354 NEW-YORK FAUNA. 



THE LONG-TAILED PORBEAGLE. 



Lamna caudata. 

 PLATE LXII. FIG. 205. a. iikder side of head ; b. a tooth." 

 Carcharias terra-nova? Richardsox, F. B. A. Vol.3, p. 289. (Young male.) 



Characteristics. Upper caudal lobe much elongated, and furnished with an accessory lobe at 

 the tip. Teeth triangular, serrated. No caudal carina. Length three to 

 six feet. 



Desc?iption. Body more elongated and cylindrical than in the preceding. Surface rough- 

 ened to the touch, when the hand is moved towards the head. Snout prominent, pointed, 

 broad, thin, and of a firm consistence. Eyes small, lateral, oval. Nostrils small, and be- 

 neath the snout. Mouth large (fig. a.), susceptible of great dilatation, crescent-shaped, and 

 armed with four or five series of triangular teeth (fig. b.), serrated on their edges ; the largest 

 were six-tenths of an inch long. Branchial apertures admit the passage of two fingers, and 

 all are anterior to the base of the pectorals. The first dorsal fin triangular in its general 

 shape, quadrilateral, one foot high, widely and regularly concave on its upper margin, recti- 

 linear along its posterior margin, and pointed ; it is twelve inches from its anterior base to its 

 posterior tip ; arises over about the middle of the base of the pectorals. Second dorsal small, 

 0'3 high, with a base half an inch long; placed over the anal. Pectorals eighteen inches 

 long, pointed, triangular, with a base often inches. Ventrals small, nearer the anal fin than 

 to the pectorals, of a very firm texture, emarginatc beneath, and terminating in a long point 

 behind. The vent lies between them. The anal similar in size and shape, and beneath the 

 second dorsal. Caudal fin with a deep indentation at its base. The upper lobe two feet long, 

 and furnished with a dilated fin near its tip ; the lower lobe ten inches long. All the fins, with 

 their posterior edges, thin and ragged. 



Color. Uniform dusky hue above, tinged with bluish, and forming a bluish grey ; lighter 

 colored on the sides of the head and body ; white beneath. Irides greenish blue. 



Length seven feet four inches. Weight one hundred and sixty-one pounds. 



I am indebted to Mr. Carson Brevoort, of this city, for the drawing which illustrates this 

 species. He captured it in September, at Brenton's reef on the coast of Rhode-Island ; and 

 although I have seen several specimens of the young from this harbor, this is the first adult 

 specimen of which I have been able to obtain a good figure. The position of its first dorsal, and 

 its unequal lobed tail, is a new form under this genus. It clearly cannot, from the position 

 of its branchial apertures, be arranged under Carcharias. In many particulars, it is never- 

 theless closely allied to the C. ceruleus previously described. When captured, the stomach 

 was filled with large fish ; too much injured, however, to determine the species. 



