CHONDROPTERYGIAIirS. 419 



feinted, skirmished, or made an onslaught ; now wheel- 

 ing off to a short distance, now renewing the charge with 

 redoubled fury. Foul weather however coming on, he 

 did not see the issue of the fray ; but the sailors, familiar 

 with such scenes, affirmed that they generally ended in 

 the death of the whale ; from whom, when ' in extremis,' 

 the victor would tear out and carry away the tongue — 

 the only part he cared for — and leave the whole huge 

 carcase in their possession. 



The other well-defined ancient squalus is the zygsena, 

 the modern Jew-* balance- or hammer-fish, and were 

 these not aliases enough already, the T-fish might be 

 suggested as another ; the down-stroke of this letter 

 representing the body, and the horizontal bar at top the 

 singular transverse head ; at the opposite ends of which 

 two very salient yeUow eyes are situated, commanding 

 from their position an extensive field of vision. When 

 anything occurs to ruflle the temper of the savage, these 

 jaundiced eyeballs suddenly change to blood-red, and 

 projecting in their orbits, roll and glare fearfully. The 

 portal of the mouth opens, and a huge human tongue is 

 thrust forth, swollen, inflamed, papUlated, and surroimded 

 by a whole armoury of rending teeth ; presenting to view 

 a creature so strange, hideous, and malevolent, that no- 

 thing in nature can be conceived more unattractive. 

 The domestic circle of the ' squalus zygsena^ numbers 

 every year twenty-four new members ; this fearful fecun- 

 dity of the mother is providentially kept in check by the 

 violent decease of most of the young hammer-heads ' in 

 cunabulis.'t Untaught by Dr. Watts or their parents to 



* So called from a supposed resemblance to the head-dress 

 worn by the Jews at Marseilles. 



f This tender period of hfe seems in all creatures, even the 

 most cared-for, one of extreme danger. The melancholy theme 

 of bah/ mortality has been finely touched upon by Virgil j — 



