44 2 THE ERUPTION IN THE STRAITS SETTLEMENTS. 



times fully six feet lower than spring ebb tide. Of course, if the tidal 

 wave is caused by an attraction from without the neighbouring waters 

 will be drawn from the places around towards the attracting object 

 in this case the falling dust cloud, and this accounts for the great 

 difference between this and other tidal waves, which was also 

 expressed by the extremely long duration of two days in which 

 period the water in Lyttelton was continually below the average 

 height. 



I have expressed these views in a similar manner in a paper 

 published in Petermann's Geografische Mittheilungen, where 

 further details are to be found, and to which essay I refer those of 

 my readers who may be interested in the matter. 



NOTES AND EXHIBITS. 



Mr. Macleay said that by the last mail from San Francisco, he 

 had received from the author, Professor Garman, of the Museum 

 of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, Mass., a pamphlet, con- 

 taining a description and illustration of a shark of a very 

 remarkable form. The fish was 5 feet long, with a diameter of 

 less than 4 inches, the head was like that of a snake, the mouth 

 large and terminal, the teeth resembling those of a snake, and it 

 had only one dorsal fin placed opposite the anal. Mr. Garman 

 proposes for this Sea Serpent looking Shark the name of 

 Chlamydoselachus anguineus, and thus characterises the Family 

 Chlaviydoselachida: " Body much elongate, increasing in size 

 very little anteriorly. Head depressed, broad. Eyes lateral, 

 without nictitating membrane. Nasal cavity in skull separate 

 fiom that of mouth. Mouth anterior. Snout broad, projecting 

 very little. Cusps of teeth resembling teeth of serpents. 

 Spiracles small, behind the head. One dorsal, without spine. 

 Caudal without pit at its root. Opercular flap covering first 

 branchial aperture, free across the isthmus. Intestine with spiral 

 valve." The only specimen known, a female, was purchased from 

 Professor H. A. Ward, and is said to have been brought from 

 Japan. 



