LARGE SHARK. 541 



the throat is very short, and of a diameter not greatly inferior to 

 that of the beginning of the stomach, which is of vast size, and dilat- 

 able to a great degree : the intestinal canal consists of two portions; 

 one analogous to the small, and the other to the large intestines of 

 quadrupeds ; but this latter portion is very short in proportion, and is 

 so composed as to compensate by its interior structure for its brevity ; 

 since instead of forming a mere continued tube, as in most animals, 

 it consists rather of a large series of meshes or divisions, placed in a 

 spiral direction throughout its length : the liver is large, and divided 

 into two unequal lobes : in the stomach and intestines, according to 

 Commerson, are usually found a great many taeniae, or tape-worms, 

 which not only infest the cavities of these parts, but even penetrate 

 into and lodge themselves between the interior coats : these ani- 

 mals therefore, by their vellication and motions, must be supposed 

 to aggravate the natural voracity of the shark, and to impel it to 

 engorge a large quantity of food, in order to allay the sensations 

 excited by these internal enemies : the milt, in the male fish, is dis- 

 posed into two portions, and equals the length of about a third of 

 the whole animal; and, in the female, the ovaries are of a similar 

 length : during the breeding-season, which takes place at different 

 periods in different climates, the sharks are observed to approach 

 the shores, in order to deposit their young in the most favourable 

 situations : these are discharged, to the number of two or three at 

 a time, still adhering to the capsule in which they had been before 

 inclosed, and are excluded before the young animal has had time to 

 break from it : the length of the newly-hatched shark does not ex- 

 ceed that of a few inches. {.Dr. Rondell. Pennant. Shazv. 



