60 



' SELACHE. 



Dr. John Edward Gray's character of this genus, which he names 

 Cetorhhins, is, snout short and blunt; the spiracles small; gill openings 

 very large, passing almost entirely across the throat, and upwards towards 

 the neck. Teeth numerous, very small, conical, and without side notches. 

 Scales with small curved points bent in all directions, so that the skin 

 feels; rough each way. But Dr. Elcming says that the Basking Shark 

 is smooth when the hand is passed from head to tail. 



BASKING SHARK. 



suNFisH. SAILFISH. HOE-MOTHER, ill Orkney. 

 It was not known to Linnreus, in the tenth edition of his System. 



Squalus maximus, TuRTOx's Linnaeus. 



" " Fleming; Br. Animals, p. lOk 



" " Jknvns; Manual, p. 503. 



" " Yarrell; Br. Fishes, vol. ii, 



p. 618, but not his figure. 

 Selache maximus, Cuvier. 



Squale Tresijraud, Lacei'ede. 



Cetorhinus nuuvimtis, Gray; Catalogue Br. Museum, 



p. 129. 



It is rightly observed by Cuvier, and also by Mr. Yarrell, 

 that the difficulty of taking a correct likeness of this and other 

 large fishes, as well as other marine animals, as they lie irreg- 

 ularly on the beach when dead, perhaps imbedded in sand or 

 mud, or from the manner in which they float, will account for 

 the incorrect representations of them which exist; to which must 

 be added the thronging of a crowd of si^ectators, W'ho press on 

 the object, or stand in the way of the draftsman. It is also 

 difficult to preserve the larger examples of such fishes, with 



