OF CARTILAGINOUS FISHES. 
87 
The fillies of this order are poffefied both of gills and 
liings, and are thereby in fome meafure capable of deriv- 
ing aid from both elements, to their rieceflities and enjoy- 
ffients; the manner of their parturition is alfo various : 
a nd vve are now to contemplate them in the double en- 
J°yment of another qualification. The males of this race 
c °pulate with their females, more hominum ; and in them 
the external organs of generation are two-fold *. Thefe 
tnftruments project forward from each fide of the abdo- 
rncn > a nd whether it be that thefe animals poffefs more 
Warmth of conftitution, or a greater capacity of bringing 
their offspring to maturity, they generally choofe colder 
^afons and fituatiohs for producing their young, than o- 
ther filhes ; many of them propagate in the midft of win- 
ter » and far from the ftioref. 
, "^he cartilaginous fifties, though not fo remarkable 
e 'ther for fatnefs or fize, are in general more voracious 
than any of the tribes we have already reviewed ; their 
divers are indeed fat, and are fometimes employed for the 
Production of oil ; it is not, however, from them that 
111311 derives either his mod pleafant or falubrious food • 
ne y are impure and immoderate feeders, and their fie fit 
favours of that impurity Of a confiderable portion 
°f them, the mouth is placed below the head ; a contri- 
Va nce of Nature, for which an old writer afligns fome 
furious reafons : Their fnout, fays he, is too l’mall to be 
rvtded ; and their voracity is fo keen, that their own life 
e quires that it fhould not be allowed a ready or com* 
Plete gratification §. 
, From 
* Wcm ubi fupra. f Goldfmith’s Nat. Hill, 
t [chthyol. Lib. iii. p. 45. 
•> Vide Rondeletius de pifeibus. Lib. iii. cap, 4, 
