There is a species of shark at New Zealand which I have heard named, by seamen, the _ground shark_: the teeth procured from this species differ from all others that I have seen; they are long, rather curved inwards, flattened anteriorly, sharp pointed, _unserrated at the edges_, and have _two rather long fangs_. They are considered rare at New Zealand, and the teeth are highly valued by the natives, who wear them, with a hole bored through them, as appendages to their ears; they carve their green jasper stone also in the form of these teeth, and wear them in a similar manner: these teeth were so highly prized by the natives, that to procure one was a matter of difficulty. I for some time, since my return to England, endeavoured to ascertain the species to which these teeth belonged, but I was unsuccessful, until lately examining the jaws of the various species of sharks in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, in London, I found it to be the _Squalus cornubicus_, or porbeagle shark, which is thus noticed in the published catalogue of the college:— “No. 1832.—The skull, and part of the spine, of a small Porbeagle shark. Squalus cornubicus. Fig. Borlase’s History of Cornwall. Habitat. The British seas.” This species, from its magnitude when full grown, has sometimes been confounded with the squalus carcharias, or white shark.—Presented by Dr. Leach, 1820. The fore-teeth, near the symphysis, accorded in every respect with the New Zealand specimens; more posterior they became equilateral, but were all unserrated at their edges. The capture of one of these voracious animals frequently beguiles a tedious hour during a long voyage. Its struggles, when brought on deck, are very great, but a few severe blows on the nose soon disable it from further exertion. When seizing any object, the animal turns on the side, not (as is generally supposed) on the back. The shark, judging by an European palate, is not good eating: the fins and tail are very glutinous, and are the portions most relished by the seamen; when dried, they form an article of commerce to China, where they are used in soups, and considered as an excellent aphrodisiac. I have seen several sharks and bonitos about the ship at the same time, but I never observed the former attempt to molest the latter. The shark is eaten eagerly by the natives of the Polynesian Islands, and I have often seen them feasting on it in a raw state, when they gorge themselves to such an excess as to occasion vomiting. It is not an unfrequent source of illness among these islanders, and they suffer so much in consequence, as to lead them to suppose that their dissolution is nigh; but they cannot be persuaded that the eating of raw fish is the cause. An emetic soon removes the symptoms, by removing the cause; and the sufferer considers the cure as almost miraculous.