TION. 



136 BASKING SHARK. Class IV. 



times, like tired swimmers, on their backs. 

 Their food seemed to consist entirely of sea 

 plants, no remains of fish being ever discovered 

 in the stomachs of numbers that were cut up, 

 except some green stuff, the half digested parts 

 of alg<£, and the like. Linnceus says, they feed 

 on medusa. At certain times they are seen 

 sporting on the waves, and leaping with vast 

 agility several feet out of the water. They 

 swim very deliberately, with the dorsal fins 

 above water. 

 Descrip- Their length is from three to twelve yards,, 

 and sometimes even longer. Their form rather 

 slender, like others of the shark kind ; the upper 

 jaw much longer than the lower, and blunt at 

 the end ; the mouth placed beneath, and each 

 jaw furnished with numbers of small teeth; 

 those before are much bent, those more remote 

 in the jaws conic and sharp pointed. On the 

 sides of the neck are five large transverse aper- 

 tures to the gills ; on the back two fins ; the 

 first very large, not directly in the middle, but 

 rather nearer the head ; the other small, and 

 situated near the tail; on the lower part are 

 five others ; viz. two pectoral fins ; two ventral 

 fins, placed just beneath the hind fin of the 

 back; and a small anal fin. Near these, the 

 male has two genitals, as in other sharks ; and 



