REMORA. 
113 
to drive away the water, so that, by a process of exhaustion, it may 
adhere with the firmness it is known to be capable of exerting, which 
is so great that the strength of a man is scarcely sufBcient to tear it 
away. Even in death itself the close attachment continues, although 
a sliding motion may without much difficulty loosen its hold. To the 
fish itself this removal is easy, and is accomplished chiefly by an action 
of the border, that permits a little water to pass among the attaching 
laminee. From the drawing of a foreign species in my possession, I 
am led to conclude that when the sucking apparatus is not in action 
the sides of the disk are capable of being brought together for the 
purpose of covering and protecting the laminae of the disk. 
KEMORA. 
SUCKING FISH. 
Bemora, WtLtouOHBT; Appendi-x, table ix. 
IScheneis remora, LinnjEus. Cuvier. Bloch; pi. 172. 
“ “ Lacbpede. Risso. 
“ “ Jenyss; Manual, p. 473. 
“ “ Yarkell; Br. Pishes, vol. ii, p. 377. 
“ “ Gunther; Annals, etc. of Natural History 
for 1860, p. 6; and Catalogue of British 
Museum, vol. ii, p. 378. 
It does not appear that when left to itself this fish is capable 
of long continued or very rapid motion; and yet it is found to 
be distributed over a wide extent of ocean, in regions where 
the climate is sufficiently accommodated to its nature; but it has 
not been met with northward of the temperate zone; beyond 
which the water appears to be cold for its sensations. It is 
said to be common in the Pacific Ocean, East and West Indies, 
and on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as in the Mediter- 
ranean; although, at least in the sea last mentioned, it is 
represented, as we have seen, to shun a near approach to the 
land; a habit which, according to Risso, has been accounted 
for by supposing that it is influenced by dislike to the diluted 
Condition of the water, where a river pours its stream to mingle 
with the salter fluid of the deep. But whatever be the cause, 
there is reason to think there is truth in the supposition that 
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