70 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Derivation of its name. 



to the Scotch fishermen: for, according to An- 

 derson, the oil of a single fish will sometimes sell 

 for twenty or thirty pounds sterling. 



The basking shark (which derives its name 

 from its propensity to lie on the surface of the 

 water, as if to bask itself in the sun) frequents 

 our seas during the warm summer months, and 

 is not uncommon on the Welsh and Scottish 

 coasts, where they come in shoals usually after 

 intervals of a certain number of years. In the 

 intervening summers, those that are seen on the 

 Welsh coast are generally single fish, that have 

 probably strayed from the rest. They appear in 

 the Firth of Clyde, and among the Hebrides 

 about mid-summer, in small droves of seven or 

 eight, or more commonly in pairs. Here they 

 continue till the latter end of July, when they 

 disappear. 



The food of these sharks seems to consist en- 

 tirely of marine plants and some of the species 

 of Medusae. They swim very deliberately, and 

 generally with their upper fins above water. 

 Sometimes they may be seen sporting about 

 among the waves, and leaping several feet above 

 the surface. 



The natives of our northern coasts are very 

 alert in the pursuit, and very dexterous in the 

 killing of these fish. When pursued, they do 

 not accelerate their motion till the boat comes 

 ahno&t in contact with them, when the harpooner 



