-JHE LONG TAILED SHARK. li'j 



'ihe Long Tailed Shark, or Sea Ape *. 



J. HIS fpecles has obtained its name from the extraordi- 

 nary length of its tail, which generally exceeds that of 

 the body, the upper lobe extending greatly beyond the 

 lower, almofl in a ftraight line. Its fifli has an abo- 

 minable fetid, and rank fmell, refembling that of the 

 land fox f The body is more thick and round than any 

 of the ftiarks ; the fnout is fharp ; and a little below is a 

 fmall mouth, furnifhed with pointed teeth. The colour 

 above is cinereous, below white. Rondeletim afferts, 

 that he was an eye witnefs of this animal allowing its 

 young to retreat into its belly to avoid danger; for he 

 faw an old one diflecled upon the fhore, in the body of 

 which were all its young. At firft he imagined that 

 they had been devoured by the parent in place of food ; 

 but upon examining them, they were all alive, and fo 

 entirely unhurt, that there could remain hardly any doubt 

 of their having fled there as a refuge from danger J. 

 The extraordinary length of the tails of the young, forms 

 no objection to this fa£l; for at that age they are foft and 

 pliant. Willoughby fuppofes that this fiih was only found 

 in the Mediterranean; it has lince, however, been taken 



in the Briti/h leas § . 



The 



• Vulpes Marina, Rond. Sea-fox or Ape, Willougb., 

 ■f Salvianus. \ De Pifcibus. 



% Pennaat's Britdh Zoology. 



