CH0NDR0PTERYU1I. 631 



used by turners and others for polishing wood, and even 

 metals, which it effects by the numerous small stony tubercles 

 which cover the skin. It is also sometimes used as a cover- 

 ing for boxes, watch-cases, &c, under the name of shagreen. 

 The liver furnishes a considerable quantity of oil, but it is 

 apt to be deleterious, so that the fishermen generally extract 

 it before they sell the fish. Professor Sauvage, of Montpel- 

 lier, relates, that a man, his wife, and two children, after 

 partaking of the liver of this fish, all fell into a sort of 

 swoon, and did not recover their faculties for three days ; 

 and it was stated in the public papers, in July, 1802, that 

 seven of the crew of the Reivard, from Jamaica to London, 

 died on the passage, in consequence of eating the liver of 

 this shark. 



The Scyllium (Squalus catulus,, Lin.) called the Bounce, 

 or Morgay, on some parts of our northern coasts. The lesser 

 spotted dog-fish of Pennant, notwithstanding this epithet, 

 and that of Petite Roussette, to distinguish it from the last, 

 appears to be as large, if not larger, than the last mentioned. 

 This species lives in the mud and algae, at the bottom of the 

 sea, and feeds principally on mollusca, Crustacea, and fish. 

 The female produces about twenty at a birth. Its flesh is 

 more edible, or rather is less disagreeable, than that of the 

 last-named species. 



The subgenus Carcharias includes S. carcharias, or 

 the White Shark, the most terrible of its kind, found occa- 

 sionally in the British seas. The head of this formidable 

 animal is flat, the muzzle round, the pectoral fin very large, 

 the skin covered with tubercles extremely hard, and of a 

 grayish brown cast. The mouth opening under the muzzle 

 is very deeply cleft, transversal, and forms, when open, a 

 circumference about equal to one-third the length of the fish. 

 The body is elongated, reaching upwards of thirty feet in 

 length. The eyes are extremely small, and near the mouth. 



