352 LETTER LV. 



tyrannize over the rest. The shark, so formidable on- 

 the empire of the ocean, has, exclusive of man, other 

 enemies to fear. The remora follows him every 

 where. This little fish has the power of adhering to 

 any thing on which it fixes, in the same manner as a 

 cupping-glass sticks to the body. From this adver- 

 sary, the shark, with all his powers of annoyance and 

 defence, is not able to disengage himself. It fixes it- 

 self upon his body, sticks immoveably to it, sucks 

 away its moisture, and produces a gradual decay. 



Of the shark there are many varieties; but they 

 appear all to have the same ferocious propensities, 

 and in proportion to their strength and size, to be 

 equally formidable both to man and to their fellow in- 

 habitants of the deep; and all are said to have a pre- 

 dilection for human flesh. 



One very curious circumstance has been observed 

 relative to the shark. The young of this fish will, on 

 the appearance of danger, take refuge in the belly of " 

 the mother, by swimming down her throat. This has 

 been supposed peculiar to the blue shark, but Mr. 

 Pennant thinks it common to the whole genus. 



I shall now, my dear Sir, say something of the 



RAY KIND, 



of which the different species bear to each other so 

 strong a resemblance, as not to be easily distinguish- 

 able; and a stranger to this tribe may imagine that 

 he is going to handle a skait, when he is instantane- 

 ously paralyzed by the torpedo, or suppose that he 

 has caught a thornback, until he finds himself stung 

 ipy the lire-flare. 



" Of all the larger fishes of the ocean, this kind is 

 the most numerous; a circumstance which they owe, 

 in a great measure, to their size; for, except the 

 great white shark, and the spermaceti whale, no other 

 rapacious fi.sh has a throat sufficiently capacious to 

 swallow them; and their prickly spines redder them 

 a still more dangerous morsel. The size of some of 

 them is indeed so large, that even the shark is not 

 j^ble to devour them. Those caught on the British 

 coasts have sometimes been found to wei;U two h.un- 



