98 SaUALIDES. 



lodged at the extremities of the cartilaginous wings, 

 as it were, of the skull, can be approximated on 

 the under side, so that the fish may look into its 

 own mouth, far back, on the under side, even un- 

 der the thick substance of the neck. Careful ex- 

 amination, however, on a recently caught, flexible 

 shark, convinces us satisfactorily, that no such ef- 

 fect can be produced. 



By some authors, it is called the balance-fish ; 

 because it is said to balance in the water, as 

 though the centre of the body were supported on 

 a pivot, while the head and tail, alternately, as- 

 cend and descend. Others give the appellation of 

 sea-mallet, from the resemblance which the body 

 has to the handle of a mallet, inserted into the trans- 

 versely laid_ head. This mallet head is gently 

 curved in front, and brought quite to an edge, so 

 that it will cut its way with ease through the water. 



The eye very much resembles that of the 

 horse, being nearly of the same dimensions. In a 

 dried specimen of a young one, four feet long, the 

 eyes present a hard shell, showing that they were 

 calculated for deep water. In the mouth is found 

 a liberal supply of four rows of teeth, lancet-shap- 

 ed, and serrated on their edges. 



Scarcely a season passes by, in which fine spe- 

 cimens are not taken in the vicinity of Nahant, 

 about the Cape, &c. 



