520 VROCEEDISdS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. x.xv:. 



snout blunt; eye rather large; mouth horse-shoe shaped, teeth ahout 



^M^ third or fourtli tooth on either side of center of upper jaw 

 19+10' 



smaller than others. Spiracles very small or wanting. Last gill- 

 openings aF)ove or slightly in front of pectorals. 



Body more or less roughened. 



First dorsal high, triangular, somewhat higher than its base is long, ; 

 slightly slender toward its sunnnit, superior angle rounded; second > 

 dorsal similar in shape, but nuich smaller; anal small, placed behind • 

 second dorsal, which it resembles; pectorals long, wide, emarginate, 

 with small process behind; ventrals wider than high, nearest tirst • 

 doisah caudal nearly as long or longer than body, composed of three 

 distinct lobes, one small, triangular, at under side of tip, a second long ; 

 and low, extending along upper side of tail, and a third short and 

 broad, at lower base of tail. 



Color, slate-blue al>ove, beneath soiled white, marked with obsolete 

 bluish spots; i)upils a longitudinal slit, edged with golden. 



Length, 12 feet. 



A large shark, abounding in all warm seas, common on the east 

 coast of Japan. It was seen at Misaki, Nagasaki, Tokyo, and Yoka- 

 hama. No one has yet compared specimens of the Japanese fish with 

 those from California or the Mediterranean, and the species may 

 prove different. 



{mtlpes, fox.) 



Family IX. MITSUKURINIDyE. 



Skeleton iiexible; snout produced in a flat, flexible Idade varying in 

 length; spiracles large; teeth aciculai*, only the lateral ones with small 

 basal cusps; last gill-opening above base of pectorals; fins all low, the' 

 ventral Avith very long base; the claspers very small; lower lobe of 

 caudal long; no pit at root of caudal; first dorsal well advanced; 

 second" shorter and higher than anal. 



Two genera are known: Mitsuhurlna, and the extinct genus Scapa- 

 norh(/nehus of the Eocene. Dr. Arthur Smith Woodward regards 

 Mitsukurina as identical with Scapanorhijnchm. In the latter genus, 

 however, the rostral blade is much longer than in Mltsuhur'ma^ and 

 minor difierences are apparent. 



The family is closely allied to the Odontaspididai, differing in the 

 produced snout. 



17. MITSUKURINA Jordan. 



i¥(7.sMfc(i?-m«. JoKD.vN, Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci., 1898, p. 200 {uiiMonl). 



Characters of the genus included above. 



(Named for Kakichi Mitsukuri, professor of zoology in the Imperial 

 Universit}- of Tokyo.) 



