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SQUALUS, the Shark , in ichthyology, a genus of fishes ofthe order Cartilaginei. Mouth under the fore-part of tiie head,with teeth disposed in rows, and partly moveable and partly fixed ;.generally five spiracles, at the sides of the neck, of a semilunarshape; body oblong, rather cylindric and rough, with tenderprickles. These animals are never found in rivers or lakes, inha-biting only the sea, and carrying terror and destruction whereverthey appear. They grow, in some species, to the weight of threeor four thousand pounds. They occasionally emit a phosphoricillumination, visible by night. They produce their young alive,several at a birth, but every one inclosed in a transparent horn-like substance, lengthened at the extremity into a thread, whichattaches to fixed substances, such as rocks or weeds. Some ap-pear to live on vegetables chiefiv, but the greater number are ra-pacious of animal-substances in the extreme. They seize, indeed,whatever they find, with the most violent avidity, following in thewakes of ship', for the sake of nearly everything thrown fromthem, and are fatal to those mariners who slip from their hold onthe rigging into the sea, in which case the sharks are seen to tearthem to pieces, with the utmost rapacity. A very extraordinaryinstance of intrepidity and friendship is given by Mr. Hughes inhis Natural History of Barbadoes. It happened about the end ofQueen Anne’s wars, at Barbadoes . The sailors of the York Mer-chant having ventured into the sea to wash themselves, a largeshark made toward them, upon which they swam back, ami allreached the boat except one, whom the monster overtook, andgriping him by the small of his back, soon cut him asunder, andswallowed the lower part of his body; (he remaining part wastaken up and carried on board, where a comrade of his was, whosefriendship with the deceased had been long and reciprocal. Whenhe saw the severed trunk of his friend, with an horror and emo-tion too great for words to paint, he vowed that lie would makethe devourer disgorge, or be swallowed himself in the same grave,and plunged into the deep, armed with a sharp-pointed knife.The shark no sooner saw him, but lie made furiously toward him ;both equally eager, the one of his prey, the other of revenge.The shark opened his rapacious jaws, his adversary dexterouslydiving, and grasping him with his left hand somewhat below theupper fins, successfully employed his knife in his right hand,giving him repeated stabs in the belly ; the enraged shark, aftermany unavailing efforts, finding himself overmatched, in his ownelement, endeavouring to disengage himself, sometimes plungingto the bottom, then mad with pain, rearing his uncouth form, nowstained with his ow n streaming blood, above the foaming waves.The crews of the surrounding vessels saw the unequal combat, un-certain from which of the combatants the streams of blood issued ;till at length the shark, much weakened by the loss ofbiood, madetoward the shore, and with him his conqueror; who, now assuredof victory, pushed his foe with redoubled ardour, and, by the helpof an ebbing tide, dragged him on shore, ripped up Ins bowels,and united and buried the severed carcase of his friend.

S. CaUcharias, the Rf.uuiu, or White Shark , is often thirtyfeet long, and, according to Gillius, weighs 4000 pounds. Themouth is sometimes furnished with a six-told row of teeth, flat,triangular, and exceedingly sharp at their edges, and finely ser-rated. Mr. Pennant had one rather more than an inch and a halflong. Grew' says, that those in the jaws of a shatk two yards inlength are not hall an inch ; so that the fish to which this tooth be-longed must have been six yards long, provided the teeth andbody keep pace in their growth. This dreadful apparatus, whenthe fish is in a -late of repose, lies quite fiat in the mouth; butwhen he seizes hi; prey, he lias the power of erecting ti.em by thehelp of mu-cles that join them to the jaw. The mouth is placedfar beneath ; for which reason these, as well as the rest of the kind,are obliged to turn on their hacks to seize their prey ; which is anobservation as ancient as the days of Pliny . The eyes arc; large;the back broad, fiat, and shorter than that of other sharks. '1 lietail is of a semilunar form, hut the upper part is longer than thelower. It lias vast strength in (he tail, and can strike with groatforce; so that the sailors iiHanlly cut it off with an axe as soon asthey draw one on hoard. The pectoral (ins are very large, which■enables it to swim with great swiftness. This species inhabits theabyss of the ocean, and only appeal's on the surface when alluredby its prey. It is the most voracious of all animals, not even, it issaid, sparing its own offspring, and often swallowing its prey en-

tire. This is probably the species of fish that swallowed the pro-phet Jonah; for a whale it could not be, without ail additionalmiracle.

S. Isabella, has a wrinkly spotted skin, and the anterior dorsal-fin is perpendicular to the abdominal fins. The body is somewhatfiat; the head short, large, and obtuse. 'The teeth are disposedin six rows, compressed, short, and triangular, having a notch oneach side of their bases. The eyes are sunk ; the iris is of a cop-per-colour, and (he pupil is black and oblong. The fins of theback are almost square; the caudal-fin is divided into two lobes,and the lateral line is parallel to the hack. The upper part of thebody is of a reddish ash-colour, with blackish spots disposed irre-gularly. The under part is of a dirty white hue. This species isfound near New Zealand , and is about two feet and a half long.

S. Maximus, the Basking Shark . The fishes of this species .are migratory fish ; in a certain number of years they are seen inmultitudes on the Welsh seas, though in most summers a singlestrayed fish appears. They inhabit the northern seas, even as highas the arctic circle. They visited the hays of Caernarvonshire and Anglesea in vast shoals in the summers of 1750, and a fewsucceeding years, continuing there only the hot months; forthey quitted the coast about Michaelmas. 1 hey have nothing ofthe fierce and voracious nature of the shark-kind, and are so tameas to suffer themselves to be stroked; they generally lie motion-less on the surface, commonly on their bellies, but sometimes ontheir backs. Their food seems to consist entirely of sea-plants, noremains of fish being ever discovered in the stomachs of numbersthat were cut up, except some green stuff, the half-digested partsof alg.T, and the like. 1.milieus says they feed on medusae. Atcertain times, they are seen sporting on the waves, and leapingwith vast agility several feet out of the water. They swim verydeliberately, with the dorsal-fins above water. Their length isfrom three to twelve yards, and sometimes longer. Their form israther slender, Tlieuppor jaw is much longer than the lower,and blunt at the end. The tail is very large, and the upper partremarkably longer than the lower. The upper part of the bodyis of a deep leaden colour; the belly white. The skin is roughlike shagreen, hut less so on the belly. In the mouth, towards thethroat, is a very short sort of whale-bone. The liver is of a greatsize, but that of the female is the largest; some weigh above 1000pounds, and yield a great quantity of pure and sweet oil, fit. forlamps, and also much used to cure bruises, burns, and rheumaticcomplaints. A large fish has afforded to the captors a profit of20/. They are viviparous; a young one about a foot in lengthbeing found in the belly of a fish of this kind. One found deadon the shore, of Loch Ranz.a in the isle of Arran, measured as fol-lows: The whole length, twenty-seven feet four inches; firstdorsal fm, three feet; second, one foot; pectoral fin, four feet!ventral, two feet; the upper lobe of the tail, five feet; the lower,three. They will permit a boat to follow them, without accelerat-ing their motion till it comes almost within contact when a bar*pooner strikes his weapon into them, as near to the gills as posseble. But they are often so insensible as not to move till the unit'ed strength of two men have forced in the harpoon deeper.soon as they perceive themselves wounded, they fling up their tan*and plunge headlong into the bottom ; and frequently coil l j ,crope round llicin in their agonies, attempting to disengageharpoon by rolling on the ground, for it is often found greatlybent. As soon as they discover that their efforts are in vain, they

swim away with amazing rapidity, and with such violence, tbjthere has been an instance of a vessel of 70 tons having been to"'Caway against a fresh gale. They sometimes run off with 200 •thorns of line, and with two harpoons in them ; and will emplQthe fishers for 12, and sometimes for 24 hours, before Ihev a ! tsubdued. When killed, they are either hauled on shore, or, j.a distance from land, to the vessel’s side. 1 he liver, (the oa Juseful part,) is taken out, and melted into oil in kettles. A I'-'Tfish will vield eight barrels of oil, and two of sediment.

Plate CX'XI. . r ( ff

S. Zyg/ena, or the Hammer-headed Shark , from sl *sixteen led long; the head is elongated on each side; ddpart is bent hack, and convex both above and below. At thetremities of the elongated part are the eyes, which are large, P r _minrnl, and directed downwards; the iris is of a golden co j tfIt has a horrible appearance from the teeth, which are arrangF , e