300 
CARTILAGINEI.— SQUALlDiE. 
quantity from the liver, to which medicinal 
properties are attributed. 
Family III. Squalid^. 
{Sharks.) 
We now come to a Family which contains the 
most highly organized members, not only of 
their Order, hut of the whole Class of Fishes. 
They are generally of large size, sometimes 
gigantic ; are carnivoroTus and voracious ; and 
some of them are universally dreaded for their 
ferocity, their appetite for human flesh, their 
strength, and the formidable array of teeth with 
which their mouth is furnished. The White 
Shark {Carcharias vulgaris)^ that terror of the 
tropical seas, has been repeatedly known to cut a 
man’s body in twain at a single snap ; and accounts 
are current of human bodies having been found 
entire in the bodies of these terrible monsters. 
Nor will this seem incredible when we consider 
that this species is sometimes found twenty feet 
in length. 
This and the following Family agree in having 
the gills attached at their outer margin, with a 
separate orifice to each, through which the water 
escapes. These orifices are commonly five in 
number. In the Sharks the body is lengthened, 
and of the usual fish-form, that is, tapering from 
behind the head to the tail, with but little swell- 
ing in the middle ; the muzzle is more or less 
pointed, and projects, so that the mouth opens 
beneath ; the nostrils also are situated beneath 
the snout. All the fins are distinct and free ; 
