GEN. CARCHAKIAS. WHITE SHARK. 305 



pical climates, nothing can be more likely than 

 that individuals should occasionally visit our coasts. 

 It attains the length of twenty-five feet, and is of a 

 cinereous colour on the upper parts of the body, 

 and whitish beneath. Tlie pectoral fins are very 

 large, the tail expansive and of great power ; it is 

 thus enabled to swim with great swiftness. The 

 nostrils are much developed, and it appears to scent 

 its prey at a great distance. It is affirmed that it 

 is much more apt to attack a negro than a white 

 man, and when both are bathing together, or other- 

 wise in its power, it generally selects the former. 



" The French name this terrible animal Bequin or 

 Bequiem, the rest or stillness of death, in alhision to 

 the deadly character of its habits ; and when we con- 

 sider its enormous size and powers, the strength and 

 number of its teeth, the rapidity of its movements, 

 its frequent appearance during all the turmoil and 

 horrors of a tempest, with death and destruction 

 apparent in every blast and every wave, to add to 

 the horror of the scene by the phosphoric light 

 emitted from its huge body near the surface of the 

 troubled waters, with its open mouth and thi'oat 

 ready to swallow entire the despairing sailor, we 

 must admit the propriety of a name, expressive of 

 the natural association of ideas, w^iich connects this 

 cruel monster of the deep with death.'* * 



Gen. CYII. Zygjena. — The singular form of the 

 head, from which the species of this genus obtain 

 the name of Hammer- headed Sharks, at once con- 

 * Griffiths' Cuvier, vol. x. p. 633. 



