368 Mr. R. HilFs Contributions to the 



propriety of a name expressive of the natural association of ideas, 

 which connects this cruel monster of the deep with death*." 



A reason for all this uncontrollable rapacity is to be foimd in 

 the description we have given of the nature of the monster in 

 procreation. Afloat, in the broad and fathomless ocean, where 

 almost the only fishes that make the traverse of the deep are the 

 fl}ang Exocoetus, the Bonito, and the Dorado Dolphin, the Shark, 

 obliged to supply the aliment necessary for the progressive 

 growth of the foetus, where so Httle is afforded to gratify the 

 craving appetite, is always voracious, and in its voracity always 

 fierce and daring. Its steady and persevering pursuit in the 

 wake of a vessel — its exhibition of unwearied power and energy, 

 manifested in such fastness of swimming, that it plays round the 

 swiftest ship — its self-command while watching for prey — its 

 rapid pursuit of an object — its falling behind to snatch whatever 

 may be thrown to it — its apparent indifference whether it 

 proceed onward or delay its course, are all only so many exliibi- 

 tions of appetite, regulated by the necessity of keeping to the 

 surface and in sunny waters, to carry onward the process of 

 gestation, till the period when it must regain the shores to 

 deposit the young ones ready to be extruded. 



It is usually asserted that such is the frightful rapacity of this 

 animal, that everything which comes within its reach, possessing 

 life, is snatched up and devoured. Those who have had constant 

 opportunities of observing the Shark in harbours of deep and 

 shoal waters, and where the living tenants of the sea are 

 numerous and diversified, know that at the times when the 

 force of instinct makes him a surface-feeder, objects endowed 

 with life, and witli an organization similar to his own, that is 

 with the fish-nature, are perfectly safe, and confiding in their 

 association with him. For other creatures, and especially for 

 man, he is however supposed to have a peculiar enmity, and 

 when once human flesh has been tasted, to haunt unceasingly the 

 place where he expects the recuiTcnce of similar prey. The fact 

 is, that at the surface the Shark is so constructed that he cannot 

 pursue and seize at once a creature whose command of the 

 element equals his own. The swimming fish is safe at these 

 times : but let it be hooked, or reluctantly dragged, and the 

 Shark immediately seizes and swallows itf. At the bottom of 



* Griffith's Cuvier. 



t The injury the Blue Shark, when it appears in the British Channel, 

 inflicts on the fishermen, is great. It hovers about the boats, and pursues 

 the fish as they are drawn up. "To the Pilchard drift-net," says Mr. 

 Couch, " this Shark is a still more dangerous enemy, and it is common for 

 him to pass in succession along the whole length of the net, cutting out, as 

 with shears, the fish and the net that holds them, and swallowing both 

 together." — Yarrell's Brit. Fishes, vol. ii. 



