THE SAWFISH 315 



waters, but they are not common, and the real home of the 

 genus is in the tropics and subtropics. 



THE SAWFISH/ of the Florida coast, and many portions 

 of the tropics farther south, is celebrated among fishes because 

 of the very long, flat beak of bone which projects forward 

 from its snout, armed on both sides with formidable teeth. 

 The length of this saw is more than one-third the length of 



SHARK-RAY. 



the head, body and tail. It is, we may safely assert, strictly 

 a weapon of defence, not offence; for unless it is used as a 

 shovel in searching for mollusks and other food on the bottom 

 of the sea, it is useless in the search for food. 



When the Sawfish is threatened with attack, however, 

 it defends itself by quickly curving sidewise, thereby giving 

 a sweeping sidewise stroke with its saw, and swiftly repeating 

 it in the opposite direction. On a Sawfish 14 feet in length, 

 the saw is about 4J/2 feet long, and the teeth project about 

 \ 1 A inches from the bone. 



This creature is an intermediate form between the sharks 



1 Pris'tis pec-ti-na'tus. 



