HABITS OF GREENLAND SHARK. . 213 



external wound seems to have no effect on it. The 

 Greenlanders eat its flesh, both fresh and dried, and 

 make ropes of its rough skin. Its eyes are often in- 

 fested by a parasitical insect. 



GREENLAND SHARK. 



Captain Gray, of the whaler Eclipse, tells me these 

 fellows soon assemble when he is cutting up a whale 

 alongside the ship. They will eat quantities of whales' 

 blubber, but on these occasions never attempt to snap 

 at the men at work on the whale's body. 



On the coast of Norway there are regular fisheries for 

 these sharks, carried on for the sake of the livers, out 

 of which oil is made. They are caught on lines mounted 

 on very large reels with a double-handed handle, the 

 line running over a pulley ; the hook is of peculiar con- 

 struction, and mounted on chain ; the bait is a bit of 

 rancid bacon or of porpoise or whale fat. 



Not very long ago a shark was caught at Elgin, in 

 Scotland. A correspondent there kindly sent me a 

 note as follows : " From the description given, this fish 

 is the Greenland shark (Scymnus horeaJis) ; it belongs 

 to the family Lamm'da;, and is the Scymnus microcephahis 

 of some authors. It is not confined to Greenland, as 

 the name would imply, but possibly so named from 

 being familiar to whalers in those seas. It is widely 

 distributed in all the Polar seas, but is seldom seen so 

 far south as the northern islands of Scotland. On the 

 British coast its maximum length has been given as 



