ZYG^NA. 99 



In 1805, three powerful shovel-nosed sharks, 

 were taken in a net, at Sagharbor. The 

 largest was eleven feet in length. On open- 

 ing him, many detached parts of a man were 

 found in the abdomen, which were collected 

 and buried. A striped shirt, patched, was also 

 taken from the stomach. 



Very opportunely, while writing, Captain Knott 

 Martin, on a return voyage from Cape Hayti, has 

 presented us with a fine specimen of a young one 

 of this species, only two feet and one inch in length ; 

 one inch and a half in diameter : the eyes are 

 five inches apart, and in the flexible jaws is a den- 

 tal apparatus, truly frightful. There can be no 

 doubt, from the exhibition of muscular strength, 

 this shark makes prodigious slaughter in appeasing 

 its voracious appetite. 



Mr Fitzwilliam, an English gentleman, recent- 

 ly from Malta, has politely forwarded us the fol- 

 lowing note, with other interesting matter on natu- 

 ral history, illustrative of the character and habits 

 of the shovel-nosed shark. 



" While lying at anchor near the Bell Buoy, in 

 the Isle of France, we were surrounded with nu- 

 merous sharks, of the shovel-nosed species, ^ two 

 of which appeared of so enormous a size, that we 

 determined, if possible, to catch them. Our hooks 

 were baited with four-pound pieces of pork, but 



