THE COMMON TOPE AND THE BASKING SHARK. 551 



shark, Sw. ; Blaa-Haj, or blue-shark, Dan. ; S. Galeus, 

 Linn.), whose proper home is said to be the Mediterra- 

 nean, was scarce in the Bonus Skargiird, and elsewhere 

 on the western coast of Sweden : few, indeed, find their 

 way so far south as the Sound, and none would appear to 

 enter the Baltic. But " on the western coast of Jutland, 

 and on the Danish side of the Cattegat," according to 

 Kroyer, " this fish is quite common during the summer." 

 As yet, it does not appear to have been identified on the 

 western coast of Norway. Its usual length in the Scan- 

 dinavian seas is about three feet, and five feet is the 

 largest recorded to have been captured ; but in other 

 seas it attains to six feet and upwards. It is said 

 to be fond of the society of its fellows, as also that the 

 living young ones, thirty to forty in number, are 

 excluded from the female in May or June, and at one 

 and the same time. 



The Basking Shark (Brygde, Sw. ; Brygde, Brttgde, 

 Norw. and Dan.; S. maximns [Linn. ?], Gunner.) has never 

 been identified in the Bohus Skargard, or anywhere in the 

 Swedish seas ; but on the north-western coast of Norway 

 it is by no means uncommon. It is by far the largest 

 of the Scandinavian sharks. Our own naturalists speak 

 of its attaining from thirty to thirty-six feet in length; 

 but if ancient records are to lie believed, it equals, if not 

 exceeds, the whale in size. The learned Bishop Gunnerus, 

 who flourished a century ago, and who is considered a 



of which presently is, in fact, the generic name for the sharks, the Swedish 

 and Danish forms being Haj, and the Dutch Haai." This word, with some 

 addition, is by most Gothic nations used for others of the Squalidse, as for 

 example, H&-Brand, Haa-Mcer, Haa-Kjterring, llaa-Kal, l/aa-Storje, the 

 last-named appellation being derived, it is supposed, either from its head, 

 or rather snout, greatly resembling that of the Common Sturgeon (Storje, 

 Norw. and locally Swed.), or as a matter of distinction, as said in a note, 

 page 476 owing to its being of a superior size to some other fishes. 



