THE NUESE SHARK. 241 



pain was less severe than that following the sting of 

 a wasp, or even than the puncture of a Tahanus ; 

 but he described it as having three distinct paroxysms 

 (if I may use such a term for so small a matter). The 

 pain was not of long duration. 



THE NURSE SHARK. 



About the end of September my lad Sam informed 

 me that the time was now arriving for striking 

 " Nurse," which he so described as to make me in- 

 terested in the observation of one. A day or two 

 afterwards he told me that he had just seen one 

 brought in at Crab-pond, about two miles from 

 Bluefields, and that he had left it alive, rolling and 

 writhing in agony on the beach ; the captors having 

 cruelly cut out the liver, which was all they cared 

 for, without taking the trouble to kill the wretched 

 animal. I immediately rode oft* to the place, and 

 found the creature just dead ; it was a species of 

 Scyllium, seven feet six inches long ; and its fleshj'^ 

 cirri, about two inches long, depending from the 

 extremity of the muzzle, indicated it to be the 

 Sc. cirratum of Cuvier. 



Having made a sketch of it as it lay, I returned, 

 determining to secure it on the morrow. Early in 

 the morning, I proceeded thither with my two ser- 

 vants, furnished with knives, a hammer, a bill, and 

 other implements for dissecting and skinning it. 

 The operation was laborious and unpleasant, as de- 

 composition had already made the odour offensive, 

 though twelve hours had scarcely elapsed since death ; 



