CLASS PISCES: ORDER ELASMOBRANCHII. 



Fig. 318. 



187 



Pristis antiqudrum, Saw-fish. 



Zygaenidae (yoked). The Sharks are the butchers and 

 scavengers of the ocean. They follow ships pertinaciously, 

 swallowing greedily anything thrown overboard.* Their teeth 



Fig. 319. 



Zygoena malllus, Hammer-head Shark. 



Shark's Teeth. 



* On slow-sailing merchant-ships, shark-fishing is a favorite pastime, especially 

 when the vessel is hecalmed. A recent account says : " I was holding the heavy hook 

 and wire rope over the side, when I felt that I had ca'tght a big fish, and pulling it 

 cautiously, a shark came to the surface. I called out, when the passengers ran to 

 my help. He struggled so violently, lashing the water with his tail and trying to 

 bite the hook asunder, that we were obliged to keep dipping his head under water 

 and then haul him up two or three feet to let it run down his throat. At last he was 

 nearly drowned, when, sending a running how-line down the rope by which he was 

 caught, and making it taut under his back fin, we clapped the line around the steam 



