263 CASTER 
have called the fa 61 : in queftion. I fliall fliew that this 
has been done enoneoufly ; the obfervations that I have 
.made on this fiibjedt, are accompanied with circum- 
ftances fo mucii in detail, as have fcarcely, perhaps, 
occurred to any one before. On the 6th Prairial, year6, 
(May 26, 1798,) I was on-board the frigate Alcefte, 
between Cape Bona and the Kle of Malta. The fea 
was calm, and the flrip’s company began to grow weary 
of its long duration, when their attention was fuddenly 
direiSled to a fliark, which they faw making towards the 
velfel. He was preceded by his pilots, who kept about 
the fame diflance from the fhark ; the two pilots fhaped 
their courfe towards the ftern of the velTel, vifited it 
twice, from one end to the otlier, and, after being fa- 
tisfied there was nothing of which they could make 
their booty, they fell again into the track they were 
proceeding in before. During all their different move¬ 
ments, the fhark never loft them out of fight, or rather 
followed them as cxaflly as if they had been drawing 
him in a train. No fooner w'as the fhark efpied, than 
one of the feamen got ready a large hook, which he 
baited with a piece of bacon ; but the fhark and his 
companions had proceeded to the length of.twenty me¬ 
tres and upwards (fixty or feventy feet) before the man 
had adjufted all his preparations ; however, at a ven¬ 
ture, he threw his lump of bacon into the fea. The 
noife which the fall occafioned was heard at a confide- 
rable diftance ; our voyagers were, it feems, aftonilhed 
at it, and fuddenly flopped their courfe : on this the 
two pilots detached themfelves, and repaired to the 
poop of the vcffel in queft of information. The fliark, 
during their abfence, fports on the furface of the water 
in a thoufand poftures, throws himfelf on his back, re¬ 
places himfelf on his belly, dives in the fea, but always 
appears again on the fame fpot. The two pilots, h v- 
ing got up to the ftern of the Alcefte, came near the 
bacon, which they had no fooner difcovered, than they 
returned to the fhark with more celerity than they had 
advanced. When they reached him, the fhark was for 
proceeding on his route; but the pilots fwimming, one 
at iiis right, and the other at his left, exert all their en¬ 
deavours to get before him; fcarcely had they doiie 
this, when they return together, and come a fecond 
time to the ftern of the velfel ; they were now followed 
by the fliark, who thus, by the fagacity of his compa¬ 
nions, was enabled to dilcover the prey defigned for 
hiip. It has been faid of the fhark, that he has a very 
keen fcent; I noticed with very particuliar attention (fays 
citizen Geoffrey) what paffed when he came up clofe 
to the bacon. It appeared to me, that he only obtained 
his information at the inuant when his guides had, as 
it were, indicated it to him ; then it was that he fwam 
W'ith the greateft velocity, or rather made a fpiing to 
catch at it. At firft he brought oft' a piece, without 
being entangled by the harpoon ; but, at the fecond at¬ 
tempt, the hook pierced into his left lip, and he was 
taken and hoifted on-board. It was not until two hours 
had elapfed, during which I was employed in the ana¬ 
tomy of tliis fqualous fifli, that I expreffed my concern 
at not having feen more nearly the fpecies of fifh which 
became thus a volunteer in the fervice of the fhark : I 
was told, how'ever, that it was eafy to gatch it, as it was 
certain it had not quitted the environs of the fhip ; and 
in a few moments after, I had the pleafure to find one 
handed to me, which I knew belonged to the pilot or fan- 
Jire tribe, as the mariners call it, and to what is called the 
gajierojl-us duBor by naturalifts. It would undoubtedly 
be cujious (adds citizen Geoftroy) to examine what in- 
tereft could induce two animals, fo different in their or- 
gamzaiion, their fize, and their habits, to form this 
kind of aifociation. Does the pilot feed on the excre. 
ments of the fhark, as citizen Bofc imagines; and, in 
order to find fafety and proieclion near fb voracious a 
fpecies, can it have impofed on itfelf the painful duties 
douicfticity ?” Cepede has placed this and ail the 
O S T E U S. 
fpecies which have more than two fpinous rays to the 
ventral fin, in a feparate genus, centronotus, from 
a fpine, and taroi;, the back; fimilar in meaning there¬ 
fore to gajlerojlms. 
3. Gafterofteus • Japonicus, the Japan ftickleback. 
Four dorfal fpines, and the gill-membrane five-rayed. 
The dorfal fin has only 10 rays, the pedtorals 12, the 
anal 9, the tail 22. Gmelin doubts whether it belongs 
to this genus or not; and Cepede has made it a diftinCt 
genus, naming ir, from the nature of the fcales, lcpi[a~ 
cantlms, (?i£WK, a fcale, and ajcavOo?, a fpine,) for the 
fcales are very broad, each armed with a recurved fpine. 
Houttuyn obferved it in the feas of Japan. Body yel¬ 
low, five inches long. Headobtufe; jaws rough, with¬ 
out teeth ; gill-coverts not fcaled, ferrated behind ; 
dorfal fpines moveable, thick, ftrong, unequal, placed 
in a cavity ; ventral fins connetted by a thick rigid 
fpine an inch and a half long. 
4. Gafterofteus occidentalis, the crofs-fpine, or lea¬ 
ther-coat. Specific charadler, feven loofe dorfal fpines, 
and two before the anal fin. There is indeed another 
fpine on the back, almoft horizontal, pointed towards 
the head ; but it is not moveable, and forms a part of the 
offa interfpinofa. The fpines are turned moflly towards 
the tail; they are funk in a furrow, and faflened to 
each other by a narrow ligament, which, when it pulls 
the firft, caufes the reft to crofs each other ; fb that they 
look fomething like chevaux de frife. The membrane 
of the gills has 6 rays, the pebtoral fins 16, the anal 9, 
the tail 16, and the dorfal ii. Behind the anal and 
dorfal fins, Bloch fays, there are eight fmall tufted fins, 
(called by Linnaeus baftard fins;) hence Bloch placed 
it among the Scombers. 
The head is fmall, fmooth, and fo compreffed, that 
above the eyes it is not thicker than the blade of a 
knife ; the noftrils are fingle, round, and midway be¬ 
tween the mouth .,nd eyes ; the jaws are of equal length, 
armed with fmall fharp teeth ; the two front teeth of 
the lower jaw are longer than the reft, and behind thefe 
are feveral fmall ones; the tongue is loofe, and Hip- 
pery; the pupil of the eye is black, the ins filvery ; 
the opercula are fmooth ; the hinder ones compofedpf 
three laminae ; the aperture is wide, the membrane con¬ 
cealed ; the fides are comprelfed, and without fcales; 
the belly and back end ftiarp. 1 he lateral line is very 
faint; it forms an arch over the pectoral fin, then goes 
ftraight to the middle of the tail fin, which is ftift. The 
anus is nearer to the head than to the tail; and lower 
down are‘two fpines faftened at the bottom by a mem¬ 
brane. The fins are blue, with four-branched rays; 
the pefloraU and ventrals very fhort. This fpecies is 
found in feveral parts of the Mediterranean, efpecially 
towards Provence and Languedoc. It is known alfo in 
feveral parts of America. Brown faw it at Jamaica, and 
Parra at the Havannah. It grows to a large fize, weigh¬ 
ing fometimes forty pounds : it is good eating, lome lay 
better than the tunny. 
5. Gafterofteus lylan, the Arabian ftickleback: 7 dor¬ 
fal and 2 anal fpines, and 8 rays in the membrane _of 
the gills; 21 rays in the dorfal fin, 17 in the peitorais, 
6 in the ventrals, 19 in the anal. Difcovered by For- 
fkal on the coaft of Arabia. Scales fmall, lanceolate, 
fhining ; body blueilh-brown, beneath white ; lhape ob¬ 
long, lanceolate; lateral lines undulated about the oper¬ 
culum, ftraight towards the tail. 
6. Gafterofteus ovatus, the ovate ftickleback. Spe¬ 
cific character: dorfal fpines 7, the firft r cumbeiit; 
anal fpines 2. There are 6 rays in the membrane-of the 
gills, 20 in the dorfal fin, 16 in the peCtorals, 6 in the 
ventrals, 17 in the anal, 20 in the tail. Jaws and lips 
rough; dorfal fpines directed alternately to the lides, 
the firft very fmall, the next a little longer. 
7. Gafterofteus Caroliaus, the Carolina ftickleback : 
8 dorfal and 3 anal fpuies. 'ihe dorial hn lias 26 rays, 
the pectorals i8j vencrais jy anal and tail 27 each. This 
and 
