4o8 Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research 



Genus Sfhyrna Rafinesque, 1 8 lO 



Sfhyrna Rafinesque, Indice Ittiol. Sicil., 1810: 46, 60; type species, Squalus zygaena Linnaeus, 1758, 

 designated by Jordan and Gilbert, Bui]. U.S. nat. Mus., 16, 1883: 26. 



Generic Synonyms: 



Cestracion Klein, Pise. Natural. Gedoni, j, 1742: 12; Neuer Schauplatz Natur., 3, 1776: 523 (not seen); 



Walbaum, P. Artedi Genera Pise. Emend. Ichthyol., 1792: 580; type species, Squalus zygaena Linnaeus, 



1758, designated by Gill, Ann. N. Y. Lye, 7, 1862: 403.^ 

 Sphyrnias Rafinesque, An. Nature, 1 81 5: 93; substituted for Sfhyrna Rafinesque, 1810. 

 Cestrorhinus Blainville, Bull. Soc. philom. Paris, 1816: 121; type species, Squalus zygaena Linnaeus, 1758, 



designated by Fowler, Bull. geol. Surv. N. Jersey, 4, 191 1 : 77. 

 Zygaena Cuvier, Regne Anim., 2, 1817: 27; type species, Squalus zygaena Linnaeus, 1758, preoccupied by 



Zygaena Fabricius, 1775, for Lepidoptera. 

 Zygoena Risso, Hist. Nat. Europe Merid., 5, 1826: 125; emended spelling for Zygaena Cuvier, 1817. 

 Sphyrnichthys Thienemann, Lehrb. ZooL, 1828: 408; substituted for Sfhyrna Rafinesque, 1810. 

 Zygana Swainson, Nat. Hist. Fish. Amphib. Rcpt., 2, 1839: 318; emended spelling for Zygaena Cuvier, 1 81 7. 

 Platysqualus Swainson, Nat. Hist. Fish. Amphib. Rept., 2, 1839: 318; type species, Squalus tiburo Linnaeus, 



1758. 

 S-phyra Van der Hoeven, Handb. Dierkunde, 2, 1858: 68; emended spelling for Sfhyrna Rafinesque, 1810. 

 Reniceps Gill, Ann. N. Y. Lye, 7, 1862: 403, 412 ; type species, Squalus tiburo Linnaeus, 1758. 



Generic Characters. Nostrils much closer to eyes than to midline of snoutj jaws with 

 or without labial furrows; anterior margin of nostril expanded at inner end as a stiff, 

 triangular flap, hollowed on lower side and overhanging the orifice; ist dorsal narrow- 

 triangular; 2nd dorsal much smaller than ist dorsal; caudal with well marked subterminal 

 notch, its lower anterior corner expanded as a definite lobe. Characters otherwise those of 

 the family. 



Range. Tropical to warm temperate zones of all oceans, including the Mediter- 

 ranean. 



Fossil Teeth. Upper Cretaceous to Miocene, North America; Miocene, Africa; Mio- 

 cene to Pliocene, Europe. 



A ttacks on Bathers. The larger Hammerheads have long borne an unsavory reputa- 

 tion as "man-eaters," partly on the basis of unverifiable rumor, and partly because of the 

 fact that a large specimen taken many years ago oflF Long Island, New York (hence prob- 

 ably zygaena)^ contained portions of a man in its stomach."" Positive evidence is now at 

 hand that this reputation is deserved, for on Sept. 21, 19 13, a Hammerhead about eight 

 feet long (species not determined) attacked and so seriously injured a bather at West 

 Palm Beach, Florida, that the lacerations required some 200 stitches. However, the victim 

 recovered after seven weeks in the hospital.*'' Attacks on bathers by Hammerheads (nomi- 

 nally, at least, zygaena) have also been reported from British Guiana. Hammerheads 

 (probably 5. lewini) are also considered very dangerous in Australian waters,^ where 

 shark fatalities are of much more frequent occurrence than anywhere in the western 

 Atlantic. 



2. By Ruling 89 of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (Smithson. Misc. Coll., 75, 1925 : 27) 



Klein's names are not to be taken into account. 

 2a. Mitcliill, Trans. Lit. Phil. Soc. N. Y., /, 1815: 482. 

 lb. Gudger, Bull. Amer. Mus. nat. Hist., 40, 1937: 417. 3. Coppleson, Med. J. Aust., April 15, 1933: 59. 



