Page:The Scientific Monthly vol. 3.djvu/43

 Figmri

��THE BEVER8VS

'A hiKtitftmft4tfttxtaiuU fitaJdm deJcriftUmt ttrr4trufn»

��tmnk-fish ; and another may well have been Diodon, these two forms being especially suitable for preservation, and as a matter of fact were veil represented in the primitiTe museums of the time.* And being exhibited at the Court of Spain, one can conceive that the legend of the "reverso" became associated with this fish, and also the tale of its being trained for the capture of other Ssh.

So much for the original sources of the "Reveraus" fishing inci- dent: let us now consider its credibility. Humboldt, a century ago, gave full credence to the narrative, as related by Ferdinand Columbus, and conjectured that the species of Bueking-fish employed by the natives at Queen's Gardens was probably Echeneis naucrates.^" He also re- called that the French naturalist Commerson had noted among the in- habitants of Mozambique a similar use of the Remora for the capture of marine turtles; and cited Dampier (erroneously, however) and Captain Bc^rs to the same effect. From still another source, namely, the voyage of the Swedish traveler Andrew Sparrman,'' we learn of African natives near the Cape of Good Hope making use of the Kemora in iden- tical manner for the capture of marine turtles.

aJl p&inUd in various wajB, and the colors are ao bright that there ij not a man who would not be aBtonished, and would not take great delight in seeing them. There are also whales. I sair no beasta in the inland [of Cuba] of any kind, tx- eept parrots and lizards. "

teum, 1879, pp. 261-283.
 * See O. Brown Goods on "American Tr unk- fishes, " Proi;. U. S. Kat. Mu-

"•"Hecneil d'Obeerv. Zool.," n., p. 192.

""Voyage to the Cape of Good Hope." London, 1785. Paris, 1787. (French ed., n., p. 431.)

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