PLATE CVIII. 
rity we cannot pretend to determine *. The suspicions of Gmelin 
on this subject are not altogether unfounded, though it must be re- 
marked, that it is not exactly a variety of that species, but precisely 
the same fish. — This we are at liberty to state on the best authority, 
having been favoured some years ago by the Rev. Mr. Hugh Davies, 
of Beaumaris (the gentleman from whom Mr.Pennant acknowledges to 
have derived his information of the fish) with the orginal drawing and 
description from whence the account of the Beaumaris Shark in the 
British Zoology was taken +. This drawing was liberally put into 
our hands by Mr. Davies, with permission to employ it in anv man- 
ner likely to promote science; and we cannot therefore consistently 
pass over it without offering some further observations respecting 
it. From a slight comparison there appears sufficient reason to re- 
gret, that a very striking dissimilarity prevails between the plate in 
the above work and the original drawing from whence it professes to 
be copied, the figure in the plate having been injudiciously altered 
to the fancy of the artist, or the engraver, to give the animal a better 
contour. By this means the accuracy of the first design is entirely 
lost, and the deviation rendered considerable ; insomuch indeed as to 
convey an idea of a very distinct fish, and thus involve the history of 
the species itself in obscurity. Dr. Goodenough is among the number 
of those misled by an implicit reliance on the plate in the British 
Zoology ; for he observes (depending on the accuracy of the draw* 
in s) that his fish, (Squalus Cornubicus,) cannot be the same as the 
Dr. 1 nr ton, contrary to the example of his author makes two distinct species of 
those fishes in his translation of the Systema Naturae. 
t r ‘ Beaumaris Shark. This species was observed by my friend the Rev. Mr. Hugk 
Davies, of Beaumaris, who favoured me with the description, and an accurate drawing 
.made from the fish taken in a neighbouring wear.” Penn. Brit. Zool. V. 3.p. 128. n. 5p» 
♦ 
i 
