GREENLAND SHARK. 



59 



noticed by any one but Crantz, who says it produces four at 

 a birth. 



I owe it to the kindness of Charles W. Peach, Esq., of 

 "Wick, in North Britain, that by the possession of the under 

 jaw of this fish, obtained from Greenland, I am able to give a 

 description, with a representation, of its teeth. They are of 

 remarkable shape and number, as well in regard to the form 

 of the individual teeth as of their situation; numbering forty- 

 nine in all, as they stand along the prominent edge of the jaw; 

 which is unusually thin for the magnitude of the fish. These 

 teeth at the middle touch each other, with a little overlapping, 

 but their points diverge. The most prominent portion has a 

 sharp point, which is bent horizontally, and the upper edge 

 becomes thus the cutting portion, the thin body of the tooth 

 being spread out at the side, with a depression by which one is 

 made to lean on and receive support from another, and the 

 whole supported on the gum by processes which bear the like- 

 ness of fangs. On the inner or formative side of the gum are 

 five rows, with their cutting edge and point downward, as not 

 yet raised from the investing membrane. The sixth row stands 

 erect, ready for use, and resembles the edge of a saw; and on 

 the outer side, sunk to a level with the roots of the former, 

 is the row that lately occupied the superior position, and where 

 it serves as a guard and support to its successor. Of the lowest 

 row of all, the cutting portion is wholly lost, and the fangs 

 are loosening in order to fall away. There exist, therefore, 

 nine rows of teeth visible; and I judge them to be of quick 

 formation and progress, with also a rapid shedding; but at no 

 time is more than one row of actual service to the creature 

 for the purpose of cutting. In former times the Greenlanders 

 used these teeth as a saw. According to Crantz, in Iceland 

 and Norway this fish was used as food, but the Greenlanders 

 rejected it. 



For an engraving of the teeth see page 66. 



