LECTURE VIIL 77 



edge of the jaws as to be either raised or depressed 

 at pleasure. So voracious is this animal that like 

 many other inhabitants of the sea, it does not spare 

 even its own species. An author of credit* re- 

 lates that a Laplander had taken a shark, and 

 fastened it to his canoe ; but soon missed it, with- 

 out being able to guess how : in a short time af- 

 terwards he caught a second, of much larger size, 

 in which, when opened, he found that which he 

 had lost. 



The Sharks form a very numerous race, and 

 some are distinguished by the elegancy of their 

 colours, as the Zebra Shark, an Indian species, 

 of a brown colour, with white bars and stripes, 

 and the blue European Shark, which is of an 

 elegant bright blueish grey colour. Of those 

 which have the most singular appearance the 

 S. Zygasna or Hammer-headed Shark affords a cu- 

 rious example. It is of a brown colour, and grows 

 to the length of fifteen feet : the head is length- 

 ened out to a vast distance on each side, and the 

 eyes placed at each extremity. It is an inha- 

 bitant of the Mediterranean sea. 



The Sharks, like the Rays, are ovi-viviparous 



* Leems. 



