146 
ZOOLOGY 
It grows to the length of twelve feet, and is one of the 
most rapacious and formidable of sea-monsters. Among 
the largest sharks are the species of Carcharias (Fig. 187) 
One species frequents the Ganges, occurring sixty leagues 
from the sea. 
Of the rays and skates, the saw-fish [Pristis antiquoriim) 
approximates most to the sharks. Its snout is prolonged 
into a long, flat, bony blade, armed on each side with large 
teeth (Fig. 188). The common saw- 
fish inhabits the Mediterranean Sea 
and the Gulf of Mexico; it is vivipa- 
rous (Caton). Pristis Perroteli lives 
in the Senegal Kiver. 
The genuine skates or rays have 
the body broad and flat and rhom- 
boidal, owing to the great extension 
of the thick pectoral fins. They 
swim close to the bottom, feeding 
upon shell-fish, crabs, etc., crushing 
them with their powerful flattened 
teeth. The smallest and most com- 
mon skate of our northeastern Atlan- 
tic coast is Raja erinacea. It is one 
half of a metre (twenty inches) in 
length, and the males are smaller 
than the females. The largest species 
is the barndoor skate, Raja IcBvis, 
which is over a metre (forty-two 
inches) long. Raja eglanteria (Fig. 
189) ranges from Cape Cod to the 
Caribbean Sea. The smaller figures 
in Fig. 189 represent respectively the 
mouth and gill-slits, and the jaws of 
Fig. i88.-Beak of Saw-fish, Myliobatis fremenvUlii, 
ir^Z^'^os^t^ In the torpedo the body is some- 
lateraiteeth. ^Yvdi oval and rouudcd. Fig. 190 
represents Torpedo marmoratus of the Mediterranean Sea. 
