358 NEW-YORK FAUNA. 



Color. Dark-slate or leaden above ; lighter beneath. 



Length 32 - 33 feet. 



This species inhabits the northern seas, and occasionally visits our coast in summer. His 

 large size, and his habit of swimming near the surface, with his upper jaw projected out of 

 the water, as he moves with open mouth in pursuit of his prey, has suggested to ignorant 

 credulity the idea of some huge aquatic monster, which has received the name of Sea Serpent. 

 In 1822, an individual was captured in the lower harbor of New York, and subsequently 

 described by Lesueur, whose figure we have partly copied, with some alterations from a 

 drawing which we made from the same specimen. In 1828, another but smaller individual 

 was exhibited here from the State of Maine, and described by Dr. Mitchill under the name 

 of S. rhinoceros, in the newspapers of the day. The popular description of this animal, cited 

 below,* and which appeared in print, exhibits the natural tendency to the marvellous in rela- 

 tion to all large and rare marine animals. 



The Basking Shark has obtained its popular name from its habit of basking, or remaining 

 quiet for a length of time in one place. It is called Shark by our fishermen. It is sluggish 

 and inert, without any of the ferocity of its congeners. 



* " This nondescript, when taken, was twenty-eight feet long and sixteen feet in circumference, and was computed to 

 weigh twenty tons. His nose projects abruptly from the upper part of his head like an anvil ! is about the size of a two 

 gallon jug ; and when seen above the water, resembles a snake's head. When extended, his mouth admits a puncheon 

 endwise, and was surrounded by cartilaginous lips, studded by several rows of small teeth. His nostrils resemble those 

 of a horse! and his eyes, when taken, were a foot in circumference. At the junction of the head and body, on each 

 side, are two valvular segments nearly encircling the animal, and provided with a fringe resembling whalebone, which 

 appear to have answered the purpose of gills. His fins arc seven in number, broad and pointed ; the two back fins are 

 four or five feet high, and when the monster was first discovered on the surface of the water, resembled two waves rolling 

 in succession ! From and between the anal fins, two legs project five feet in length, and are terminated by a claw tipped 

 with horn ! His tail is of a semilunar form, four and eight feet across in perpendicular height. His skin is in color like 

 the elephant ! and is rough and mailed like that of the rhinoceros ! " 



