The Sliark. 417 



was brought to table by servants with coronets on their 

 heads, and preceded by music. In London, every Stur- 

 geon that is caught in the Thames is presented by the 

 Lord Mayor to the Sovereign. The roe, when preserved 

 with salt and oil, is called caviar, and is a favourite dish 

 with many persons ; the best is made in Russia. The 

 flesh is also piokled or salted, and sent all over Europe. 

 So prolific is this fish, that Catesby says the females fre- 

 quently contain a bushel of spawn each ; and Leeuwen- 

 hoek found in the roe of one of them no fewer than one 

 hundred and fifty thousand million eggs ! 



THE SHAKE. 

 Squalus carcharias, or Carcharias vulgaris.) 



'' Increasing still the terrors of the 

 His javvo horrific arm'd with threefold fate, 

 Here dwells the direful Shark." 



THE SHARK differs from the whale in not being one of 

 the mammalia. It is cold-blooded, and does not buckle 

 its young. It has no lungs, and its mode of breathing 

 is like that of other fishes, except that its gills are fixed, 

 and the water escapes by five apertures on each side. 

 The body of the Shark is elongated, and tapers gradually 

 from the head to the tail, or is very slightly dilated in 

 the middle. Its muzzle or nose is rounded, and projects 

 very much over the mouth, the nostrils being situated 



2E 



