THE BASKING SHARK. X23 



je£ls beyond the lower, and is rounded at the end ; the 

 mouth is placed beneath, and furnilhed with a vafl num- 

 ber of fmall teeth. The dorfal fins are placed differently 

 from thofe of the reft of the genus : the firft rifes nearer 

 the head than the tail ; the fecond is much fmaller, and 

 is fituated near the extremity. On the under part of the 

 body there are five fins ; two pe£toral, two ventral, 

 placed below the fecond fin of the back, and a fmall an- 

 nal fin. Near thefe the male animal is provided with a 

 double organ of generation ; and between them in the 

 female, is fituated the pudendum. The oil produced by 

 thele animals, is faid to be preferable to every other for 

 the manufafture of wool ; and the Ikin fuiniflies work- 

 men with an excellent fliagreen. 



^he White Shark *. 



1 HIS (hark is probably the moft ravenous and formida» 

 Lie of the order, and grows to the immenfe weight of 

 four thoufand pounds f . It was in the body of one of 

 this fpecies that an entire corpfe was found ; a circum- 

 ilance no way incredible, when we confider their ilrong 

 appetite for human flefli, and the amazing power of de- 

 glutition which an animal of this fize muft poffefs. In all 

 hot climates, it is this fpecies in particular that is the ter- 

 ror of the failors jit is they that conftantly attend the fliips, 

 Q^a vtatching 



* Squalus Carcbarias, Lin. Syft. Lamia, Plinii Hill. Nat. 

 t Gillius. 



