660 



SHARK. 



The ventrals arc nearly midway between the pecto- 

 rals and the anal, of moderate length in the first part, 

 but shortened posteriorly. The second dorsal and 

 anal opposite to each other, the first rhomboidal, the 

 second with a deep curved notch in the extremity. 

 The caudal longitudinal, in the upper and under sides 

 of a very long and rounded tail, the two lobes meet- 

 ing and forming a lancet-shaped tip. The upper 

 lobe very low and of uniform height ; the under rather 

 broader, with a fulcate prominence at the commence- 

 ment, and a portion near the tip a little enlarged. 



Hammer-headed Shark. 



The most singular part of the structure, however, 

 remains yet to be noticed. The body, which tapers 

 from midway between the pectoral and ventral fins, 

 continues in a lengthened and comparatively slender 

 neck ; then the head has the snout truncated in front; 

 but the head itself is drawn out into two branches at 

 right angles to the axis of the body, nearly of the 

 same thickness as the neck, and altogether not unlike 

 a double-headed hammer, with an eye in the middle 

 of each face, and directed at right angles to the axis 

 of the body. The nostrils are in front of these curi- 

 ous branches, and the mouth is at the middle of their 

 length below. The outlines of the fish are remark- 

 able for the gracefulness of their curvature ; the neck 

 and the two lateral branches of the head appear to 

 have great power of motion, and the whole air of the 

 fish is expressive of velocity and energy. What 

 particular purpose in the economy of the fish is an- 

 swered by the eyes being thus placed on peduncles, 

 has not been ascertained ; but there is no doubt that 

 a necessity for such extended vision as this strange 

 organisation can command accompanies the organisa- 

 tion. In farther confirmation of this, the eyes them- 

 selves are large and prominent ; so that, taking the 

 whole together, there is really no animal that com- 

 mands so extensive a field of view. The teeth are 

 large, formed and serrated like those of Carcharias; 

 and there are at least three rows in each jaw. It is 

 a very discursive fish, found in the deep water rather 

 than near the land. It is said to be exceedingly 

 voracious and daring, scarcely less so than a white 

 shark of the same dimensions. Its food is said to 

 consist chiefly of the rays; and as they are exceed- 

 ingly active fishes, it requires all its powers, both of 

 vision and of motion. A full-grown one weighs four 

 or five hundred weight, and the liver yields a great 

 deal of oil ; but the fibres of the flesh are very rigid, 

 and unfit for food. 



SQUATINA Angel-shark or Monk-fish. This is 

 the third of the leading genera into which Cuvier 

 divides the family of the Squalidce. The generic 

 characters are : they have temporal openings, but no 

 anal fins ; the body very much depressed, and the 

 head rounded at the snout, and very broad and flat ; 

 the opening of the mouth in front of the muzzle, and 

 the eyes in the upper surface of the head, and not 

 lateral, as in the greater part of the family ; the pec- 

 toral and ventral fins so large that the outline of the 

 body resembles that of the rays. The -fish of this 

 genus are, however, independently of their more 

 scientific differences, easily distinguished from the 

 rays by the form of the disc or flattened part itself. 

 In the rays, especially in what may be, and are, called 

 the true skate, the disc is composed of the pectoral 

 fins only ; and in the thornback, the starry ray, and 

 some others, in which the ventrals form part of the 

 line, that part is so little in comparison with what 

 the pectorals form, and so easily understood to be a 

 mere supplement, that one can easily see it in its 

 proper light, and look upon the great breadth of the 

 fish as produced by the enlargement of the pectorals 

 only. Even in the torpedo, where the ventral fins 

 are more produced than they are in almost any of 

 the others, the fact of their being only supplemental 

 to the body of the fish is apparent upon mere inspec- 

 tion. But in the genus Squatina, though the pecto- 

 rals are much larger than the ventrals, they form an 

 integral part of the body of the fish, and not a sup- 

 plemental one. The character of the head also is 

 not to be mistaken ; for there are none of the rays 

 which have a rounded muz.zle with the opening of 

 the mouth at the extremity. The only species of 

 which we can find room to give a few particulars is 



Squatina Angelas the Angel-fish, Monk-fish, 

 Shark-ray, and a variety of other names. How it 

 came by such a " commodity of good names " as it has 

 obtained is a matter of some little astonishment at 

 this time of day, and when we carry back our con- 

 sideration our astonishment increases. Though the 

 association of any material form, however admirable 

 in itself, with the proper notion of an angel, as an 

 existence of a spiritual and ministerial nature, and as 

 such having nothing to do with form, be a very pal- 

 pable and most unphilosophical absurdity, yet, if we 

 will speak of an angel in tropes and figures borrowed 

 from material forms, it behoves us to select something 

 for our symbol which at all events is not repulsive. 

 But taking it in its mere appearance, without any 

 reference to its manners, which are certainly not the 

 most angelic, this angel-shark is about the ugliest fish 

 that the sea contain?. True, the pectoral fins of the 

 fish have some resemblance, and a very slight resem- 

 blance it is, to wings ; but granting that it were not 

 the mere resemblance, but the most perfect wings 

 I hat ever were grown of material substance, what 

 have wings to do with our notion of an angel? Wings 

 are for overcoming the gravity and motion of matter, 

 and for no other purpose ; and if they are essential 

 requisites of an angel, then that angel is a material 

 creature, and consequently no angel at all. It is 

 true, that we use the word " wings " in these cases ; 

 but all that we mean is, that there is a velocity or a 

 power of velocity which we cannot trace farther than 

 Lhat which displays, or is capable of displaying, the 

 said velocity. 



This fish" is occasionally found on various parts of 

 the British coasts, most frequently on the south, but 



