Analytical Synopsis of the Order of Squall. 391 



moderately elongated and bent upwards ; the fin beneath is 

 correspondingly oblique, abruptly notched near its end, and 

 with the basal portion obliquely produced downwards and back- 

 wards, forming an inferior lobe. The dorsal fins are two in 

 number ; the first is always in advance of the ventrals, and 

 often close behind the pectorals. A well developed anal fin is 

 opposite the second dorsal, and always separated by a consi- 

 derable interval from the caudal. Tiie pectoral fins are of 

 moderate size, and their external angles more or less produced 

 and pointed ; the ventrals moderately developed and inserted 

 near the middle of the body. All of the fins are more or less 

 angular. The last of the branchial apertures are above the 

 pectoral fin. The head is of moderate size, depressed and 

 oblong oval above, with a produced snout, and a mouth whose 

 cleft is frequently longer than wide. The teeth are compressed, 

 with the edges sharp and either smooth or finely denticulated. 

 Such is the representative shark. The whole organization is 

 adapted for rapidity of motion, for strength, and for the easy 

 seizure of prey. These are the sharks that infest every sea and 

 are the dread of the mariner ; these are the ones with which 

 the name of " sharTi!'' is pre-eminently associated by the Eng- 

 lish ; to which the French have given that of " Requin^'' in 

 commemoration of the many victims whose dying shrieks serve 

 as their requiem or dirge of last repose ; these the ones on 

 which the Greeks have conferred the fear-summoning name 



of AeifJt.icc. 



Nearly related by form and habits is the well known " white 

 shark," which attains a larger size and is still more feared than 

 even the blue shark ; with the attributes, it shares some of the 

 names of the blue sharks ; its form is, perhaps, even more 

 adapted for rapidity of action, and its voracity is proportionally 

 great ; its vertebral column is much more bent upwards than in 

 the former, and is nearly at right angles to the body. It may, 

 therefore, be considered in such respects as the type of the order. 

 Its branchial apertures are also somewhat larger than those of 



