2:28 PISCES. 



little branchial ribs are apparent, and there are also small ones along the sides 

 of the spine, which is completely divided into vertebra:. The genus is very 

 numerous, and authorises various subdivisions. 



CARCHARUS, Cuvier. 



A numerous and by far the most celebrated tribe ; with trenchant, pointed 

 teeth, most commonly dentated on the margin. The 

 first dorsal is far before the ventrals, and the second 

 about opposite to the anal. The spiracles are want- 

 ing ; the nostrils are placed under the middle of the 

 depressed snout, and the last branchial apertures extend 

 over the pectorals. 



Sq. carcharias, Lin. (The White Shark.) This 

 species attains the length of twenty-five feet, and is recognised by its teeth, 

 which in the upper jaw nearly form isosceles triangles, with rectilinear and 

 dentated sides. The lower ones consist of narrow points placed on wider 

 bases, terrific weapons, which are the dread of mariners. It would appear 

 that it inhabits every sea ; but its name has frequently been applied to other 

 species with trenchant teeth. 



SELACHE, Cuvier. 



In addition to the form of the Squali, and the spiracles of the Galei, is fur- 

 nished with branchial openings, that are nearly large enough to encircle the 

 neck, and with small conical and unemarginate teeth. 



The common species, Sq. maximus, Lin. (The Basking Shark), has nothing of 

 the ferocity of the Shark, although it surpasses it as well as all other Squali 

 in size. Individuals have been captured that were more than thirty feet in 

 length. It inhabits the Arctic Seas, but is sometimes driven on the coast of 

 France by the strength of the north-east winds. There are several other 

 subgenera. 



A second genus may be formed of the 



, Cuvier, 



Which, to the characters of a Carcharias, adds a form of head of which there 

 is no other example in the animal kingdom. It is horizontally flattened and 

 truncated before, the sides extending transversely in branches, which give it a 

 resemblance to the head of a hammer; the eyes are placed at the extremity of 

 the branches, and the nostrils on their anterior edge. 



The most common species of the European seas, Sq. zygcena, is sometimes 

 twelve feet long. 



SQUATINA, Dumeril. 



Spiracles, but no anal, as in the third division of the Squali, but differing from 

 all of them in the mouth, which is cleft in the end of the snout and not beneath, 

 and in the eyes, which are placed on its dorsal surface and not on the sides. 

 The head is round, the body broad and horizontally flattened, the pectorals 

 large and extending forwards, but separated from the body by a fissure, where 



