116 BULLETIN 10 0, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Body partly fusiform. Head depressed. Snout obtuse. Eyes lat- 

 eral, near mouth angle, without nictitating fold. Mouth anterior, 

 with labial folds on both jaws. Teeth very numerous. Nostrils an- 

 terior, without cirri. Last gill opening narrower. Spiracle lateral. 

 First dorsal before middle in total length, much larger than second, 

 separated by more than length of base from second dorsal. Pectorals 

 falciform. 



These great sharks are apparently to be referred to a single spe- 

 cies. When met with they rarely if ever make any attempt at 

 defense, except by attempting to escape by slowly swimming away. 

 Stories about its diving when harpooned and dragging a small boat 

 with its crew down to the bottom are now discredited. Wright says, 

 "It now and then rubs itself against a large pirogue as a consequence 

 upsetting it, but, under such circumstances, it never attacks or molests 

 the men, and while it reigns as a monster among sharks, is not, spite 

 its size, as formidable as the common dog fish." 



Specimens have been recorded between 14 and 45 feet in length. 

 Like the basking shark its food is the plankton or minute creatures 

 strained from the sea water by means of its modified gills. It is 

 supposed to be viviparous. 



RHINCODON TYPUS Andrew Smith 



Rhincodon typus Andrew Smith, Zool. Journ., vol. 4, p. 443, 1829 (type locality: 

 Table Bay, South Africa). — Garman, Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 36, p. 42, 

 (Cape of Good Hope; Japan; Florida), p. 456 (Knights Key, Fla.), 1913.— 

 Hekrb, Philippine Journ. Sci., vol. 26, p. 116, pi. 1, 1925 (Argao, Cebu; 

 Bacolod, Occidental Negros; Manila Bay). 



Rliinodon typicus Mtjllek, and Henle, Syst. Beschr. Plagiostomen, p. 77, pi. 35, 

 fig. 2, 1841 (teeth) (Cape of Good Hope). — Andrew Smith, 111. zool. 

 South Africa, Fishes, pi. 26, 1849 (Capetovs^n).— Dum^eil, Hist. Nat. Elas- 

 mobr., vol. 1, p. 428, 1865 (type).^GiJNTHER, Cat. Fishes British Mus., vol. 8, 

 p. 396, 1870 (Seychelles).— Halt, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 5, vol. 12, p. 48, 

 1883 (Seychelles).— Thueston, Bull. Madras Mus., No. 1, pi. 3a, 1884.— D at, 

 Fishes of India, Suppl., p. 811, 1888 (Ceylon) ; Fauna Brit. India, Fishes, 

 vol. 1, p. 29, 1889.— Bridge, Cambridge Nat. Hist. Fishes, vol. 7, p. (287) 

 4.'54, 1904.— B. A. Bean, Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 48, pt. 2, p. 139, pis. 34-36, 

 figs. 17-21, 1905 (historical). — (Wajrd) Fountain, Rambles Austral. Nat. 

 p. 119, 1907 (Great Australian Bight). — Regan, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 

 1908, p. 353 (Ceylon; Seychelles).— Lloyd, Rec. Indian Mus., vol. 2, p. 306, 

 1908 (head of Bengal Bay). — Van Kampen, Nat. Tijdschr. Nederland. 

 Indie, vol. 67, p. 124, 1908 (north coast of Java). — GtJNTHEB, Journ. Mus. 

 Godeffroy, pt. 17, p. 486, 1910 (Florida, Cape of Good Hope, Seychelles, 

 Ceylon, Madras, Japan, California, Panama, Peru, Chile). — H. M. Smith, 

 Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 24, p. 97, 1911 (Negros Occidental, Phil- 

 ippines). — Southwell, Ceylon Administr. Rep., 1912-13, pp. E44, E49. — 

 Jordan, Science, March 26, 1915, p. 46 (Cebu). — Weber, Siboga Exped., 

 Fische, vol. 57, p. 593, 1913 (compiled). — Barnard, Ann. South African 

 Mus., vol. 21, p. 37, pi. 2, fig. 3, 1925 (from Dean) ( compiled ) .-Pillay, 

 Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc, vol. 33, p. 351, 1929 (Travancore).— 

 Tanaka, Jap. Fish. Life Colours, no. 24, 1933. 



