CHONDROPTERYGII BRANCHIIS FIXIS. 289 



The Leiche or Liche, Brouss., called, through a mistake, ^S'^'. 

 a7nericanus.(\) 



A species inhabits the arctic seas which is said to be as fero- 

 cious and terrible as the White Shark, (2) and the Indian Ocean 

 produces another, remarkable for the smallness of its first dor- 

 sal. (3) 



A third, the ^S'^-. Scailleux, Brouss.; 'S'^. sqiimnosiis, Lacep., I, 



X, 3, under the false name of 'S'^. liche, is remarkable for the 



small raised and crowded scales resembling leaves, that cover 



its entire skin. Its snout is long and depressed. 



We distinguish those species whose first dorsal is over the ven- 



trals, and the second further back. 



One of these is completely covered with small spines, the 

 Squale boucle, Lacep., I, iii, 2j Squalus spinosus, Bl., Schn. 



A second genus may be formed of the 



Zygcena, Ciiv. — Sphyrna, Raf. 



Which to the characters of a Carcharias, adds a form of head of 

 which there is no other example in the animal kingdom. It is hori- 

 zontally flattened and truncated before, the sides extending trans- 

 versely in branches, which give it a resemblance to the head of a 

 hammerj the eyes are placed at the extremity of the branches, and 

 the nostrils on their anterior edge. 



The most common species of the European seas, Sq. zygcena, 

 L.J Z. malleus, Valenciennes, M6m. Mus., IX, xi, Ij Parra, 

 32j Salv., 4:0; Will., B., 1, is sometimes twelve feet long.(4) 



(1) Because Gmelln has confounded Cape Breton near Bayonne, with ano- 

 ther Cape of the same name near Newfoundland. The Sq. niceen, Risso, Ed. I, f. 

 6, is a bad drawing- of the same fish; in Ed. II, f. 4, it is somewhat better. The 

 Dalatias sparophagus, Raf., Car., XIII, 2, must also belong- to this genus. 



(2) It is the pretended (S"*^. carcharias, of Gunner, Dronth., II, x andxi, and of 

 Fab., Groen., 127, and perhaps also that of Bl., 119, althoug-h he g-ives it an anal. 

 This is probably the place for the Sq. hrevipinnis, Lesueur, Ac. Nat. Sc Philad., 

 I, 122, which forms the g-cnus Somxiosus of that author, who does not, however, 

 describe the teetli. 



(3) Leiche Luhorde, Q.uoy and Gaym., Zool., Freycin.pl. 44, f. 2. 



(4) Add the species represented by Bl., 117, known by its nostrils, which are 

 placed much nearer the middle (^Z. Blochii, Nob.), Val., Mem. Mus. IX, xi, 2- Its 

 second doi-sal is also much nearer the caudal: — the broad-headed species under 

 the name of panloujlier, Lacep-, I, vii, 3. It is the pantoujlier of Risso, Zyg. hides, 

 Val., Mem. Mus. IX, xii, 1, Komu aorra, Uussel, XII, 2; — The \.n\e puntoujlier 

 {Sq. tiburo, L., and Val., loc. cil. XII, 2), Marcgr., 181, known by its heart-shaped 



Vol. II.— 2 M 



