26 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



nearly circular; nostrils oblique, near the tip of the snout; gill- 

 openings unequal, the first large, the last small and over the 

 origin of the pectoral; the second dorsal smaller than the anal, 

 and much produced behind; pectorals very long, narrow, falci- 

 form, their outer margin four times the inner. Color dusky 

 above, dark clear blue in young, white below. Size large, length 

 9 or 10 feet. 



The dusky shark inhabits the middle Atlantic and occurs fre- 

 quently on our coast in summer. Abundant in Great Egg- 

 bay where it is called the " man-eating shark." A specimen 

 weighing 150 pounds was reported there July 23, and during the 

 same week a larger one weighing 200 pounds was landed. 

 Young individuals measuring 21J to 24 inches in length, caught 

 with hooks July 29, 1887, still bore the umbilical scar. A young 

 example was caught in a pound at Islip L. I. in the summer of 

 1898. 



De Kay had no specimen of the dusky shark for examination, 

 but depended on Le Sueur for the description and figure pub- 

 lished in his New York Fauna. Mitchill has made no reference to 

 the species. 



Smith publishes the following on its occurrence at Woods Hole 

 Mass. " Very common, but less so than the sand shark. Taken 

 in traps and on lines fished from wharves. Comes about June 

 1 and remains through a part of November. The largest ob- 

 served here are 12 to 14 feet long; the average are 8 or 9 feet, 

 and the smallest are 2J feet." Storer says it is not a common 

 species in Massachusetts waters; it sometimes floats ashore in 

 the night or becomes entangled in the mackerel nets. 



The dusky shark feeds chiefly on menhaden when they are 

 schooling. 



10 Carcharhinus milberti (Miiller & Henle) 



Milbert's Shark 



Carcharias (Prionodori) milberti VALENCIENNES in MULLER & HENLE, Pla- 



giostomen, 38, pi. 19, fig. 3 (teeth), 1842. 

 Carcharias caeruleus DE KAY, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 349, pi. 61, fig. 200, 



1842; JORDAN & GILBERT, Bull. 16, U. S. Nat Mus. 873, 1883. 

 Eulamia milberti GILL, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 262, 1864. 



