452 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



The eyes, being placed at each extremity of the head, must of 

 course possess a very extended power of vision. 



The THRESHER, a fish which has a curious habit of springing 

 out of the water and inflicting a violent blow with its tail on 

 any object that annoys it, belongs to the Shark tribe. 



Family IV. rristklce. (Gr. Upicrif, the Sawfish.) 



PEISTIS. 



Antiquorum (Lat. of the Auciaits), the Sawfish. 



The SAWFISH is found in the greatest perfection in the tro- 

 pical seas, although it also inhabits the Mediterranean. The 

 weapon from which the fish derives its name, is a flat, long 

 prolongation of the head, on each edge of which are set hard 

 tooth-like projections, curiously inserted into the bone. 



This fish has been known to employ its saw in the attack 

 of the whale, burying the apparently inappropriate weapon 

 to the very root in the body of the whale ; nor are instances 

 wanting where the saw has been found firmly imbedded in 

 the hull of a ship. 



The strength of the Sawfish is very great. Captain Wilson 

 gives an account of the capture of a Sawfish, measuring 

 twenty-two feet in lengtli, and weighing nearly five tons. 

 After the fish had been entangled in a net for several hours, 

 making violent efforts to escape, Captain Wilson got a rope 

 firmly fixed round its saw, and set thirty men to haul at the 

 rope. The whole thirty could not move it one inch, nor was 



