THE PORPESSE. 251 



young are produced from eggs, which are hatched in- 

 ternally, as is probably the case with all the cartila- 

 ginous fishes that have fixed gills. The white shark 

 (charcharias vulgar is) is very rare indeed upon the Bri- 

 tish coasts, and we are not sure that there is any very 

 well authenticated instance of its appearance north of 

 the channel, nor very many there ; so that British bathers 

 are not in any very great danger from it. 



The BOTTLE-NOSE, so called from its muzzle being 

 elongated like the neck of a bottle, is a much longer 

 fish than the former, being found as long as thirty feet. 

 The body is conical, the head thick, and terminating in 

 a projecting snout. It has been occasionally found in 

 most of the estuaries of our large rivers ; but it is far 

 from common, and probably it does not follow fish like 

 the rest of the tribe; but feeds mostly upon mollusca 

 as the snout of the cuttle-fish are the remains usually 

 found in its stomach. It has only two teeth in the 

 lower jaw ; and the tubercles on its palate serve to 

 bruise its molluscous food. The habits of many of 

 these animals, especially the two last mentioned, are 

 but very imperfectly known. The habits of all the 

 natives of the deep, even of those that are caught in 

 thousands every day, want much investigation; and, 

 from the nature of their element, the task is not an 

 easy one. 



There is one fish, belonging to the same tribe with 

 the shark, which common observers are apt to con- 

 found with some of the dolphin tribe, and that is 



