Cheeseman. — On I Jut Ba-'ikiiuj SJuirk. 127 



shark, and the shape of the fins iiiul tail was also different. 

 With some little trouble its month was prised open, disclosing 

 the fact that its teeth, instead of being large, were excessively 

 small and numerous. Further examination proved that it was 

 an individual of the Basking Shark (SclacJie )iuixii)ia), which is 

 perhaps the largest of all fishes, and which is common in some 

 parts of the Northern Hemisphere. In southern waters it is 

 only known from a single specimen, caught at Portland, on 

 the western coast of Victoria, in November, 1883, and which 

 has been figured and described by Professor McCoy in his 

 " Prodronuis of the Zoology of Victoria" (vol. ii., p. 12). 



Unfortunately, my specimen was in much too advanced a 

 stage of decomposition to permit of complete measurements 

 being taken — in fact, it was with difficulty that a spectator 

 could remain near it for more than a few minutes at a time. 

 Its total length, from the tip of the snout to the end of the 

 upper lobe of the tail, was 34ft. 3in. ; girth at the middle of the 

 body, 20ft. 9in. ; height of first dorsal fin, oft. lin. ; depth of 

 pectoral, 5ft. Gin. ; width across the tail, from tip to tip of the 

 lobes, 7ft. 2in. From those measurements it will be seen that 

 its size is much in excess of Professor McCoy's specimen, the 

 total length of which was 30ft. Gin. 



Mr. E. H. Shakspere, of Whangaparaoa, who saw the spe- 

 cimen very shortly after it was stranded, informs me that every 

 spring several individuals of the same species can be seen near 

 the entrance of the Wade Kiver, and alo]ig the shores of 

 Whangaparaoa Peninsula. He believes that they visit these 

 localities in search of their food, which he thinks is composed 

 of small Medusa and other pelagic organisms. They can be 

 easily recognised from their habit of swimming on the surface 

 of the water, a portion of the ])ack and the huge dorsal fin 

 being usually exposed. It is from this circumstance, taken 

 with the fact that their motions are very often slow and 

 .sluggish, that they have received the name of the " basking 

 shark." They are easily approached and harpooned, and on 

 the west coast of Ireland as many as live hundred have been 

 taken in a single season. The liver often weighs as much as 

 two tons, yielding six to eight barrels of oil. A few years ago, 

 when sharks' oil was of greater value than it is at present, the 

 oil from a single full- sized specimen would often realise from 

 MO to £50. 



