114 
EEMORA. 
in fact tins fish does shun the close neighbourhood of land; 
and Rafinesque, who seems to have studied carefully the fishes 
of Sicily at Palermo, had not an opportunity of obtaining a 
specimen. Hasselquist, also, does not name it among the species 
he was able to find at Alexandria, in Egypt; although he 
mentions the E. naucrates, which is another of the same genus; 
and to which more especially some of the remarks of the ancient 
writers must more particularly apply. Allian knew no other 
than the Remora, or Echeneis, that was of a dark colour, and 
in shape like an eel, (b. ii, c. 17,) which answers only to the 
species referred to by Hasselquist. 
There is no doubt, however, that both these fishes were well 
known to the ancient Greeks and Romans, however they might 
confound them together, according to their practice in regard 
of species that displayed a likeness of habits, however they 
might vary in shape. But what the ancient authors have chiefly 
handed down to us about them, is for the most part limited to 
what were the popular notions of the wonderful, occult and 
supposed magical powers with which their adhesive faculty was 
believed to be accompanied. We have already seen that the 
principal character of the Remora is the apparatus which is 
placed on the head; and modern observers have so far studied 
the actions of this fish, when endeavouring by its aid to lay 
hold of an object, as to instruct us with regard to the minuter 
actions of the fish in accomplishing its object. 
It appears probable that under ordinary circumstances this 
fish is inert; and although for a short time, and on the spur 
of the moment, capable of active exertion, that it soon becomes 
fatigued and listless. It is not in search of food, therefore, as 
some have supposed — mistaking it for the Lamprey, or supposing 
these dissimilar fishes to have like habits — but for the sake of 
rest; and to be conveyed over a considerable depth of water, 
and for a long distance, with the smallest expenditure of effort 
on its own part, that it thus lays hold, with the instrument 
given to it by its Great Creator, of any one of the larger and 
more active fishes, with which it is able to come into contact. 
A Shark, Whale, or ship, which latter probably it mistakes for 
a Whale, affords the required accommodation; and in approaching 
them its motions are described as being with a sort of wriggle, 
with the necessary accompaniment, on the authority of the Erench 
