148 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
The great agility of these animals prevents their often 
being taken. They seldom remain a moment above water ; 
sometimes, indeed, their too eager pursuits expose them to 
danger; and a shoal of herrings often allures them out of 
their depth. In such a case, the hungry animal continues 
to flounder in the shallows till knocked on the head, or till 
the retiring tide seasonably comes to its relief. Gut all this 
tribe, and the dolphin in particular, arc not less swift than 
destructive. No flsh could escape them, but from the awk- 
ward position of the mouth, which is placed in a manner 
under the head : yet, even with these disadvantages, their 
depredations are so great, that they have been justly styled 
the plunderers of the deep. 
As for the rest, we are told, that these animals go with 
young ten months ; that, like the whale, they seldom bring 
forth above one at a time, and that in the midst of summer: 
that they live to a considerable age; though some say not 
above twenty-live or thirty years; and they sleep with the 
snout above water. 
CHAP. XXX. 
Of Cartilaginous Fishes — Of the S it a ii k — The while Shark , 
The blue , the long tailed , the basking, the hammer-headed 
and the angel Shark — The Dogfish and its varieties — 
The Sawfish — The Ray — The Skate — The Roughrau — 
The Th'ornback — Manner of f siting for fat fish — The 
Sling Ray — The Torpedo — The Sea Devil — The 
Sea' Eagle — I'he Lamprey — The Sturgeon — The 
Isinglass fish — The Angler — The Dion on, or Sun 
fish — The oblong, short , and globe Diodon — The Lump- 
sucker — The Sea Snail — The Pipe Fish — The Hip- 
pocampus — The Sea Porcupine — The Galley Fish. 
Cartilaginous Fishes. 
The first great distinction which the cartilaginous tribe 
of fishes exhibit is, in having cartilages or gristles instead 
of bones. The size of all fishes increases with age ; but 
from the pliancy of the bones in this tribe, they seem to 
have no bounds placed to their dimensions: and it is sup- 
posed that they grow larger every day till they die. 
Cartilaginous fishes unite the principal properties of both 
