THE WHITE SHARK. 20] 



given it on account of its curious and beautifully formed teeth, which resemble in form the 

 cylinders of a crushing mill, and are used for a similar purpose. 



The jaws, instead of being studded with rows of sharp and knife-like teeth, are supplied 

 with two rounded projections on which the hat-topped teeth are set closely together like the 

 stones of a mosaic, and which are so formed that they roll over each other as the jaws are 

 closed, producing a crushing effect of enormous power. These curious teeth are rendered 

 needful by the food on which the Smooth Hound lives, namely, the hard-shelled crustaceans, 

 whose armor of proof is nevertheless soon comminuted under the bony rollers. 



As may be inferred from the character of its food, the Smooth Hound is not destructive to 

 the fisheries, and may be allowed to live in harmless security. Its flesh is said to be tolerably 

 well-flavored, and even moderately tender. It produces its young in a living state, but is not 

 very prolific, the number at a birth rarely exceeding ten or twelve. Almost as soon as born 

 they retire into deep water, so that, though a tolerably plentiful species, it is not seen so often 

 as those which live in shallow waters. 



The color of the Smooth Hound is pearly-gray, and above the lateral line, which in this 

 species is very strongly marked, the body is decorated with small round white spots, very 

 conspicuous while the creature is young, but becoming fainter when it attains maturity. The 

 under parts are whitish-yellow. 



Before noticing some of the larger and more terrible species, we must not omit the 

 Porbeagle, sometimes called the Beaumaris Shark {Isurus cornubicus), a fish of a wonder- 

 fully mild aspect for a Shark, and notable for a very porpoise-like aspect. The name of 

 Porbeagle is in fact owing to this resemblance. This species feeds on fish of various kinds, 

 three full-grown hakes having been found in the stomach of one individual, and derives some 

 of its subsistence from the larger mollusks. It attains a rather large size, five or six feet being 

 a common length. Its color is uniform grayish-black above, and white below. 



The dreadful White Shark, the finny pirate of the ocean, is one of the large species that 

 range the ocean, and in some seas are so numerous that they are the terror of sailors and 

 natives. One individual, whose jaws are still preserved, was said to have measured thirty- 

 seven feet in length ; and when we take into consideration the many instances where the leg of 

 a man has been bitten off through flesh and bone as easily as if it had been a carrot, and even 

 the body of a boy or woman severed at a single bite, this great length will not seem to be 

 exaggerated. 



Many portions of this fish are used in commerce. The sailors are fond of cleaning and 

 preparing the skull, which, when brought ashore, is sure of a ready sale, either for a public 

 museum, or to private individuals who are struck with its strange form and terrible armature. 

 The spine, too, is frequently taken from this fish, and when dried, it passes into the hands of 

 walking-stick makers, who polish it neatly, fit it with a gold handle, and sell it at a very high 

 price. One of these sticks will sometimes fetch thirty or forty dollars. There is also a large 

 amount of oil in the Shark, which is thought rather valuable, so that in Ceylon and other 

 places a regular trade in this commodity is carried on. 



The fins are very rich in gelatine, and in China are, as is said, employed largely in the 

 manufacture of that gelatinous soup in which the soul of a Chinese epicure delights, and of 

 which the turtle soup is thought by Chinese judges to be a faint penumbra or distant 

 imitation. The flesh is eaten by the natives of many Pacific islands ; and in some places the 

 liver is looked upon as a royal luxury, being hung on boards in the sun until all the contained 

 oil has drained away, and then carefully wrapped up in leaves and reserved as a delicacy. 



These islanders have a very quaint method of catching the Shark — absurdly impotent in 

 theory, but strangely efficacious in practice. They cut a large log of wood into the rude 

 resemblance of a canoe, tie a rope round the middle, form the end of the rope into a noose, 

 and then set it afloat, leaving the noose to dangle in the water. Whether induced by 

 curiosity, or by what strange impulse urged, is not very clear, but the fact is patent that 

 before the noose has been floating very long, a Shark is sure to push its head through it, and 



Vol. m.— 86. 



