STUDIES IN AUSTRALIAN SHARKS, No. 3. 



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



(Plates xxxix.-xli.). 



Carch ARIAS BRACHYURUS, Gilnther. 



(Plate xxxix.). 



Carcharias hrachynrvs, Giintlier, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., viii., 

 1870, p. 369. 



Carcharias tnacrurus, Ramsay and Ogilby, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S. 

 Wales, (2), ii., 1887, p. 163. 



Dr. Giinther's description was based upon a stuffed example, 

 and under the circumstances, such plastic characters as the shape 

 of the mouth and the snout can scarcely be regarded as affording 

 reliable specific characters. Messrs. Ramsay and Ogilby, however, 

 draw attention to these features as providing recognisable points 

 whereby to distinguish a species described as new. 



The omission of C. macrurus from my " Synopsis of the Fishes 

 of N.S. Wales "^ would indicate that I regarded this name as a 

 synonym, an opinion strengthened by the examination of a speci- 

 men recently received in the flesh. This was forwarded from 

 Lake Macquarie by Mr. James R. Rumsey, and is a female, 840 

 mm. in length. It is illustrated on the accompanying plate, 

 which provides an accurate representation. Messrs. Ramsay and 

 Ogilby describe the eyes as being rather nearer to the end of the 

 snout than to the anterior gill opening ; the former measurement 

 was evidently taken round the curve of the snout, and yields a 

 much longer line than can be shovvn in a profile drawing. The 

 phrase " the space between the dorsal fins being rather more than 

 one-third of the distance between the end of the second and the 

 base of the caudal" is incorrect, and should read "the space 

 between the dorsal fins is three times that between the second 

 dorsal and the base of the caudal." The position of the anal 'is 

 not mentioned in the desci'iption of C. macrurus : I find its 



1 Waite—Mem. N. S. Wales Nat. Club., No. 2, 1904, p. 7. 



