1^24 THE WHITE SHARK, 



watching till fome failor drop overboard, or attempt to 

 bathe ; in either cafe, the unfortunate feaman pevifhes 

 without redemption ; for this voracious creature, will 

 even dart up above the water to mett him in his fall. 



It is in this fifti that Rondeletius places the prophet 

 ^onaf, when he lay fo long unhurt in bowels ; and he 

 fays, that the language of Scripture gives no repugnance 

 to his idea ; for among the ancients all large filh what- 

 ever were termed whales *. 



The mouth of this fpecies is proportioned to the Im- 

 menfe bulk of the animal : it is furnilhed with fix rows 

 of teeth, the number of which probably varies, accord- 

 ing to the age of the filh. Foffil teeth of the white Ihark 

 are frequently dug up in Malta, and fometimes in 

 JEsttgland : in the former country, they have been feen 

 four inches long, which mull have belonged to animals 

 of vaft fize, if the proportions laid down by Grew, be- 

 tween the body and the teeth of this fpecies, are juftf : 

 He afferts, that thofe in the jaw of a fhark of two yards 

 Jong, are not above half an inch ; the foflil teeth found 

 in Malta would, according to this calculation, belong to 

 an animal lixteen yards in length Litina:us has enume- 

 rated fifteen different fpecies of fliarks; but if the appear- 

 ances of the teeth, {hewn in the colle6lion of the curi- 

 ous, can be trufted to, he is far Ihort of their aclual 

 number ; for many kinds are feen, of which no mention 

 is made by him. 



Pliny, Oppian, and feveral of the ancient naturalifts, 

 were acquainted with this fpecies, whofe mouth they 

 juftly de'fcribe as lituated far beneath the head, obliging 

 the animal to turn almoft upon its back, when it devours 



its. 



* Rondel, de pifcib. 489. f Rarities, 91. 



