FAMILY, I— CARCHARIID^. . 715 



11. Carcharias Gangeticus, Plate CLXXXVII, fig. 1. 



Carcharias (Prionodon) Qangeticus, MiiU. and Henle, Plagios. p. 39, t. xiii ; Bleeker, Beng. p. 80 ; 

 Dumeril, Hist. Nat. Poi.ss. i, p. 359." 



Carcharias {Prionodon) Japoniciis, Temm. and Sclileg. Faun. Japon, Poiss. p. 302, t. cxxxiii. 



Squalus (Carcharias) Ga.ngeticus, Blyth, J. A. S. of Beng. 1860, p. 36. 



Carcharias Gangeticus, Giinther, Catal. viii, p. 367, and Ann. Nat. Hist. 1874, p. 36. 



Length of the preoral portion of the snout only 2/3 of the width of the month, and equalling half of 

 the interspace between the eye and the middle gill-opening : a very slight groove at the angle of the mouth. 

 Nostrils in the front half of the distance between the end of the snout and the mouth. Gill-openings wider 

 than the orbit. ree/Zi— twenty-seven to thirty in either jaw, all being serrated: the superior ones almost 

 triangular, their outer edge with a notch, very distinct in the immature, but becoming almost lost with a^e : 

 those in the lower jaw narrow, erect, and having broad bases. Fijis — pectoral elongated, falciform, and extends 

 to beneath the middle of the first dorsal: its internal margin 2/7 of the length of its outer. Origin of the first 

 dorsal slightly posterior to the hind edge of the base of the pectoral, its base not extending to above the ventral. 

 The second dorsal of about the same size as the anal, the latter nearer the caudal than the ventral. Lencrth of 

 the caudal 2/7 of the total length. Scales — small and with rough edges : they are hardly above 1/2 the size of 

 those in G. melanopterus. Colours — gray superiorly, becoming dull white beneath. Fins gray, the pectoral, 

 ventral, and anal with light edges : posterior portion of caudal rather dark. 



This is one of the most ferocious of Indian sharks, and frequently attacks bathers even in the Hooghly at 

 Calcutta,* where it is so dreaded that a reward is oifered for each that is captured. I have taken it at 

 Cuttack. 



The example figured (18 inches long) was from Bombay, and the teeth are exceedingly minute, but 

 under the microscope the notch in the upper teeth and the serrations are visible. 



Habitat. — Seas of India to Japan, ascending rivers to above tidal influence. It attains at least seven 

 feet in length. Also recorded from Bagdad. 



12. Carcharias melanopterus, Plate CLXXXV, fig. 3. 



? Carcharias melanopterus, Quoy and Gaim. Voy. Uran. Zool. p. 194, pi. 43, figs. 1 and 2 • Riipp 

 N.W. Fische, p. 63 ; Giinther, Catal. viii, p. 369 : Klunz. F. R. Meer. 1871, p. 658. 



Carcharias (Prionodon) mdanopterus, Miill. and Henle, p. 43, pi. 19, fig. 5 (teeth) ; Bloek. Plag. p. 33 ; 

 Richards. Ich. China, pp. 194, 317 ; Dumeril, Hist. Poiss, i, p. 365 ; Kner, Novara Fische, p. 415. 



Carcharias (Prionace) melavojiterus, Cant. Mai. Fish, p. 400. 



Carcharias (Prionodon) Henlei, Bleek. Nat. Tyds. Ned. Ind. iv, p. 507. 



? Carcharias (Prionodon) hrachyrhynchus, Bleek. Act. Soc. Sc. Indo-Neerl. vi, p. 206 ; Dumeril, Hist. 

 Poiss. i, p. 364. 



Length of the preoral portion of the snout two-thirds the width of the mouth and considerably less 

 than the distance between the eye and the first gill-opening : a very short groove at the angle of the jaws. 

 Nostrils nearer to the extremity of the snout than to the end of the mouth. Snout rounded and very obtuse. 

 Teeth — fj-If-Kli)) the upper broad, flattened, oblique, with a very slight notch or rather concavity on the outer 

 side and serrated : the lower much narrower, pointed, on a broad base and also serrated, these serrations beino- 

 generally minute, sometimes only ou one side of the tooth and are occasionally wanting, especially in the lower 

 jaw. Fins — pectoral falciform, extending to beneath the middle or even hind edge of the base of the dorsal, 

 its outer edge three times as long as its internal one. Base of first dorsal a little nearer the pectoral than its 

 posterior end is to the ventral. Second dorsal opposite and similar to the anal. Length of caudal 3|- to 4-\ 

 in the total length. f Scales — compaiatively large, lineated, but with almost smooth edges. Colours — brown 

 or bluish-gray superiorly, fading to dull white beneath ; ends of all the fins deep black. Iris gray, stained 

 darker superiorly. It may be remarked, as showing the size to which this species attains, that the liver of one at 

 the Government fish-oil factory at Calicut weighed 2701bs. 



Habitat. — fie&s of India to the Malay Archipelago, and beyond. The example figured (42 inches long), 

 a female, was from the Andamans. This form is very common, having from 24 to 25 teeth only in each jaw. 



C. melanopterus, is variously named by the natives : thus Sir W. Elliot received examples termed Caval 

 sorrah, Nella vekal sorrah, JRaman sorrah, Mukhan sorrah, Boka sorrah, and Ban sorrah. 



13. Carcharias Bleekeri. 



Carcharias (Prionodon) Bleekeri, Dumeril, Hist. Nat. Poiss. i, p. 367. 

 Carcharias hleekeri, Giinther, Catal. viii, p. 370. 



* Sir Joseph Fayrer informs me that in a case brought to his hospital at Calcutta, the shark not only divided the soft 

 parts down to the thigh bone in a naiive. but even made a deep groove on the neck of tlie femur. 



t In Quoy and Gaimard's figure the lengih of the caudal fin is shown aa 3' in the total : but Dumeril (1. c.) observes that 

 the •• caudale formant a peu pres le quart de la longueur tutale," and also that the types are in the Museum. 



4 T 2 



