LECTURE VIII. 
77 
edge of the jaws as to be either raised or depressed 
at pleasure. So voracious is this animal that like 
many other inhabitants of the sea, it does not spare 
even its own species. An author of credit^ ref- 
lates that a Laplander had taken a shark, and 
fastened it to his canoe ; but soon missed it, with- 
out being able to guess how : in a short time af- 
terwards he caught a second, of much larger size, 
in which, when opened, he found that which he 
had lost. 
The Sharks form a very numerous race, and 
some are distinguished by the elegancy of their 
colours, as the Zebra Shark, an Indian species, 
of a brown colour, with white bars and stripes, 
and the blue European Shark, which is of an 
elegant bright blueish grey colour. Of those 
which have the most singular appearance the 
S. Zyggena or Hammer-headed Shark affords a cu- 
rious example. It is of a brown colour, and grows 
to the length of fifteen feet : the head is length- 
ened out to a vast distance on each side, and the 
eyes placed at each extremity. It is an inha- 
bitant of the Mediterranean sea. 
The Sharks, like the Rays, are ovi-viviparous 
* Leems. 
