28 



RECORDS OF THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM. 



STUDIES IN AUSTRALIAN SHARKS, with DIAGNOSIS 

 OP A NEW FAMILY. 



By Edgar R. Waite, F.L.S., Zoologist. 



(Plate iv.) 



Hemiscyllium modestum, Gilnther. 

 Chiloscyllium modestwn, Giinther, Proc, Zool. Soc, 1871, p. 654, 

 pi. liv. 



(Plate iv., fig. 1 ; and Fig. 9). 



On the 7th September last, the Trustees received from Mr. E. C. 

 Haviland seven fetal Sharks, removed from one female. The 

 parent was not forwarded with the young, but Mr. Haviland has 

 since supplied the following particulars: — -During a holiday, spent 

 at Port Macquarie, New South Wales, he caught three 'dog-fishes' 

 off the rocks on the ocean side ; they were taken with a line among 

 rocks and sea-weed in about five fathoms, and he understood that 

 the species was common in the locality. 



One of them, on being 

 opened, was found to 

 contain the seven young 

 ones sent tothe Museum; 

 these, when placed into 

 a rock-pool, swam about 

 quite freely until a boy, 

 despatched for a bottle, 

 returned. 



I am able to identify 

 these young Sharks with 

 Hemiscyllhim modestum, 

 Giinth., and find that, in 

 common with many of 

 the Selachii, they possess 

 a more ornamental col- 

 ouration than the adults. 



Giinther's type, described under the name Chiloscyllnim modes- 

 turn^ was a dried skin, his figure, therefore, though recognisable, 

 is not wholly satisfactory; this applies more especially to the 

 under side of the head, which is correctly represented in the 

 accompanying diagram (Fig. 9). 



Fig. 9. 



1 Gunther— Proc. Zool. Soc, 1871, p. 654, pi. liv. 



