THE WHITE SHARK, OR LAMIA. 209 



THE prettily marked and curiously toothed SMOOTH HOUND is also known under the 

 titles of SKATE-TOOTHED SHARK and RAY-TOOTHED DOG, the two latter titles being 

 appropriately given it on account of its curious and beautifully formed teeth, which 

 resemble in form the cylinders of a crushing mill, and are used for a similar purpose. 



The jaws, instead of being studded with rows of sharp and knife-like teeth, are 

 supplied with two rounded projections on which the flat-topped teeth are set closely 

 together like the stones of a mosaic, and which are so formed that they roll over each 

 other as the jaws are closed, producing a crushing effect of enormous power. These 

 curious teeth are rendered needful by the food on which the Smooth Hound lives, 

 namely the hard-shelled crustaceans, whose armor of proof is nevertheless soon com- 

 minuted under the bony rollers. 



As may be inferred from the character of its food, the Smooth Hound is not destruc- 

 tive to the fisheries, and may be allowed to live in harmless security. Its flesh is said 

 to be tolerably well-flavored, and even moderately tender. It produces its young in 

 a living state, but is not very prolific, the number at a birth rarely exceeding ten or 

 twelve. Almost as soon as born they retire into deep water, so that though a tolerably 

 plentiful species, it is not seen so often as those which live in shallow waters. 



The color of the Smooth Hound is pearly gray, and above the lateral line, which in 

 this species is very strongly marked, the body is decorated with small round white 

 spots, very conspicuous while the creature is young, but becoming fainter when it 

 attains maturity. The under parts are whitish yellow. 



BEFORE noticing some of the larger and more terrible species, we must not omit the 

 PORBEAGLE, sometimes called the BEAUMARIS SHARK ( Isurus cornubicus ) , a fish of a 

 wonderfully mild aspect for a Shark, and notable for a very porpoise-like aspect. The 

 name of Porbeagle is in fact owing to this resemblance. This species feeds on fish of 

 various kinds, three full-grown hakes having been found in the stomach of one in- 

 dividual, and derives some of its subsistence from the larger molluscs. It attains a 

 rather large size, five or six feet being a common length. Its color is uniform grayish 

 black above, and white below. 



THE dreadful WHITE SHARK, the finny pirate of the ocean, is happily almost a 

 stranger to our shores, though a stray specimen may now and then visit the British 

 Islands, there to find but scant hospitality. 



This is one of the large species that range the ocean, and in some seas are so 

 numerous that they are the terror of sailors and natives. One individual, whose jaws 

 are still preserved, was said to have measured thirty-seven feet in length, and when we 

 take into consideration the many instances where the leg of a man has been bitten off 

 through flesh and bone as easily as if it had been a carrot, and even the body of a boy 

 or woman severed at a single bite, this great length will not seem to be exaggerated. 



Many portions of this fish are used in commerce. The sailors are fond of cleaning 

 and preparing the skull, which, when brought to England, is sure of a ready sale, either 

 for a public museum, or to private individuals who are struck with its strange form 

 and terrible armature. The spine, too, is frequently taken from this fish, and when 

 dried, it passes into the hands of walking-stick makers, who polish it neatly, fit it with 

 a gold handle, and sell it at a very high price. One of these sticks will sometimes 

 fetch six or seven pounds. There is also a large amount of oil in the Shark, which is 

 thought rather valuable, so that in Ceylon and other places a regular trade in this 

 commodity is carried on. 



The fins are very rich in gelatine, and in China are, as is said, employed largely in 

 the manufacture of that gelatinous soup in which the soul of a Chinese epicure delights, 

 and of which the turtle soup of our metropolis is thought by Chinese judges to be a 

 faint penumbra or distant imitation. The flesh is eaten by the natives of many Pacific 

 islands ; and in some places the liver is looked upon as a royal luxury, being hung 

 on boards in the sun until all the contained oil has drained away, and then carefully 

 wrapped up in leaves and reserved as a delicacy. 



