CHONDROPTERYGII. 641 



hence it is very formidable, and though it grovels in the sand 

 and mud at the bottom, feeding on the rays, soles, and flat 

 fish, which resort thither, it will not hesitate on occasion to 

 attack a man. It is gregarious in its habits. The female 

 ovoviviparous, produces about twelve young ones at a time, 

 which, on the approach of danger, according to Rondelet, 

 save themselves in the throat of their mother. The flesh is 

 no more edible than that of the other sharks. It is sometimes 

 found on our coasts. 



The Saw-Jish, Pristis, whose internal organization is very 

 like that of the white shark, have been nevertheless classed 

 with the whales, principally on account of a certain similarity 

 to them in outward form. 



The common sawfish has its elongated beak armed like 

 a rake, with eighteen or nineteen spines on each side, covered 

 with a sort of corium. The beak is about one-third the 

 length of the fish, and becomes narrower towards the end, 

 which is not sharp, but almost rounded or subquadrate. The 

 fish is of a deep gray colour, or nearly black, with the sides 

 ashy, and the belly almost white. The skin is covered with 

 tubercles, whose point is turned towards the tail. The pec- 

 toral fins are very large. 



This fish, which attains fifteen or eighteen feet in length, 

 frequents almost all the seas of both hemispheres, and is 

 found as well under the ice of the polar regions, as under the 

 burning atmosphere of a vertical sun, on the coasts of Africa 

 and Bengal, near Spitzbergen, and off South America. Its 

 strength and courage distinguish it as much as the formi- 

 dable serrated weapon with which it is armed. It appears 

 indeed to have a natural antipathy to the cetacea, and will 

 attack and frequently beat the largest whale, which could 

 almost annihilate the sawfish by a single stroke of the tail, 

 did not the agility of the latter save it from such a fate. 

 These combats have been often spoken of, and all who have 

 vol. x. T t 



