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à XXV. An Effay on tbe various Species of Sawfifo. By Mr. Fe» 
i Latham, F. R. and A.S. S. and F. L. S. 
— Read Fan. 8, 1793. 
'HE purport of the following paper is to endeavour to iden- 
tify, as different fpecies, the various kinds of Sawfifh,. which 
" have hitherto caufed much confufion, from being efteemed as mere 
' varieties, or. r fexual, SIRE of one and the fame fpecies, with 
viev moting ier inveftigation of the fubject, which 
it is hoped this crude Eflay may pave the way to. The matter is 
more particularly interefting, as very little has been added of late 
years, or indeed from the time of Ben; who, if I miftake not, 
was the firft who gave a figure of any part of the animal*, 
In regard to place in the fyftem, moft authors have fixed the 
Sawffh in the Squalus or Shark genus, with which it muft be con- 
feffed it greatly coincides, excepting the elongation of the head 
into a beak or fnout, which part in fome meafures one-fourth, in 
others more than one-third of the whole length of the fith: how- 
ever, it cannot be denied, that it alfo refembles the genus of Raia 
or Ray in many particulars, which K/em gives for a reafon when 
he wifhes it to be placed between the two; though he hefitates to 
make it a diftinét one. In refpe& to myfelf, | cannot, but own, 
* Aquat. 1553. 8vo. p. 66. a figure of the (aont. 
Vor. II. Ha 2 CHE 
