428 
THE AGE OE NEW ZEALAND. 
larly with plates of enamel, often of considerable size, some- 
times with small points like the shagreen on the skin of 
sharks, and the prickly tooth-like tubercles on that of rays ; 
all the cartilagenous fishes, with the exception of the stur- 
geon, belong to this order, which includes the skates, rays, 
dog fish, and sharks. 
Fish of these kinds are extremely numerous in southern 
latitudes, and of formidable dimensions ; the Cestracion 
Philippi, or Port Jackson shark, may be adduced as an 
example ; of this fish Hugh Miller says : “ It is a creature, 
that to the dorsal spines and shagreen- covered skin of the 
common dog fish, adds a mouth terminal at the snout, not 
placed beneath as in most other sharks, and a palate covered 
with a dense pavement of crushing teeth, which better illus- 
trates the order, as it first appeared in creation, than any of 
our British placoids.” 
The Mako, another species of shark, ranging between 20° 
and 38° south latitude, which is much prized by the Hew 
Zealanders on account of its teeth — their favorite ear orna- 
ments — seems to be identical with one whose fossil teeth are 
so abundant in the Isle of Sheppey and other parts of Britain. 
The Garcharius Megalodon , belonging to the red crag, is 
found in Hew Zealand, in a living as well as fossil state. 
The Tuatini, a shark of genus squatina also abounds, it has 
a large head like that of the tadpole, with its mouth like the 
Cestracion Philippi, and a body tapering to the tail ; it is 
remarkable for the form of its teeth, each being composed of 
six sharp points, like so many separate ones fixed in the 
same block, and inclining outwards as a saw from the centre 
of the mouth. This destructive fish is often twelve feet long, 
its teeth are identical with those found in the London clay. 
The rays also are remarkable for size, some having been 
seen in Sydney harbour not much less than five feet across 
the back ; one kind is armed with a long tail, bristling 
with spines, and beneath it is a sting identical with the 
Pleurocanthus , figured by Hugh Miller, and found in the 
coal measures of Great Britain, which he justly remarks 
must have been used as a weapon of torture as well as of 
