184 NOTES ON NOVA SCOTIAN ZOOLOGY — PIERS. 



When laid on the carpet the reptile crawled v^ery slowly and 

 awkwardly, but it was perfectly at home when placed in a bottle 

 of water. There it used its feet to assist the tail in propelling 

 the body, and the tail when so employed, moved in a sinuous 

 manner. Respiration in liquid occurred from two to three times 

 a minute. 



Fishes. 



Baumahis Shark (Lamna cornubica). On April 10th, 1891, 

 a shark was found ofl Sambro by Captain John Brown of Her- 

 ring Cove, pierced through the tail by a trawl-hook and unable 

 to free itself. It was secured with much difficulty and brought 

 to this city where I examined it and prepared detailed drawings. 

 It proved to be the Porbeagle or Baumaris Shark, a species com- 

 mon to both sides of the Atlantic, and elsewhei-e. This is the 

 first record I know of its capture in these waters, although oi 

 course it was to be expected. Mr. J. Matthew Jones does not 

 include it in his excellent catalogue of our fishes, and neither does 

 Knight nor Perley in those which they prepared. The present 

 specimen weighed four hundred pounds, and its extreme length 

 from tip of snout to tip of caudal, was seven feet three and 

 a half inches. When dissected, it was found that the stomach 

 contained a whole Cod {G. morrhua) weighing four or five 

 pounds, together with the head of another Cod, and also a Hake 

 {P. tenuis) of about the same size as the entire Cod. The liver 

 was greenish-yellow. 



