(',10 rROCEEDTNGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. xxvi. 



Bod}' long, slender, back elevated, and tail compressed, tapering. 

 Head depressed, flattened below, much ])roader than deep; snout in 

 profile pointed, rounded, when seen from above Aery broadly rounded 

 and flattened; eye small, lateral, with nictitating- mem})rane; mouth 

 ver}' broad, crescent-shap(Hl. not angular, so that it begins in front of 

 eye and ends below mi(kUe; teeth small, numerous, sharp-pointed, . 

 tricuspid; labial fold at the corner of mouth on each side; nostrils ^ 

 large, on lower surface of head, nearer mouth than tip of snout; inter- 

 orbital space broad, flattened. Spiracles small, directly behind eyes. 

 Gill-openings lateral, posterior above base of pectoral. 



Body entirely roughened, the prickles coarser above. 



First dorsal large, a little nearer origin of second dorsal than tip of 

 snout, also nearer origin of pectoral than that of ventral; second ; 

 dorsal midway between posterior base of first dorsal and anterior base ■ 

 of lower caudal lobe; anal well behind second dorsal; pectoral shorter 

 than head, its posterior margin slightly emarginate, reaching l)eyond I 

 middle of space between its own origin and that of ventral; ventrals 

 nearer origin of anal than posterior base of pectorals; caudal small, 

 4i in total length. Caudal peduncle narrow, compressed above and 

 beneath. Lateral line present along sides, superior. 



Color dark gray brown, with a number of indistinct broad lilackish 

 cross-bars; in the upper surface of ])ody a number of scattei'ed, indis- 

 tinctly defined, blackish spots; lower surface of bod}^ pale: sides and 

 lower portions of pectorals and ventrals grayish l^rown. 



Length 10^ inches (-4:7 cm.). 



This description from an example from Tokyo. 



Coasts of southern Japan; rather common in the Inland Sea. A u 

 small shark, reaching a length of al)out 2^ feet. Our specimens from i 

 Tokv'o, Tsuruga, Onomichi, and Hakata. 



(sc'i/llim/i, the cat shark; from (TkvXco, to rend.) 



lO. GALEUS Rafinesque. 



TOPES. 



Gahuna R.\finesqite, Caratteri Alcuni Nuovi Generi, ISIO, p. 13, in part {galena, 

 etc., aftliongh thats])ecies is not explicitly mentioned, the first species men- 

 tioned being a species of Pristiuitui, P. melxmtomm) . 



"From the definition, and from Rafinesque's custom of talking Linnjcan specific li 

 names as generic, making such species always the types of liis genera, we may infer i 

 that S(jualus galmn was his type of Galeus. At least this arrangement may be 

 accepted pending an agreement as to the generic nomenclature of sliarks. In case 

 the name GaJem is finally used for Prisliuras or for Mustelus, the present genus will 

 l)ecome Gah-orhiuuK. In a private notebook belonging to Rafinesque, now preserved 

 in the Smithsonian Institution, he refers to Galeus, Carcharids, and several other 

 genera named by Cuvier in 1817, as " described by me in 1810, but don't yon tell 

 it !" Pending a decision of the application of Galem and farrhanax we retain them 

 for the grou]is to which Rafinesque obviously intended the names to apply. 



