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 
