SHARKS 17 



responsible for some of the stories of men killer 1 and eaten by 

 " man-eaters " ! Nevertheless, there are a number of well- 

 authenticated cases of attacks on human beings, frequently 

 resulting in the death of the victim, but it seems likely that 

 the man happened to be particularly handy, as it were, and 

 the shark more than usually hungry. 



Mr. Gilbert Whitley, of the Australian Museum, has compiled 

 an interesting list of attacks in Australian waters. " 1920, 

 March 8 . . . Young man. Cleveland Bay . . ." ; 

 " 1920 (or earlier) . Head of native in shark's mouth. Thursday 

 Island . . ." ; " 1924, Feb. 13 . . . Woman. Bronte, 

 N.S.W. . . ." ; " 1925, June. Human arm found in shark. 

 Princes Royal Harbour, W.A. . . ." ; " 1930, Dec. Female 

 lunatic's body found bitten after death. Parramatta River, 

 N.S.W." ; these are a few extracts taken at random from his 

 grim list of some 80 cases. Of more than 40 records from 

 New South Wales alone, about one-half of the attacks seem 

 to have been fatal. Mr. Whitley classifies the modes of attack 

 into five categories : (1) taking of surfers on ocean beaches ; 

 (2) taking of bathers in harbours or well up rivers ; (3) bumping 

 of boats, often viciously attacked ; (4) biting of hands, legs, 

 or bodies of bathers ; and (5) net fishermen bitten when hauling 

 in their catch. He further notes that the worst months for 

 attacks are from October to April — the most popular bathing 

 months in that part of the world ! 



Dr. F. A. Lucas, of the American Museum of Natural History, 

 who has made a long and critical study of " shark stories ", is 

 decidedly more comforting. He admits the existence of a 

 number of well-authenticated records of fatal attacks in 

 tropical seas, but states most implicitly that the danger of 

 being seriously molested in temperate waters is very small 

 indeed. It is noteworthy that at the end of the last century 

 an American, Mr. Herman Oelrichs, offered the sum of $500 

 " for an authenticated case of a man having been attacked 

 by a shark in temperate waters ", but the reward was never 

 claimed ! Mr Lucas also disposes of one or two popular 

 fallacies concerning shark attacks. " One of the commonest 

 statements," he writes, " is that ' the shark bit off the man's 

 leg as if it were a carrot ', an assertion that shows that the 

 maker or writer of it had little idea of the strength of the 



