4344 THE ZooLocisT—FEBRuARY, 1875. 
Valenciennes, in their ‘ Histoire Naturelle des Poissons’ (vol. x. p. 846), 
under the name of Trachypterus Bogmarus. Cuvier, in his ‘ Régne Animal’ 
(vol. ii. p. 219), considers it to be the Gymnogaster arcticus of Brunnich, and 
refers to ‘ Soc. des Science de Copenhagen’ (vol. iii. p. xiii.), for a description 
and figure. Dr. Fleming published, at p. 215 of the fourth volume of the 
‘ Magazine of Natural History,’ a figure and description of the vaagmaer, 
from mutilated and imperfect specimens taken alive at Sanda, in Orkney. 
“‘ Various specimens, probably to the number of twelve or more,” says 
Mr. Yarrell, “‘ appear to have been obtained on the island of Sanda, between 
the years 1817 and 1829. Some of the natives were sufficiently acquainted 
with the fish to induce a belief that they had even eaten it. Most of 
the specimens varying in size [probably length] from one to six feet, were 
driven on shore by bad weather.” (‘ History of British Fishes,’ 2nd edition, 
vol. i. p. 213.) I am not aware of any subsequent record of the occurrence 
of this curious fish in the British seas until the capture of the Irish 
specimen above noted, and, therefore, to me it is peculiarly interesting. 
At the same time I must candidly admit that I possess no summary of the 
records of such “ occurrences,” fishes having been almost excluded from our 
periodical literature in Natural History. I trust a change may be coming 
over us in this respect—Edward Newman. ] 
Teeth of Sharks.— Reading Mr. Newman's remarks on the interest 
attaching to the habits of living animals, and the more extended field for 
their observation now under our command at the different well-appointed 
vivaria now existing, has stimulated me to propose a question on which 
I should be glad to have more information, which some of the readers of 
the ‘ Zoologist’ may be able to give, or if not at present, attention being 
directed to the subject, some future observation may throw light upon it. 
Some years ago, whilst working up the “mechanical arrangements and 
functions of teeth,” I was struck by the apparently feeble apparatus arming 
the mouths of sharks. We read popular accounts of legs being bitten off, 
and men bitten in two, by these monsters, and on more reliable authority 
we are told that they surround and devour voraciously the careases of the 
whales left by the whalers. Now the size and power of the teeth, their 
mode of fixture on the jaws, &c., did not strike me, in comparison with the 
provisions for those ends in other animals, as adequate to the power required, 
supposing that the simple closure of the jaws was the mode of appliance ; 
and it occurred to me, whilst looking at the jaw of a shark, that if it seized 
part of any large body, as the leg of a man or a piece of the flesh of a whale’s 
carcase, and then rotated in some way so that the centre of the mouth was 
also the centre of motion, a very powerful circular saw would be established,— 
the teeth arranged inwards, instead of outwards,—quite sufficiently powerful 
to account for all the terrible stories attributed to the shark's bite. It also 
occurred to me that perhaps the heterocercal tail might have something to 
