53G THE HAMMER-HEADED SHARK AND THE WHITE SHARK. 



hammer. The eyes are placed at either end of the projecting extrem- 

 ities, aud the mouth is set quite below, its corners just coinciding with 

 a line drawn through the two projecting lobes of the head. 



This species attains to a considerable size, seven or eight feet being a 

 common measurement, and specimens of eleven or twelve feet having 

 been known. Its flesh is said to be almost uneatable, being hard, 

 coarse, and ill-flavored. The Hammer-headed Shark produces liv- 

 ing young, and from the interior of a very fine specimen captured near 

 Tenby in 18o9, and measuring more than ten feet in length, were taken 



no less than thirty- 



per- 

 and 



nine young, all 



fectly formed, 



averaging nineteen 



inches in length. 



The general color 



of this species is 



grayish brown above 



and grayish white be- 

 TiiE Hammer-headed Shark [Sphyrriias zygcena). |^^^ 



The dreaded White Shark, the finny pirate of the ocean, is happily 

 almost a stranger to our shores, though a stray specimen may now and 

 tlien visit the British Islands, there to find but scant hospitality. 



This is one of the large species that range the ocean, and in some 

 seas they are so numerous that they are the terror of sailors and natives. 

 One individual, whose jaws are still preserved, was said to have meas- 

 ured thirty-seven feet in length ; and when we take into consideration 

 the many instances where the leg of a man has been bitten off through 



flesh and bone as 

 easily as if it had 

 been a carrot, aud 

 even the body of a 

 boy or woman sev- 

 ered at a single bite, 

 this great length will 

 .' '~^^-^^^i^^\ -^^ -^ not seem to be exag- 



^ T,,K W.UTK S„A„K i<ii„-ch„rodon RonMetu). " jyj^^y p^^jj^^^ „f 



this fi.sh are used in commerce. The sailors are fond of cleaning and 

 preparing the skull, which, when brought to England, is sure of a ready 

 sale, either for a public museum or to private individuals who are struck 

 with its strange form and terrible armature. The spine, too, is frequently 

 taken from this fish, and when dried it passes into the hands of walking- 

 stick makers, who polish it neatly, fit it with a gold handle, and sell it 

 at a very high price. One of these sticks will sometimes fetch six or 



