378 O F F I S H E Si 



fometimcs together on the fin-face of the waves, rolling and 

 tumbling like a parcel of fwrne. Hence it is generally called, A 

 Sea-Swine. It is large and coniform ; the fiilula or watcr-fpout 

 in the middle of the head, with fix lefTcr apertures about the 

 rojlrum ; the niaxille or jaws wide, furniflied with an apparatus of 

 teeth, forty-eight on each fide, ftanding in a row like little blunt 

 pegs ; the tongue dentated at the edges, of an equal breadth to 

 the very extremity, tied down to the bottom of the mouth along 

 the middle. The' roftrum is long and mufcular, to enable it to 

 get its living by digging up the fand at the bottom of the feai 

 The angmlla de arena, or fand-eel, is its favourite food. Its ftruc- 

 ture, on diflection, appears very much like that of quadrupeds; 

 The fibrous fat under the fkin feems to be defigned for the pre-^ 

 fervation of the blood in a warm and tepid Hate, and to detain 

 its fineft and fubtilefl parts from evaporation. Both the phocemts 

 and the -whale are remarkable for the particular pofition of their 

 tails, not ftanding erect perpendicularly to the plane of the ho- 

 rizon, but lying parallel to it, to facilitate their a fee nt to the 

 furface of the- water, by a jerk, for refpiration, to balance their 

 bodies for fwimming, as the anterior fins do in other fifhes, or: 

 the hinder legs of quadrupeds. 



4. An exotic and fingular-coloured Shark (d), was taken in a 

 falmon-net at the Oflium of the Tweed, a little above the bridge, 

 in September, 1757. It was fix feet long, and of a greenifh. co- 

 lour ; the mouth armed with teeth, large, and formidable. The 



" Sunt proculdubio longeplures huj us ordinis pifces in mari occidental i & feptentrionalf, 

 " quorum notitia nos fugit, cum raro capiantur, & mortui folo vulgo obferventur & negli- 

 " gantur." Linn. Obf. 1. c. 



(d) Lamia. Cbarfet. Fife. p. 12. . 7. 



fiflier- 



