?18 PLAGIOSTOMATA— SELACHOIDEI. 



The example figured is from Sir Walter Elliot's collection, and -was obtained at Waltair, on the Coromandel 

 coast. It is a male 32'5 inches in length. I take this ojiportunitj of dedicating this new fish to Surgeon- 

 General E. Balfour, late of the Madras Jledical Sei-yice, the scientific founder of the Madras Museum, and who 

 first dii'ectod my attention to collecti;)g the fishes of India. 

 Habitat. — Coromandel coast of India. 



Genus, 3 — Galeocerdo, Miiller and Senle. 



Spiracles small. Memhrana nictitans present. Mouth crescentic. Teeth ohliqtie, serrated on either edge, and 

 with a deep notch on the outer margin. The first dorsal spineless, pjlaced oppiosite the interspace between the pectoral 

 and ventral fins : caudal with a double notch. A pit on the tail, both above and beloio, at the base of the caudal 

 fin. 



Sharks of this genus are much dreaded in India, the native fishermen distinguishing between those 

 forms with long awl-shaped but smooth-edged teeth, from others having elongated or triangular cusps with 

 serrated edges. The former can be captured by lines and even by nets : but the latter immediately cut through 

 nets and sever lines, rendering it necessary to attach the hooks to chains. Sharks seem to prefer their food a 

 little high, and therefore the natives bury the bait in the ground for a day or more before baiting their 

 hooks with it. 



Geographical distribution. — Seas of the Tropics, also of temperate and Arctic regions. 



SYNOPSIS OP SPECIES. 



1. Galeocerdo Bayneri. Caudal fin Sj to 4 in the total length. Teeth |-|, denticulated, and of equal size 

 in both jaws. With dark spots. Indian and Australian seas. 



2. Galeocerdo tigrinus. Caudal fin 3 to 3j- in the total length. Teeth denticulated, and rather smaller in 

 the lower than in the upper jaw. Red Sea, Indian Ocean to Japan, and beyond. 



1. Galeocerdo Rayneri, Plate CLXXXVII, fig. 3. 



Galeocerdo tigrinus, Gray, Chondrop. p. 5-i ; Blyth, J. A. S. of Beng. 18G0, p. 36. 



Galeocerdo Bayneri, McDonald and Barron, Proc. Zool. Soc. 18G8, p. 368, pi. xxxii ; Giinther, Catal. viii, 

 p. 377. 



WulluveH sorrah, Tam. : Kcttalam sorrah, Tel. 



Length of preoral portion of the snout much less than the width of the mouth. A groove at the angle 

 of the mouth extending some distance along the side of the maxilla : nostrils nearer the end of the snout than the 

 mouth. Gill-openings not so wide as the orliit. Spiracle small. Eye — rather large. Teeth — 23/23, large, of equal 

 size in both jaws, compressed and serrated in their whole extent in both jaws, as well as notched externally 

 above the base. Fins — pectoral extends to beneath the anterior third of the first dorsal, it is falciform in shape. 

 Origin of first dorsal a short distance behind the base of the pectoral, but nearer to that fin than to the ventral, 

 which latter is midway between the hind edge of the first dorsal and the origin of the anal. Second dorsal 

 above the anal, the two being of about equal size. Length of the caudal 3 j to 4 in the total length, apparently 

 compai-atively decreasing in length with age. Colours — dark gray superiorly, becoming dull white beneath ; 

 cheeks and lower surface of the snout yellowish. Body, from a short distance behind the gill-openings, with 

 numerous large black spots and vertical bars. Pins gray, the first dorsal with irregular vertical bands. 



This fish attains to a considerable size in the Indian seas, where it is not very numerous. It is exceed- 

 ingly fierce ; and Jerdon remarks that it is very cunning and swells itself out so as to appear like a floating mass 

 of animal substance, and having thus decoyed its prey it immediately attacks it. It eats everything, even sea- 

 snakes. Sir W. Elliot observes that he obtained an example of this voracious shark 12 ft. 4 in. long. In its 

 stomach were the remains of fish of various sizes and several shin-bones of beef partially digested. Another 

 example, 8y feet long, had the remains of a sea-snake (Sydrus ingrucinctus) and of a siluroid fish. A fine 

 pair of jaws of this species (16 inches across the gape), from Kurrachee, exists in the British Museum; it is 

 labelled Carcharias fasciatus ?. 



Habitat. — Indian and Australian Seas ; attaining upwards of twelve feet in length. 



2. Galeocerdo tigrinus. 



7 Galeus maculatus, Ranzani, Nov. Comm. Ac. Bonom. iv, 1840, p. 68, t. viii. 



Galeocerdo tigrinus, Miill. and Heule, Plagios. p. 69, t. xxiii ; Bleeker, Beng. p. 80 ; Gill, Pro. Ac. Nat. 

 Sc. Phil. 1864, p. 263; Dumeril, Hist. Nat. Poiss. i, p. 393; Gunther, Catal. viii, p. 378; Klunz. Pisch. Roth. 

 Meer. 1871, p. 663. 



Galeocerdo maculatus, Poey, Report, Pis.-nat. Cuba, 1868, p. 463. 



Length of the preoral portion of the snout equal to 1/2 the width of the mouth and slightly less than the 

 distance between the inner angles of the nostrils. A long labial fold along the edge of the upper jaw. Teeth — 

 in lovrer jaw not so large as those in the upper, denticulated in both jaws, and the dentieulations at the base of 

 each cusp also serrated, more especially in the lower jaw. Fins — the first dorsal commences above the angle of 



