596 ORDER CHONDROPTERYGII. 



appendages, placed at the internal edge of the ven- 

 trals, often very large and very complicated, and the 

 general use of which is not yet very well known. 



Squalus l , L., 



Form a first great genus, which is distinguished by an 

 elongated body, a thick and fleshy tail, and pectorals 

 of middle size, so that their general form approaches 

 that of ordinary fishes ; thus, the apertures of their 

 gills are found to correspond to the sides of the 

 neck, and not to the under part of the body, as we 

 shall find to be the case in the rays. Their eyes are 

 equally at the sides of the head. Their muzzle is 

 supported by three cartilaginous branches, which are 

 attached to the anterior part of the cranium, and we 

 easily recognize in the skeleton the rudiments of their 

 maxillaries, of their intermaxillaries, and their pre- 

 mandibulary bones. 



Their shoulder-bones are suspended in the flesh 

 behind the gills, without being articulated either to 

 the cranium or the spine. Several are viviparous. 

 The others produce eggs invested with a yellow and 

 transparent horn, the angles of which are prolonged 

 into corneous cords. Their little branchial ribs are 

 apparent, and they have also small ones along the 

 sides of the spine ; this last is entirely divided into 



1 Squahis, the Latin name of a fish, employed by some ancient 

 authors, but the species to which it applied remains undetermined. 

 Artedi has bestowed it upon this genus. We also find squahis for 

 squatina, 



