FOX SHARK. 379 



CHONDROPTERYG1I. SQUAL1D&. 



THE FOX SHARK. 



SEA-FOX. THRESHER. SEA-APE. 



Car charias vulpes, La Faux, ou Renard, CUVIER, Regne An. t. ii. p. 388. 



Thresher, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 167, sp. 14. 



Vulpes marina, WILLUGKBY, p. 54, B. 6, fig. 2. 

 Squalus vulpes, Long-tailed Shark, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 145. 



pi. 17. 

 ,, ,, Le Squale Renard, BLAINV. Faun. Fran9 p. 94. 



THIS species is occasionally met with on the British coast: 

 Pennant examined one that measured thirteen feet in length ; 

 and specimens have been seen of fifteen feet long. It is 

 called the Sea-Fox from the length and size of its tail ; and, 

 according to Dr. Borlase, has received the name of Thresher 

 from its habit of attacking other animals, or defending itself, 

 by blows of the tail.* It is an inhabitant of the Mediterra- 

 nean, as well as other seas ; and a specimen has been taken 

 near Belfast. 



The extreme length of a specimen examined by Mr. 



Couch, " was in a straight line ten feet ten inches, and along 



the curve eleven feet eight inches ; three feet four inches 



round where thickest ; solid at the chest ; conical from the 



* See vol. i. page 144. 



2 C 2 



