SHARK, CUTTLE FISH. 161 



THE SHARK. . 



Sharks are the fiercest and most voracious of all the 

 inhabitants of the deep. Even the smallest species are 

 dreaded by much larger fish, and with just reason. 

 Indeed no fish is half so ferocious in its disposition, or can 

 swim with a velocity, comparable to the shark. It 

 outstrips the swiftest ships, plays round them, darts out 

 before them, returns, and seems to gaze at the mariners 

 without manifesting the smallest symptoms of dismay. 

 Such amazing powers, joined with such ravenous appetites, 

 would speedily depopulate the ocean, did not the upper 

 jaw of the shark project far beyond the lower, so that it is 

 obliged to turn on one side before it can seize its prey. 

 As this act requires some time, the animal pursued profits 

 by the delay, and frequently makes its escape. Still, 

 however, the depredations which it commits are frequent 

 and formidable : it is the terror of sailors in climates where 

 it abounds, and bathing in the sea, so delicious and 

 salutary in hot countries, is, on this very account, attended 

 with extreme danger. 



THE CUTTLE-FISH 



Has an oblong fleshy body, almost inclosed in a kind of 

 sheath ; the head is furnished with two large eyes, and a 

 horny beak with two mandibles, somewhat resembling 

 that of the parrot. From the base of the head arise eight 

 arms in a radiating direction, and frequently two, much 

 longer than the rest. The inner surface of these legs is 

 furnished with cup-like suckers, which enable the animal 

 to adhere with great force to any substance to which it may 

 attach itself. These curious animals are likewise fur- 

 nished with an internal pouch, filled with a very dark 

 fluid, (in some species intensely black,) which they can 

 eject at pleasure through a tubular opening beneath the 

 breast. 



The common Cuttle-fish of the European seas, grows to 

 the length of two feet, and is of a pale bluish-brown 



p 3 



