S H A 



S H A 



always made to bear up againil the (heat ; but if this end 

 of tlie Iccket (hould not be quite fo oblique as the (heat, 

 it may be lielped by paring off a fraall part of the wood at 

 the point. 



However, in modern ploughs, the (hares, as has been feen, 

 are very different, according to their conllruftions and the 

 ufes for which they are intended. 



Lately, improved caft-iron plough-(hares have been made 

 by R. Ranfome, of Iplwich, Suffolk, for which he has ob- 

 tained a patent. Tliefe (hares are made hard on one fide 

 and foft on the other, which affords the great advantage of 

 wearing thin, as it is found by farmers that thofe made in 

 the common way wear thick, with a bafil on the under fide, 

 which obftrufts their entering into hard or llrong foil?, and 

 at the fame time increafe the labour of the team, as well as 

 pafs over weeds without cutting or eradicating them. The 

 fame perfon alfo makes plough-grounds, which are fo con- 

 trived, as that by turning a fcrew the plough is made to work 

 more or lefs to the land with the greatcft eafe and facihty. 

 And botli thefe contrivances are faid to be capable of being 

 applied to all forts of ploughs which have betn already con- 

 ilrufted, and are in ufe upon farms. 



The broad fiare, which is uied in Sufl'ex, is faid to be a 

 capital contrivance, whether invented in that di(trift or in 

 Kent. Its great ufe is in cutting over pea and bean ftub- 

 Ijles, or fuch weedy fallows as do not require ploughing. 

 It cor.fifts of an oblor.g (hare two feet long, and four or five 

 inches wide, fixed to the ftock or front of the ground rift, 

 by an iron fliank in the middle, and occafionally bolted to the 

 fide of the fame rift of a wheel-plough. It is pitched with 

 an inclination into the ground, capable of being raifed or 

 funk at pleafure, by the elevation or deprefiion of the beam 

 on the gallows, anfwering the purpofe of the great (Ivim of 

 theifleof Thanet,defcribed in Young's EafternTour. When 

 the ihibbles have been cut over with this tool, they are har- 

 rowed, raked, and burnt, the land being left in excellent 

 order for wheat. 



On caft-iron plough-fiiares a very fimple and beneficial 

 improvement has lately been made by a perfon of the name 

 of Morland, in Bcrkfhire. It is well known that when the 

 point, or lock, of wrought-iron plough-lhares wears out, 

 they are capable of being renewed ; but that, in caft-iron, 

 the cafe is otherwife. By this invention and improvement, 

 however, which is much approved of in the above county, 

 the blunt point is capable of being dipped or depreffed in 

 fuch a manner as to produce every cffcft which is wanted 

 by the ploughman, when the (hare muft have become quite 

 tifelefs without it. The cheapnefs and durability of caft- 

 iron plough-ftiares render them highly defirable in all farm- 

 ing concerns where there is much ploiighing to be done. 



The whole i.i accompli(hcd by the (hare having a fort of 

 joint, and the top part taking in and out, and tiy a tuck 

 that goes through the beam of the plough, which raifcs or 

 falls the point of the (hare. 



SliAnE-G/vr/J, proviricially a fort of fedge. 

 SHAREMAN'S Ckeek, in Geography, a river of Penn- 

 fvlvania, which runs imo the Sufquehanna, N. lat. 40" to'. 

 \V. long. 77° ,-'. 



SHARK, in the Linnrean fyftem of Ichthyology, is a 

 fpecics of the fqualus. Pennant makes it a diftinft genus, 

 the charaAers of which are thefe ; the body is (lender, and 

 grows lels towards the tail ; it has two fins on the back ; a 

 rough (kin ; five apertures on the fides of the neck ; the 

 mouth generally placed far beneath the end of the nofe ; 

 and the upper part of the tail longer than the lower. We 

 know two different fifti under the fame name of (liark, with 

 the addition of their colour, blue and white. 

 Vol. XXXII. 



The blue fliark is that fpecies of fqualus called glaucui, 

 and gahiis glaurus, by authors, and diftinguilhed by Artedi 

 by the name of the fqualus with a triangular dent, or furrow, 

 in the extremity of the back, and with no foramina about 

 the eyes. It is of a fine deep blue colour on the back, and 

 of a bright filver white on the belly ; the (l<in is fmoother 

 than that of the white (hark, and the nofe long pointed, and 

 fomewhat flattened, and extending far beyond the mouth ; 

 the noftrils are long, and placed tranfverfely ; the tail is 

 bifid, and one portion of it is much larger than the other ; 

 it is very voracious of human fle(h, and will follow clofe 

 under the (hore if there be depth enough, and a man is walk- 

 ing there. It is fometimes found on the Englilh fhores, and 

 has been caught on the Cornwall coaft, during the pilchard 

 feafon, with large iron hooks, made on purpofe. .Elian in- 

 forms us, that this fi(h will permit the fmall brood, when in 

 danger, to fwim down its throat, and take (belter in its 

 belly ; and the faCl has been confirmed by Rondelctius. 

 Mr. Pennant apprehends that this care of their young is 

 not pecuhar to this fpecies, but comm.on to the whole genus 

 of (hark. 



The other is the lamia, or canis carcharias of authors, the 

 fquahis carcharias of Linnxus, commonly called by us fimply 

 thefiark. This is diftinguiihed by Artedi by the name of 

 the fqualus with a flat back, and with numerous teeth, fer- 

 rated at the edges. 



The white (hark, or hmia, is a very dreadful and voracious 

 fi(h, the largeft of all the (liarks. They have been feen of 

 four thoufand weight, with throats capable of fwallowing 

 a lufty man whole ; nay, men have been found whole in 

 them when opened. Some have, for this reafon, imagined 

 this, and not the whale, to have been the fifti in whofe belly 

 the prophet Jonah lay. Swimmers very often perifh by 

 them ; fometimes lofing an arm or leg, and fometimes being 

 bit quite afunder, and fcrving only for two morfels for this 

 ravenous animal. Its teeth are very (harp and terrible ; 

 they are dilpofed in fix rows, and are all triangular, and 

 notched like a faw on their edges ; thefe are, in the whole, 

 a hundred and forty-four in number, and are placed in va- 

 rious direftions ; their number is not exaftly determinate ; 

 thefe teeth, when the fi(h is in a (late of repofe, lie quite 

 flat in the mouth, but when he feizes his prey, he has power 

 of erefting them, by the help of a fet of mufcles that join 

 them to the jaw ; the mouth is placed far beneath ; on 

 which account thefe filhcs, as well as the reft of the kind, 

 are faid to be obliged to turn on their backs to feize their 

 prey ; which is an obfervation as ancient as the days of 

 Pliny : its back is fliort and broad, in comparifon of the 

 other fifli of this kind, and its tail, which is of a femi- 

 lunar form, compofed of two fins of a cubit in length each. 

 This fifli has furprifing ftrength in its tail, and can ttrike 

 with great force ; fo that the failors inftantly cut it off with 

 an ax, as foon as they draw one on board. The pertoral fins 

 are very large, which enable it to (wim with great fwiftnels ; 

 the colour of tlie whole body and fins is a light afli ; its (kin 

 is rough, and its eyes large and round. It is found both in 

 the ocean and in thi.- Mediterranean, and is of all filh the molt 

 voracious of human flelh. 



It has its name fiom tlie Greek Xnif^o;, a voracious feeder, 

 or ghilloii. The foililc bodies, called gloffopetrx, or (cr- 

 pents' tongueti, and fuppofed to be real Itoncs, are the teeth 

 of this fifli. 



Shark, liajhing, Squalus maximus of Linna;u8, the 

 name given by Mr. Pennant to a fifll which inhabits the 

 northern leas, as high as the :irS.\c circle, and which was 

 taken for a fpecies ot whale, till he pointed out the branchial 

 orifices ill the fides, and the perpendicular file of the tail. 

 3 E Thin 



