304 PLAGIOSTOMATA. 



Faun. Bor.-Amer. Pise. p. 291; Nilss. Skand. Fauna, iv, p. 720; Thompson, Nat. 

 Hist. Ireland, iv, p. 253; Storer, Mem. Amer. Acad, ix, 1867, p. 229, pi. xxxvii, 

 f. 3 ; Dumeril, Ich. i, p. 413, pi. iii, f. 18 (teeth) ; Bocage and Capello, Peix. 

 Plagios. p. 14; Giinther, Catal. viii, p. 394; Cornish, Zool. 1870, pp. 2253, 2260 ; 

 Collett, Norges Fiske, p. 209 ; P. Pavesi, An. Mus. Genov. xii, pp. 348, 418, pi. iii, 

 c. fig. ; Canest. Faun. Ital. p. 44 ; Giglioli, Catal. Pesc. Ital. p. 52 ; Moreau, Poiss. 

 de la France, i, p. 305. 



Squalus isodus, Saverio Maori, Att. Acad. Sc. Nap. 1819, i, p. 55, t. i, f. 1, 

 t. ii, f . 2. 



Squalus elephas, Lesueur, Journ. Ac. Nat. Sc. Phil, ii, p. 343, c. fig. ; De Kay, 

 New York Fauna, Fish, p. 357, pi. lxiii, f. 208. 



Squalus selanonus, Leach, Wern. Mem. ii, p. 64, pi. ii, f. 2. 



Squalus cetaceus, Gronov. ed Gray, p. 6. 



Cetorhinus maximus, Gray, Catal. Chond. p. 61; White, Catal. p. 129; Gill, 

 Catal. Fish. E. coast of North America, p. 60. 



Cetorhinus Blainvillei, Capello, Journ. Ac. Sc. Lisb 1869, p. 233, c. fig. 



Bashing shark, Couch, Fish. Brit. Isles, i, p. 60, pi. xiv. 



(Monstrosities.) 



Squalus rashleighanus, Couch, Trans. Linn. Soc. xiv, p. 91. 



Pohjprosopus rashleighanus and inacer, Couch, Brit. Fish, i, pp. 67-68, pi. xv. 



This shark is largest in circumference about the situation of the pectoral fins, 

 diminishing in size towards each extremity. Head conical. The snout (especially 

 in the young) appears like a beaked projection, being of much less circumference 

 than the anterior end of the jaws ; it is also covered with small pores. Eye 

 small, situated over the anterior end of the mouth : nostrils situated at the edge 

 of the upper lip. Spiracle small, and situated midway between the eye and the 

 first gill-opening. Teeth small and conical, with smooth edges, and in from 

 four to six rows. Gill-openings very long, extending down the entire side of the 

 neck. Fins the first dorsal is of medium size : it commences on a line just 

 posterior to the insertion of the pectoral, is highest in front and concave along 

 its upper border. The second dorsal, which is about one-third the size of the 

 first, is inserted just anterior to the anal, than which it is larger. Pectoral placed 

 low down, rather small and nearly triangular. Caudal, with the lower lobe the 

 longer and the upper notched, a pit at the root of the fin. Skin rough, especially 

 when the hand is passed from behind forwards ; a keel along the side of the tail. 

 Colours dusky black, brown, or blue along the back, becoming lighter on the 

 sides and beneath. Snout of a dull reddish, becoming dull white beneath. 



The pi'oportions of the Isle of Wight specimen, now in the National Museum, 

 were as follows when fresh : Entire length, 28 feet 10 inches; of head, 6 feet 

 10 inches ; of upper jaw, 3 feet 2 inches ; of lower jaw, 2 feet 4| inches ; width 

 of mouth, 1 foot 10 inches; size of eye, 2 inches. Greatest height of first 

 dorsal fin, 4 feet ; of second dorsal tin, 1 foot 4 inches ; interspace between dorsal 

 fins, 6 feet 9 inches. Length of pectoral fin, 5g feet; of ventral, 2 feet 9 inches ; 

 of anal, lj feet ; of upper caudal lobe, 5 feet 10 inches ; of lower, about 4 feet 

 5 inches. Greatest circumference, just behind pectoral fins, 15 feet ; below 

 ventral fins, 5| feet (Zool. 1875, p. 4415). 



Lutken ( Vid. Medd. 1879-1880) observes that, as Fabricius only introduced this 

 fish into the Fauna of Greenland, due to his interpretation of fabulous stories told 

 by the Esquimos, it ought to be erased. Only a single specimen has been recorded 

 as captured in Iceland during the last half-century. 



I consider the fish described by Walker as having " Dentes numerosi acuti,'' 

 and termed by Leach Squalus selanomeus, Flem. 1. c. p. 168, must belong to this 

 species, and not to the Porbeagle, with which some authors have classed it. 



P. Pavesi I. c. gives a detailed description of a shark, captured in the Bay of 

 Spezia, near Lerici, which was determined as Squalus rostratus, Macri, while he 



In 1800 the vertebra of a large undescribed cartilaginous fish, generally termed the "sea 

 serpent," was cast ashore at the Orkneys, and is now in the Edinburgh Museum. It belongs to this 

 j>ecies. 



