104 NATURALISTS CABINET. 



Erroneous assertions by Aristotle. 



beautiful shagreen for watch-cases, and in Italy 

 it is used for polishing wood and ivory. 



It is asserted by Aristotle, that the angel-shark 

 possesses the property of changing colour, and 

 of assuming that of the fish which it is about to 

 seize ; this, however, is equally unfounded with 

 his assertion, thai in imminent danger the female 

 receives her young into her body. It is more 

 probable, as Oppian relates, that she covers them 

 with her fins for the purpose of affording them 

 protection. According to Rondelet, the eggs of 

 this fish when reduced to powder are a sovereign 

 remedy for diarrhoea: for though the angel- 

 shark produces her young alive, she belongs 

 to that class of cartilaginous fish, which hatch 

 their eggs within their own bodies, whence the 

 young are excluded when they arrive at a pro- 

 per state of maturity. 



In spring and autumn the female usually pro- 

 duces seven or eight young ones, and Gronovius 

 asserts, that she sometimes has thirteen, which 

 are upwards of eight inches in length. The flesh 

 of this fish is bad, and is bought only by the 

 lowest classes of the people on the Mediterranean 

 coasts. 



The angel-shark is found in the Mediterranean 

 and German Ocean. On the English coasts it 

 is frequently caught of the weight of one hun- 

 dred pounds, and in the Mediterranean of one 

 hundred and sixty. In the Dutch seas it u 



