saUALUS. SHARK. 



Generic Character. 



Os in anteriore et inferior e 

 capitis parte, dentibus nu- 

 merosis seriatis. 



Spiracida utrinque ad latera 

 colli, plerisque quinque. 



Corpus oblongum, tereti- 

 usculum. 



Mouth situated beneath the 

 anterior part of the head^ 

 with numerous teeth dis- 

 posed in rows. 



Spiracles on each side the 

 neck, in most species five 

 in number, of a semilunar 

 shape. 



Body oblong, somewhat cy- 

 lindric. 



JL HE animals of this genus are altogether marine : 

 and are &aid to be much rarer in the Baltic than in^ 

 any other sea : they are viviparous, and are observed 

 to produce more young at a time than the Rays, 

 but each included, as in those fishes, in a quadran- 

 gular capsule or involucrum, each extremity of 

 which is extended into a long, contorted, cartilagin- 

 ous thread of great length. Many of the Sharks are 

 said to emit a phosphoric light during the night : 

 they are chiefly of a solitary nature, and, in gene- 

 ral, devour with indiscriminating voracity, almost^ 

 every animal substance, whether living or dead : 

 some few species however are observed to feed 

 chiefly on fuci and other marine vegetables. 



