270 THE SHARK. 



which seen by the poor silly little fishes, (as 

 conscious of their error,) they swim to and again, 

 and hardly forsake the ship ; but being within 

 board, the ship's company, armed with hatchets, 

 presently divide the spoil. They are not scaly, 

 and therefore imagined to be a kind of whale, 

 being finned like them, with a great fin on their 

 backs, near their tails, (which dried, is used in- 

 stead of a slate,) of a darkish-grey colour on 

 their backs, lighter on their sides, and white 

 under their bellies ; their snout on the same 

 plain with their mouths, but their mouth within 

 that a great way ; the cause why they turn their 

 bellies when they take their prey. The mouth 

 of one of them extended, is two spans wide, 

 armed within with three tier of sharp-pointed 

 teeth on both jaws, so piercing that needles ex- 

 ceed them not, and of such strength that a leg 

 or an arm, bone and all, is but an easy morsel ; 

 wherefore called sharks by the seamen, on whom 

 they are bold enough to fasten and dismember, 

 if not shunned, when they wash themselves. 

 They are of a rank smell, and not good to eat 

 but by stout stomachs ; of length they are ten, 

 sometimes fourteen feet." 



I shall now make a few observations on 

 muscular irritability, as exemplified by the 

 shark. That which is termed muscular irrita- 



