76 LECTURE VIII. 



else its electric powers; and Spallanzani even 

 assures us that having opened a Torpedo and 

 taken out one of the young, he found that it com- 

 municated a very perceptible electric shock. 



The next remarkable genus among the Carti- 

 laginous Fishes is that of Squalus or Shark : In 

 these animals the body is of a lengthened form; 

 the mouth placed beneath, and furnished with nu- 

 merous teeth, and on each side the neck are a 

 certain number of transverse slits, leading to the 

 gills, as in the Ray tribe : the number of these 

 slits or openings differs in the different species 

 from five to seven ; but the prevailing number is 

 five. It would be unnecessary to add that Sharks 

 are animals of great rapacity, and that the larger 

 kinds are among the most formidable enemies of 

 the deep. The white Shark in particular, or 

 Squalus Carcharias, has long been celebrated for 

 its destructive powers, and is the dread of navi- 

 gators in the warmer regions. It arrives at the 

 length of more than thirty feet, and is of a pale 

 grey colour : the mouth is extremely wide, and 

 is furnished with from three to six rows of strong, 

 flat, triangular, sharp-pointed teeth, serrated on 

 their edges, and so placed in the cartilaginous 



