OF CARTILAGINOUS FISHES. 8y 



The fifhes of this order are polTefled both of gills and 

 lungs, and are thereby in feme meafure capable of deriv- 

 ing aid from both elements, to theirneceflities and enjov- 

 xnents; the manner of their parturition is alfo various : 

 and we are now to contemplate them in the double en- 

 joyment of another qualiilcation. The males of this race 

 copulate with their females, more hominum ; and in them 

 the external organs of generation are two-fold *. Thefe 

 inllruments projeft forward from each fide of the abdo- 

 men ; and whether it be that thefe animals polTefs more 

 warmth of conllitution, or a greater c?pacity of bringing 

 their offspring to maturity, they generally choofe colder 

 feafcns and fituatiohs for producing their young, than o- 

 ther filhes ; many of them propagate in the midfl of win- 

 ter, and far from the ihore f . 



The cartilaginous fillies, though not fo remarkable 

 either for fatnefs or fize, are in general more voracious 

 than any of the tribes we have already reviewed ; their 

 livers are indeed fat, and are fometimes employed for the 

 production of oil j it is not, however, from them that 

 man derives either his moft pleafant or falubrious food; 

 they are impure and immoderate feeders, and their flefii 

 favours of that impurity {. Of a confiderable portion 

 of them, the mouth is placed below the head ; a contri- 

 vance of Nature, for which an old writer afllgns fome 

 curious reafons : Their inoiit, fays he, is too fmall to be 

 divided ; and their voracity is fo keen, that their own life 

 requires that it fliould not be allowed a ready qr com- 

 plete gratification §. 



From 



• Idem ubi fupra. f Goldfmith's Nat. Hift. 



% Will. Ichthyol. Lib. iii. p. 45. 



5 Vide Rondeletius de pilcibuE. Lib. iii. cap. 4. 



