no Natural History Bulletin. 



vicinity of the boat, which did not seem to alarm them in the 

 least. Thev glided under and around us with the utmost 

 unconcern. A number of them were in such shallow water 

 that their backs were uncovered, and several la}' belly up, 

 flapping the water with their fins. 



None of the occupants of the boat had ever before seen so 

 man}' sharks together, and the experience was exciting as well 

 as interesting. Unfortunately we had no weapons with us. 

 We tried clubbing the sharks on the head with oar-handles, 

 but one might as well attempt to smash a base-ball wuth a 

 shingle. The sharks seemed to imagine that the blows came 

 from their fellows, and would savagely attack the nearest 

 companion until we had three or four of them fighting and 

 struggling violently under the boat. This was more than we 

 could stand with any comfort, and so w^e left the shoals and 

 agreed to be satisfied with a brief dip in very shallow water 

 on the other side of the islet, instead of enjoying the luxurious 

 swim which we had anticipated. 



We afterwards attacked these sharks with proper weapons, 

 and found them to be of an entirely harmless species called 

 ••nurse sharks" iyGinglymostoma cirratiim'), with small mouths 

 armed with blunt teeth instead of the formidable dental array 

 of the dangerous species. It seems that this was the mating 

 season for the nurse sharks, and they had resorted in large 

 numbers to the shallow waters for purposes of courtship. Two 

 specimens of this huge fish were secured, the largest being 

 eight feet long and very bulky, the head being considerably 

 broader than in any other species of shark captured by us. 

 The skin was wonderfully tough, rendering it quite difficult 

 to penetrate it with the ordinary ''grains" which we had 

 brought for such purposes. 



The party from Bird Key returned with a quantity of shal- 

 low-water material, and w^ere enthusiastic over the richness of 

 the field which they had visited. The ornithologists had 

 secured series of man-o'-war birds, noddy terns and bridled 

 terns. A curious fact regarding the man-o'-war birds is the 

 quickness with which they will desert a favorite rookery after 



