142 Gudgei — Notes on Some Beaufort, N. 0., Fishes. 



tion, since he finds that Beaufort sharks rarely correspond in all details 

 with the diagnoses given in Jordan and Evermann's Fishes of North and 

 Middle America or in Smith's Fishes of North Carolina. 



Mr. Peter Okkelberg, of the University of Michigan, while dissecting 

 one of these sharks, called attention to the apparent absence of the spiral 

 valve from the large intestine. On opening the other shark, the same 

 condition was found. Director Aller, however, pointed out certain ob- 

 scure twists in the wall of the intestine which he thought represented 

 such, and later called attention to the following statement in Parker and 

 Haswell, Vol. II (1897), page 104: "A spiral valve is always present in 

 the large intestine (of the Elasmobranchii), though its arrangement varies 

 considerably in the various families. In some cases (e. g. Carchan'as) 

 the fold is not a spiral one, but, attached by one edge in a nearly longi- 

 tudinal line to the intestinal wall, is rolled up in the shape of a scroll." 



Pearlier in the season of 1910 the writer had the following interesting 

 experience with a sharp-nosed shark some three miles up Newport River. 

 He had visited some fishermen just as they were finishing clearing their 

 net. They had thrown into his rowboat some female rays and a few 

 small sharks. The former were autopsied for eggs and emoryos and 

 thrown overboard, and then a pair of jaws from one of the sharks was 

 cut out and cleaned off. The fragments of this fish were likewise thrown 

 overboard and presently the bloody water was bailed out and the boat 

 washed. All this was done on a falling tide in a locality well known for 

 sharks and rays. 



Presently the dorsal fin of a large shark could be seen coming against 

 the ebb tide. Standing in the stern of the skiff, the writer watched the 

 shark " nosing around" in the water like a bird dog working a field for 

 quail. Having arrived within 10 feet of the boat, it suddenly saw him 

 for the first time, backed water in a perfect panic and di -appeared in a 

 tlurry of mud and sand. Its length was about 8 feet, and from its large 

 girth it was probably a Carcharhinus rather than a Scoliodon. This in- 

 cident illustrates both the voracity and the cowardliness of this scavenger 

 of the sea. 



It may be noted in passing that during the summer of 1911 a number 

 of sharp-nosed sharks were taken in the laboratory pound net and seine. 

 Only the smallest of these, a male Scoliodon terra-novae 4:\ inches long, 

 was identified. The others, ranging from to 1% feet in length, were 

 taken from 3 to 7 miles from the laboratory, and because of their size, 

 thesmallness of the boat, and the fact that the seining crew was generally 

 out on all-day trips, could not be brought to the laboratory for identifi- 

 cation. Since Scoliodon rarely grows so large it is quite probable that 

 these were Carcharhinus. 



The largest shark taken at Beaufort in 1911 was brought in by some 

 menhaden fishermen before the writer arrived at the laboratory. Capt. 

 Oscar Noe, superintendent of the menhaden fish factory^to which it was 

 brought, reported that he found it to be 13^ feet over all. There can be 

 no doubt that it was a Carcharhinus. 



