamaica and Cuba formerly used the Sucking-fish in 

 the catching of others, somewhat in the same manner as Hawks are 

 employed by a falconer in seizing birds. They kept them for the 

 purpose, and had them regularly fed. The owner, on a calm morning, 

 would carry one of them out to sea, secured to his canoe, by a slender 

 but strong line, many fathoms in length ; and the moment the creature 

 eavv a fish in the water, though at a great distance, it would dart away 

 with the swiftness of an arrow, and soon fasten upon it. The Indian 



