WHALE AND THKESHER-SHARK. 385 



''With a long line he let down to the sea bottom a 

 common galvanised iron pail, which in a short time got 

 filled with debris. The common objects in it were sprays 

 of white coral and some hundreds of what appeared to 

 he the spines or hair^from the backs of the Sea Mouse 

 (Aphrodit aculeata), sparkling and iridescent, as when 

 giving beauty to the living animal. No doubt these 

 were the reputed hakes' teeth as reported by sailors." 



Another correspondent, my friend Mr. John Woodhall, 

 of Scarborough, writes to me : " Your hakes' teeth as 

 marked in soundings are small shells, either a dentalium 

 or a ditrypa, most frequently the former." 



I should be pleased to have more information on this 

 point. 



No. 4. 



WHALE AND THRESHER. 



In September, 1880, Lord A. Campbell sent a letter to 

 the Scotsman, describing a battle that he witnessed off 

 JBellisle, from the deck of the s.s. Peruvian. This fight 

 as usual was supposed to be between a thresher and a 



whale. 



His lordship was kind enough to send me a drawing, 

 which, though rough, was quite sufficient to throw great 

 light, if not a full explanation of .the phenomenon which 

 he and the passengers of the Peruvian certainly saw. 



His lordship says that he did not himself see the 

 swordfish, and I still am of opinion that there was no 

 swordfish there. 



We now have to account for the thresher. In ordinary 

 parlance, when we talk of a thresher-shark, it is gene- 

 rally understood that we mean the fox- shark (Carcharias 

 vulpes), the fellow with the long tail, of which there are 



26 



