CHONDEOPTEEYGUANS. 429 



to offspring, the shark is not surpassed by any living 

 creature. The female brings forth young, not perfect, 

 but enclosed each in a pouch,* and watches over these 

 till the brood is excluded, with the anxiety as it were of 

 a second birth. After this both parents vie with each 

 other in procuring food, and teaching their offspring to 

 frolic and swim ; and should danger' threaten the de- 

 fenceless little ones, they find in the open mouth of their 

 affectionate progenitors a sure asylum;' 'from which,' 

 says Oppian, who relates the same story with variations, 

 ' they issue forth when the alarm is over and the waters 

 are again safe.' 



The following extremely interesting recital, for which 

 we are indebted to our kind friend Admiral Smyth, es- 

 tablishes the fact, and tends also to prove how extensive 

 and accurate a knowledge the ancients had of the natural 

 history offish. ' The vast Mahe Bank, the heads of which 

 form the Seychelle Isles, in the Indian Ocean, is surpris- 

 ingly infested with sharks, — the blue, the white, the tiger^ 

 the hammer-headed, and other varieties of that voracious 

 tribe. In January, 1805, an enormous female monster 

 was taken in Mahe Bay, while cruising round our ship 

 (the Cornwallis), in company with others of her kind, 

 and surrounded by a numerous progeny. The weather 

 was superb, the water clear as crystal, and the vessel 

 seemed to sleep at her anchors, so that we saw every 

 object in the best possible manner. This unwieldy fish 

 was actually caught with a smaU hook, which had been 

 baited for rock-cod j and it is surprising that her at- 

 tempts to escape should not have disengaged her, except 

 perhaps that the peculiarity of her situation in a measure 

 prevented a full exercise of strength. On the first percep- 



* In tlie stomach of tlie blue shark young ones are often found 

 alive ; but the prison is an unsafe one, especially in coming out of 

 it, — ' faoUis descensus Averni,' etc. 



