76 
LECTURE VIII. 
else its electric powers; and Spallanzani even 
assures us that having opened a Torpedo and 
taken out one of the young, he found that it com- 
municated a very perceptible electric shock. 
The next remarkable genus among the Carti- 
laginous Fishes is that of Squaliis or Shark : In 
these animals the body is of a lengthened form; 
the mouth placed beneath, and furnished with nu- 
merous teeth, and on each side the neck are a 
certain number of transverse slits, leading to the 
ffills, as in the Rav tribe : the number of these 
slits or openings differs in the different species 
from five to seven ; but the prevailing number is 
five. It would be unnecessary to add that Sharks 
are animals of great rapacity, and that the larger 
kinds are among the most formidable enemies of 
the deep. The white Shark in particular, or 
Sqiiahis Carcharias, has long been celebrated for 
its destructive powers, and is the dread of navi- 
gators in the warmer regions. It arrives at the 
length of more than thirty feet, and is of a pale 
grey colour : the mouth is extremely wfide, and 
is furnished with from three to six rows of strong, 
flat, triangular, sharp-pointed teeth, serrated on 
their edges, and so placed in the cartilaginous 
