Fishes of the Western North Atlantic 155 



setts waters, especially off the tip of Cape Cod, in the first half of the eighteenth century, 

 the oil being then in demand for illuminating purposes. But the local stock soon went the 

 way of the Atlantic Right Whale in these same waters, i.e., into the try-pot. 



The only positive records of them north of Cape Cod since 1840, of which we have 

 learned, are as follows : 



1840, a number seen, and several captured, by a whaler off Cape Elizabeth, Maine. 

 1847, one killed near Provincetown at the tip of Cape Cod. 

 1 85 1, a large one reported as about 40 feet long captured at Musquash Harbor, New 



Brunswick, near the mouth of the Bay of Fundy. 

 1 864, one harpooned but lost in Massachusetts Bay. 

 1 868-1 870, several, 25 to 35 feet, killed near Eastport, Maine, at the mouth of the Bay 



of Fundy. 

 1876, one stranded in Conception Bay, Newfoundland. 



1908, one about 18 feet taken near Provincetown, Mass., in a weir. 



1909, one about 22 feet in Provincetown Harbor. 

 19 1 3, one about 29 feet, Provincetown Harbor. 

 1925, one about 30 feet off Portland, Maine.'^ 

 193 1, female, 12V2 feet, at York Harbor, Maine. 



1934 0) three records from Newfoundland at Petty Harbor, the vicinity of St. John 



and at Placentiaj the last one 32 feet long. 

 1936, two specimens ofiF Portland, Maine, the first a small one about 20 feet long and 550 



pounds dressed, taken about May ist, the second a large specimen reported to have 



been about 40 feet, taken August 2nd. 



1938, one washed ashore near French Village, Halifax County, Nova Scotia, of which we 

 received a clearly recognizable photograph. 



1939, January, a skeleton washed ashore near Provincetown and reported as a Sea Ser- 

 pent (see p. 153). 



Unknown date, a 31 -foot specimen taken at Long Point, near Provincetown, Mass. 



The hiatus in the foregoing list between 1876 and 1908 probably reflects the fact 

 that fishes generally, and especially sharks, in the Gulf of Maine received little scientific 

 attention during that period. But this large shark is probably no more plentiful now than 

 the paucity of the recent record suggests, for, so great has been the popular interest in 

 sharks of late, and so wide the newspaper publicity given to unusual captures, that any 

 large specimen is almost certain to be reported sooner or later — even if not captured — in 

 such frequented and hard-fished waters as those of the coastwise belt of the Gulf of Maine. 



Near Woods Hole, a few miles west of Cape Cod, an incursion by Basking Sharks ap- 

 pears to have taken place in the summer of 1878, when at least twenty were found dead 

 in the local fish traps. However, only occasional specimens have been reported more re- 

 cently, e.g., one of 26 feet 6 inches (see Study Material, p. 147) taken at Martha's 



33. Personal communication from Walter H. Rich. 



