Chive) WHITE? S AiARK. 83 
the heels to a rope, and lowered into the fea, and tho” 
it was drawn up again as faft as the united force of 
the crew could be exerted, yet in that fhort fpace the 
fharks had devoured every part but the feet, which 
were fecured at the end of the cord. 
Swimmers very often perifh by them; fometimes 
they lofe an arm or leg, and fometimes are bit quite 
affunder, ferving but for two morfels for this rave- 
nous animal: a melancholy tale of this kind is re- 
lated ina Weft India ballad, preferved in Mr. Percy’s 
reliques of ancient Ezgli/h poetry*. 
The mouth of this fifh is furnifhed with (fome- 
times) a fixfold row of teeth, flat, triangular, ex- 
ceedingly fharp at their edges, and finely ferrated. 
We have one that is rather more than an inch and, 
an half long. Grew** fays, that thofe in the jaws of 
a fhark two yards in length, are not half an inch, 
fo that the fifh to which mine belonged muft have 
been fix yards long, provided the teeth and body 
keep pace in their growth+. 
This dreadful apparatus, when the fifh isin a ftate 
of repofe, lie quite flat in the mouth, but when he 
feizes his prey, he has power of erecting them, by 
the help of a fet of mufcles that join them to the 
jaw. 
The mouth is placed far beneath, for which rea- 
fon thefe, as well as the reft of the kind, are faid to 
* Vol. I. 331. 
** Rarities, Qt- 
¢ Foffil teeth of this fihh are very ee in Malta, fome of 
which are four inches long. 
be 
Teeth, 
