Y30 MEMOIRS OF TEE QUEENSLAND MUSEUM. 



ICHTHYOLOGICAL NOTES (No. 2). 



By J. Douglas Ogilby. 

 SELACHII. 



ORECTOLOBICvE. 



In 1908 and 1909 two important papers dealing with the orectoloboid 

 sharks appeared 1 ; in both of these I was under the impression that the impossi- 

 bility of recognizing the family Hemiscylliidce, or indeed the genus Hemiscyllium, 

 had been demonstrated beyond question. I was, therefore, somewhat astonished 

 to find the family revived in 1913 in a paper entitled "The Hemiscylliid Sharks 

 of the Philippine Archipelago. ' ' 2 But the ' ' Key to the Genera of Hemiscylliidce" 

 therein defined is still more astounding, for I can not comprehend by what 

 process of inductive reasoning the author divorces Parascyllium from its natural 

 allies Ginglymostoma and Nebrius, and justifies its propinquity to Chiloscyllium, 

 the two genera being near the apices of the Orectolobidce. Furthermore 

 Chiloscyllium can not logically be separated from Stegostoma, of which it is the 

 natural ally, even the extraordinary method of anchoring the egg-case, described 

 and figured by Ogilby and McCulloch, 3 being common to the two genera. Perhaps 

 Smith was misled by Prof. Garman's key to the Orectolobidce* though that 

 can not account for the jettisoning of Stegostoma. But to any student of these 

 sharks the Professor's key must appear hopelessly artificial, and wholly lacking 

 in the simplicity which is the chief merit of Regan's arrangement and, there- 

 fore, of ours which was developed independently. And while I am on the subject 

 1 may state that I see no reason, indeed no explanation is attempted, for the 

 substitution of Nebrodes 5 for Nebrius in Garman's Plagiostomia. Again, the 

 characters on which Garman depends to validate his Nebrodes macrurus have 

 long ago been shown to be unreliable in this family, and in fact our specimen, 7 

 from Darnley Island, shows as many characters of the Mauritian macrurus as of 

 the Red Sea concolor; his species, therefore, like his genus should sink into 



'Began, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1908, pp. 347-364; Ogilby & MeCulloch, Proc. Koy. Snc 

 X. S. Wales, xlii, 1909, pp. 264-299. 



2 Smith, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus.. xlv, 191:;, pp. 567-569. 

 ■•> Ibid., p. 289. 



4 Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool., xxxvi, 1913, p. 4:;. 



5 Garman, ibid., p. 56. 



"Euppell, Neue Wirbelth. Abyss., Fisch., 1838, p. 62. 

 'Mem. Queensl. Mus.. ii, 1913, p. 90. 



