LARGE THRESHER FOOD AND STRUCTURE. 221 



waggoner's whip. Again ; I think it just possible that, 

 whereas we all know we can drive fish by long poles 

 dashed suddenly into and about in the water, so the 

 fox- shark may use his tail to splash about and drive the 

 frightened herrings or mackerel into the position where 

 they will be most handy for him to catch and swallow. 

 I should imagine an im-frightened mackerel to be a dif- 

 ficult thing to catch when swimming at liberty in the 

 sea. If, however, the fox-shark comes lashing about 

 with his tail, he and his comrades would become con- 

 fused, and while making up their minds what to do and 

 where to go, the}' would suddenl}' find themselves going 

 down the shark's throat. One thing is quite certain, 

 his long tail would enable him to turn smartly round 

 the corners and astonish unsuspecting natives. 



In August I received a very handsome specimen of a 

 thresher from Mr. Henry Lee. It was caught off Hast- 

 ings. I imagine it to be about two years old. I made 

 a cast and ^olaced it alongside of the big thresher. It 

 measured 2ft. 4in. from nose to end of body, the tail 

 2ft. 9in. ; total length 5ft. lin. 



In October, 1869, 1 had information from Mr. Ledger, 

 of Folkestone, that a very fine fox-shark had been sent 

 up to London. Messrs. Gilson and Quelch, of Bond 

 Street, sent to me and kindly informed me of the arrival 

 of this same fish. I immediately examined it, and 

 found it to measure 14ft. lOin. total length. It had 

 been caught in the herring nets. The viscera was sent 

 me by Messrs. Gilson and Quelch, and the stomach 

 contained nineteen mackerel and two herrings. I made 

 a cast of the ovaries, in the oviduct of which I was for- 

 tunate enough to discover an egg on its downward 

 journey. It is similar to the egg of the dog-fish : an 

 amber-coloured bag, and much like the sheUess egg 



