rAMll\ SQUALID.*. 365 



GENUS PIIISTIS. Lalham. 



Snout produced into a long flattened swonl-sliaped plate, aniird on each side with strong 

 pointed and trenchant osseous spines, impJantcd, like teeth. The true teeth are small, flat, 

 and rounded as in Mustclus. Branchial apertures beneath. 



Obs. Tliis genus, as revised by Lnthain and others, now comprises seven species. It 

 forms, by the position of its branciiial apertures, a natural passage to the following family, 

 from which it is otherwise separated by its elongated body. Some naturalists have, however, 

 arranged it under the family Raiidct, while others have more precisely erected it into a 

 separate and distinct family. 



THE COMMON SAW-FISH. 



PrISTIS ANTlunoRUM. 



Sjmlus pristis. LiNXEiis, Syst. Nat. 



iS'. ill. ScHCEPFF, Bescrcibuiig, &c. Vol. 8, p. ISO. 



P. antiquorum. Lath.\m, Linn. Tr. Vol. 2, p. 282. 



Saw-Skark. PENNANT, Arct. Zonl. Supplement, p. 10.5. 



Prislis auikjuorum. Latham, Linn. Tr,in3act. Lond. Vol. 2, p. 280. 



Pezdccspada? Parua, Dcscripcion, &c. p. 75, pi. 33. 



P. anliquorum. Riciiard.son, fide C'uvicr, Sixth Rep. Br. Association, Vol. 5, p. 222. 



Characteristics. Uusky above ; pale grey below. Elongated beak, with twenty-four teeth 

 on each side. Length fifteen feet. 



Description. I have never met with an undoubted specimen from our coast, and am there- 

 fore compelled to cite from SchcspfT the only account e.xtant of this species as occurring in 

 our waters : "An individual was captured at New-York in July, 1782. It was fifteen feet 

 " long, including the saw. This had twenty-four teeth on each side, whicii were very sharp, 

 " and ajipeared as if ihcy had been sharpened against hard bodies. The air-holes in the 

 " vicinity of the eyes had valvular openings. The skin, particularly of the fins, was of the 

 " finest shagreen." This or another species, most probably the Fez de Espada of Parra, 

 occurs along our southern shores. I find in the New A^'urld, a weekly journal published in 

 New-York, an account of a Saw-fish which was captured in 1841, among the Keys of 

 Florida. No details were given, to enable one to determine the species. 



It remains to notice, at the conclusion of tliis family, a few species, which have been 

 vaguely, or on loose authority, assigned to our coast ; or which liave been so impcrfectl}' 

 noticed as to leave a doubt as to their being real species. 



Squalus rarcharias. (Mitchill, Lit. and Phil. Tr. Vol. 1. p. 48.".) This appears to have been 

 inserted at random, or more probably confounded witli iS. ma.dmus. There is no evidence of 

 its occurrence on the coast of the United States. 



