THE SHARK. 
149 
the other classes in their conformation : like the cetaceous 
tribes, they have organs of hearing, and lungs : like the spi- 
nous kinds, they have gills, and an heart without a partition. 
From tins structure of their gills, these animals are enabled 
to live a longer time out of water than other fishes. The car- 
tilaginous shark, or ray, live some hours after they are taken ■ 
while the spinous herring or mackarel expire a tew minutes 
after they are brought on shore. Some of this class bring 
forth their young alive; and some bring forth eggs, which 
are afterwards brought to maturity. In all, however, the 
manner of gestation is nearly the same; for upon dissection, 
it is ever found, that the young, while in the body, continue 
in the egg till a very little time before they are excluded : 
these eggs they may properly be said to hatch within their 
body ; and as soon as their young quit the shell, they begin 
to quit the womb also. 
The Shark. Of all the inhabitants of the deep those 
of the shark kind are the fiercest and most voracious. 
The TJ kite Shark is sometimes seen to rank even among 
the whales for magnitude; and is found from twenty to 
thirty leet long. Some assert that they have seen them of 
four thousand pounds weight ; and we are told particu- 
larly of one, that had a human corpse in his belly. The 
head is large, and somewhat Hatted ; the snout longj and the 
eyes large. The mouth is enormously wide; as is the throat, 
and capable of swallowing a man with great ease. But its 
furniture of teeth is still more terrible. Of these there are 
six rows extremely hard, sharp-pointed, and of a wedge- 
like figure. It is asserted that there are seventy- two in each 
jaw, which make one hundred and forty-four in the whole; 
yet others think that their number is uncertain ; and that, 
in proportion as the animal grows older, these terrible in- 
struments of destruction are found to encrease. With these 
the jaws both above and below appear planted all over ; but 
the animal has the power of erecting or depressing them at 
pleasure. When the shark is at rest, they lie quite Hat in 
ms mouth ; but when he prepares to seize his prey, he 
erects all this dreadful apparatus by the help of a set of 
muscles that join them to the jaw ; and the animal he 
seizes, dies pierced with an hundred wounds in a moment. 
Nor is this fish less terrible to behold as to the rest of his 
form : his fins are larger, in proportion ; he is furnished with 
great goggle eyes, which he turns with ease on every side, so 
as to see his prey behind him as well as before : and his 
whole aspect is marked with a character of malignity : his 
s kin also is rough, hard and prickly; being that substance 
which covers instrument cases, called shagreen. 
