24 On a new species of the genus Cephalopterus. 



heard that creatures of extraordinary form and size, were fre- 

 quent in the tract situated off Capes May and Henlopen, during 

 the warm season ; and accordingly equipped themselves for 

 the purpose of catching one or more of them. After an ab- 

 sence of about three weeks, the adventurers returned with an 

 animal of singular figure and large magnitude, which they had 

 killed after a long and hazardous encounter. The weight was 

 so considerable after it had been towed to the shore, that 

 three pair of oxen aided by a horse and twenty-two men, 

 could not drag it, by their united strength, to the dry land. By 

 estimation, it was supposed to be somewhere between four and 

 five tons. 



The length from the fore margin of the 



head to the root of the tail, 

 Length of the tail, 



Length of the fins projecting forward from 

 the corners of the mouth, 



17 3 



Making the whole length, from the tip of the head fins to 

 the tip of the tail, seventeen feet, and three inches. 



The breadth from the extremity of one pectoral fin or wing 

 to the other, measuring along the line of the belly, 16 feet. 



When measured over the convexity of the back, 18 feet. 



The skin of the back was brown approaching to black ; of 

 the belly, black callicoed with milk-white. The whole sur- 

 face during life was slimy. There were neither scales nor spi- 

 nous processes, nor proper prickles, on any part of it ; but the 

 whole exterior was roughened by asperities resembling, in most 

 parts, the sharpest grit adhering to the skin of a shark, and in 

 others, the form not quite so sharp, of shagreen. The skin 

 was remarkably strong and tough. 



The mouth nearly terminal, and not situated on the under 

 side. Its breadth from corner to corner was two feetaud nine 

 inches There were two upper lips, an outer and an inner, 

 and both destitute of teeth. There was a single lower lip, be- 



