[jQuery] this.remove

I was wondering why in a link's click event...
$('a.').click( function() {
this won't work...
this.remove()
but this does work...
$('#'+this.id).remove();
as will this...
$('a[name='+this.name+']').remove();
It's not a problem since I have these work-arounds, I'm just trying to
understand why this.remove() doesn't work. Tia.