No. 627] STUDIES JN ECHENEIS OR REMORA 303 



boat are the fishermen, one of whom holds one end of a 

 line the other end of which is tied around the anterior 

 part of the body of the eel-like fish.^ In a sort of post- 

 script Gesner refers to another hunting-fish which is 

 similar to but smaller than the above. This reference, 

 however, is not clear. 



The first user of the name Guiacan for our fish w^as 

 Peter Martyr; other and later writers take the name 

 from him. Considerable effort was made to run down 

 this word and to ascertain its meaning. It was finally 

 found in Bachiller y Morales 's ''Cuba Primitiva" (1883). 

 Here w^e are told that 



iards called Reverso, and whieh served them in fishing; because tied by 

 the tail, they fixed themselves to the tortoise and other prey which they 

 did not release, rendering thus a useful service. 



Earlier than Bachiller y Morales, another writer, Ray- 

 mond Breton (1665), calls the huntsmen fish ''Iliouali" 

 and says that it is a fish which has on its head a mem- 

 branous plaque, and if it attaches itself to the canoe it 

 can with difficulty be removed save by breaking it into 

 fragments. 



That part of Gesner 's ''Natural History of Animals" 

 which has to do with fishes was w^orked over in German 

 and published in 1575 as "Das Fischbuch." In it on 

 page L is found the figure of the hunting scene just re- 

 ferred to and an abbreviated account of the use of the fish 

 as a living fish-hook. Here also there is an account of 



