Fishes of the Western North Atlantic 373 



extensive enclosed waters along the south shore of Long Island. Similarly, its representa- 

 tive in the eastern Atlantic is said to enter the larger of the Venetian canals and the neigh- 

 boring lagoons adjacent to the Mediterranean.'' We have looked down from a beach side 

 bluff on a middle-sized one swimming so close to the tide line that its dorsal fin was neces- 

 sarily exposed. Correspondingly, we have never heard of one taken more than a short 

 distance out from the land. But it appears never to enter fresh water. Although it is an in- 

 shore species, as a rule it is only when crossing some shoal that the Brown Shark shows 

 itself at the surface. 



It feeds chiefly on fish and on mollusks and Crustacea also, its diet depending on what 

 may be available for it locally. Near New York, for example, flounders {Pseudopleu- 

 ronectes) are reported as predominant in its stomach contents, with an occasional eel and 

 crab; others taken at Woods Hole have been found to have fed on amphipod Crustacea, as 

 well as on the bivalve moUusk Yoldia, which is plentiful in 2 to lO fathoms in the general 

 vicinity. Still others off the east coast of Florida had eaten Octopus chiefly, and also small 

 fish and crabs." Skates and Dogfish are listed for it, and it is able to capture fast-swimming 

 fishes also, for bonito (Sarda), weakfish (Cynoscion), mackerel, menhaden (Brevoortia) 

 and pinfish (Lagodon) are included in its known diet. But there is no reason to suppose 

 it ever attacks larger prey. 



In the bays of Long Island, New York, its young are born from June until August. 

 It seems to be chiefly for that purpose that it enters those very shoal waters, for a great 

 majority of the adults taken there are females, males being very few in number and re- 

 ported only for August. A large proportion of the adult females that visit the shallow 

 bays of Long Island carried embryos nearly ready for birth. Newborn specimens have often 

 been taken there in summer and early autumn, as well as in Chesapeake Bay in September, 

 but on the other hand, no young ones have been reported from Florida, although some of 

 the large females taken there carry embryos. These facts are evidence that the young are 

 produced chiefly in the northern part of its range. It seems that this applies equally to such 

 milberti as visit the Gulf of Mexico, for the only Texas record is for a newborn specimen 

 taken in early August. 



Relation to Extralimital Species. Milberti is so closely allied to azureus Gilbert and 

 Starks, 1903, of Ecuador and the Pacific coast of Central America that the latter has been 

 classed by some as probably identical with it.*' But the most recent illustration of azureus^" 

 shows it to be easily separated from milberti, the origin of its second dorsal being consider- 

 ably anterior to that of the anal, instead of about over the latter, to mention only the most 

 obvious difference between the two. 



Relation to Man. Milberti is reported as the rnost abundant of the commercially valu- 

 able sharks taken off southeastern Florida. Some are also caught by anglers, and a few 



87. Nardo, Sopra due Sp. Pesci Nuov. Venet., 1853: 15. 88. Personal communication from Stewart Springer. 



89. Garman, Mem. Harv. Mus. comp. Zool., j6, 1913 : 133 ; Meek and Hildebrand, Field Mus. Publ. Zool., 15 (i), 

 1923: 38. 



90. Beebe and Tee-Van, Zoologica, N. Y., 3d, 19^1 : 109, fig. 18. 



