SCOMBEEID^. 227 



Lacepede, who repudiates the notion of the sagacity 

 usually attributed to these pilots, observes, with refer- 

 ence to romantic relations in natural history generally, 

 that the accurate naturalist is as much bound to point 

 out such quicksands of the understanding, as the hydro- 

 grapher in his chart to mark those other syrtes where 

 vessels have been known to founder. Why pilots follow 

 ships, if not for the sake of the shark's company, is mys^ 

 terious, and has given rise accordiagly to many strange 

 fancies. Some suppose it is to gratify a social instinct, 

 as when a dog escorts a gay barouche, and seems to say 

 to the high-mettled roadsters, as he leaps up to. salute 

 them, — 



Say, shall my little harh attendant sail. 

 Pursue your triumpli and partake the gale. 



Others, again, view it as a mere instance of cupboard 

 love, and for what may be thrown overboard ; this is the 

 more probable conjecture, as the pilot has often been 

 observed to forsake the shark for some strong-scented 

 offal cast upon the waters, leaving him wholly unpro- 

 tected till the carrion has been gorged. 



The Caeanx. 



The carans trachurus (bastard-mackerel) probably 

 corresponds with the individual so called by Oppian and 

 Athenseus. It abounds in the Mediterranean, and is a 

 dry coarse fish, fit only for hungry boatmen and pan- 

 ichthyophagous puss. The entrails, however, enjoyed 

 a great reputation at Constantinople in the days of Be- 

 lon ; and at Rome, where much inferior fish stiU finds 

 a ready market during Lent, and on other maigre days, 

 this caranx is often seen, heard, and smelt, sputtering in 

 rancid grease, at street-stalls, or served at third-rate 

 osterie cucinanti, in a pickle of strong saffron vinegar. 

 Formerly, it used to be caught in a species of night-nets. 



