TEETH AND FOOD 125 



times more mixed. Porpoises, water birds, turtles, pieces of 

 other sharks, crabs, and fishes of all kinds have been taken from 

 the stomachs of Tiger Sharks, and Professor Jordan has 

 described a Man-eater {Carcharodon) with a good-sized Sea 

 Lion in its stomach. The Hammer-headed Shark [Sphyrna), 

 which seems to feed almost entirely on other fishes, includes 

 the fearsome Sting Ray ( Trygon) in its diet. A specimen which 

 had been feeding on these Rays was afterwards captured, and, 

 in addition to the half-digested remains in the stomach, no 

 less than fifty "stings" (the serrated tail-spines) were found 

 embedded in different parts of the Shark's anatomy, and 

 particularly in the region of the mouth and throat. 



According to Linnaeus, the famous Swedish naturalist, it 

 was the Man-eater Shark that swallowed the prophet Jonah, 

 but this is only one of the many animals which have been 

 credited with this feat. "Jonam Prophetum," he writes, "ut 

 veteris Herculem trinoctem, in hujus ventriculo tridui spateo 

 baesisse, verosimile est." The question as to whether or no 

 Sharks will attack and devour man is one which has been 

 much debated. Most Sharks eat only living food, but not a 

 few will turn scavenger at times, often following a ship for days 

 in the hope of food being thrown overboard. Human corpses 

 which have been partially eaten by Sharks after death must be 

 responsible for a good many of the tales of men killed by these 

 creatures. It is a popular fallacy that all fierce-looking sharks 

 are "man-eaters," but as a matter of fact very few can be 

 definitely proved guilty of this practice. It is true that authentic 

 cases are on record in which a large Man-eater or Blue^ Shark 

 has attacked and even killed a man, but it is fairly certain that 

 this was because he happened to be handy, as it were, and the 

 Shark more than usually hungry. The common statement that 

 a man's leg was bitten off by a Shark "as though it were a 

 carrot," betrays a complete ignorance of the strength of the 

 apparatus required to perform such an amputation. As Dr. 

 Lucas remarks: "The next time the reader carves a leg of 

 lamb, let him speculate on the power required to sever this at 

 one stroke— and the bones of a sheep are much lighter than 

 those of a man." Statements that men have been ci^t in two 

 "at a single bite" are equally absurd. 



Most Sharks appear to chase and seize their prey as occasion 

 oflfers, and in a more or less haphazard manner, but some may 

 employ more systematic methods. The Sand Shark {Odontaspis), 

 for example, a species common on the Atlantic coast of North 



