57 



GREENLAND SHARK. 



Squahis borealis, Scoresby; History of the Arctic 



Regions, etc. 

 Scymnus borealis, Fleming; Br. Animals, p. 166. 



" " Jenyns; Manual, p. 506. 



" " Yahkell; Br. Fishes, vol. ii, p. 527. 



Dalatias microcephalus, Gray; Catalogue Br. Museum, p. 132. 



At a time when every large example of this family was 

 supposed to be the Great White Shark, so formidable to sailors 

 in warm climates, the Greenland Shark had that name affixed 

 to it; and accordingly in Crantz's history of that country, and 

 in other writers of about the same age, we find the Squalus 

 carcharias in the list of fishes of those northern seas. It was 

 Captain Scoresby, in his "History of the Arctic Regions," to 

 whom we are indebted for the first knowledge of it as a separate 

 species; and nearly the whole of what is even now known of 

 its habits is due to his observations. 



Never having had an opportunity of examining an example 

 of this fish, our description will be derived from what the 

 above-named author has given us, with additions from the "His- 

 tory of British Animals," by Dr. Fleming; which, taken together 

 with a description of the teeth and jaws presently to be referred 

 to, will aiford materials sufficient to enable any one to identify 

 the species, if it should chance again to wander to our shores; 

 an accident, it is true, not soon to be expected, since only three 

 or four instances are recorded of its having appeared so far 

 south of the icy sea, and one only on the coast of France; 

 driven so far from its accustomed haunts probably by disease; 

 which appears to be a not uncommon cause for the presence 

 of fishes in regions where they are strangers. 



According to Scoresby the length is from twelve to fourteen 

 VOL. I. K 



