$50 LETTER LV. 



towards the tail, a rough skin, the mouth placed far 

 beneath the end of the nose, and five apertures on the 

 side, of the neck for breathing. The next division is 

 that of the flat-fish, which may by its form be easily 

 distinguished. The third division is the slender 

 snake-shaped kind, the fourth that of the sturgeon; 

 and in the fifth may be comprised the sun-fish, the 

 sea-snail, the fishing frog, and a number of other va- 

 rieties, each of which has something peculiar in its 

 form that distinguishes it from the rest. The devour- 

 ing fish, of which I am now going to describe the 

 terrific appearancq and rapacious habits, is too dread- 

 fully remarkable to fail of attracting your attention. 



THE SHARK 



is of all the inhabitants of the deep the fiercest, the 

 most formidable, and the most voracious. It com- 

 prises several varieties; and the smallest of the kind 

 are formidable to fishes very far superior in size. The 

 white shark, may sometimes almost rank among the 

 smaller whales, in respect of magnitude ; as it is often 

 seen from twenty to thirty feet in length. Some as- 

 sert that this fish has been found to weigh not less 

 than four thousand pounds, and we are told of one in 

 particular, that had a whole human corpse in his 

 belly. The head of the shark is large and somewhat 

 flatted, the snout long, and the eyes fierce, large, and 

 fiery. The mouth and throat is enormously capaci- 

 ous, so that it is capable of swallowing a man without 

 difficulty. Its furniture of teeth, however, is still 

 more terrible, and e hibits a most formidable appara- 

 tus of destruction. These are set in six rows, and ar*e 

 said to amount to a hundred and forty-four in number. 

 With these both the upper and under jaws appear 

 planted ail over; and what is extremely singular, the 

 fish has the power of erecting and depressing them at 

 pleasure: when it is at rest they lie rial m its mouth, 

 but the moment that it prepares to seize its victim, 

 these dreadful instruments of destruction, are erected 

 in rows. 



The sharjv is indisputably .the fiercest depredator 

 that swims in the ocean; for neither the dolphin, the 



