THE SHAKES AND RAYS. 423 



spiracle is either minute or wanting altogether. This fish 

 may be further recognised by the deep body and wide gill- 

 openings, the pores on the snout, and the pit on the 

 tail-fin. In colour, it is deep grey or brown above, white 

 beneath. It has been taken on every part of our coasts, 

 mostly, however, in the south-west, and of a length of over 

 10 feet. I never knew it seize a hooked fish like the blue 

 shark, but it will often take a large bait intended for 

 pollack; and I have caught several in this way, one of 

 them weighing 23 Ibs., on the rod. It is viviparous, ac- 

 cording to authorities on the subject, though there seems 

 some little uncertainty as to the breeding season. 



In that remarkable form, the Thresher, known even at 

 some distance by the disproportionate length of the 

 Fox-Shark notched upper tail-lobe, which may exceed 

 or Thresher. t h at o f t h e h ea( i an( j body together, we have 



one of the commonest of British sharks, which has outside 

 of these seas a distribution that is practically cosmopolitan. 

 With the tail, this shark grows to a length of 15 feet, and 

 its colour is bluish grey above, white beneath. The eyes 

 are small and round, and there is no nictitant membrane. 

 Spiracle, if present at all, very minute. The teeth of this 

 species are small and triangular, and their size has caused 

 stay-at-home naturalists to denounce the stories of this 

 shark attacking whales. Those who prefer gathering their 

 natural history at home- are always free to do so, and 

 are also free to disbelieve others who, not necessarily 

 in the mantle of Munchausen, travel abroad with their 

 eyes open. At any rate I certainly saw on one occasion 

 on the coast of Queensland two of these sharks attacking 

 a whale of some kind, for we steamed so near that the 

 resounding blows with which the assailants fell on the 

 whale were distinctly heard by those on board, while the 

 captain's glasses left no doubt as to the identity of the 

 long-tailed fishes that leapt in the air to fall again and 

 again on the whale's back. The conjectured presence 



