65 



to San Francisco in August last as a curiosity, and was secured by 

 Professor Jordan. It is common in the British Channel, and occurs 

 in the Mediterranean, in the Atlantic Ocean, and on the shores of 

 Japan. 



The Isurus is found on the Atlantic Coast of the United States. 



Carcharodon carcharias, Man eater, White Shark, Great Blue Shark — 

 The White Shark, the terror of the waters, the "man eater" who 

 swallows sailors and carries off innocent bathers, has been found in 

 Monterey Bay. Lest this announcement should bring ruin to the 

 bathing-houses of Santa Cruz and Monterey, it is well to remark that 

 either because of his comparative rarity, or because he has not yet 

 learned to relish the taste of Caucasian flesh, he does not appear to 

 have ever made off with any of the fair Nereides who frequent those 

 well known beaches Professor Jordan secured the jaws of an exam- 

 ple twenty feet in length, taken at Soquel this year, and records the 

 capture of one twenty feet in length at Carmelo. A few years ago a 

 young sealion, weighing one hundred pounds, was taken from the 

 stomach of one of these monsters caught at Soquel. 



The only useful part of this fish is the liver, from which oil is 

 expressed. This large and dangerous shark, which attains a length 

 of thirty-six feet, occurs in all oceans and large seas of temperate 

 and tropical regions. 



Somniosus microcephcdus, Black Ground Shark, Nurse Shark — This 

 species is not recorded south of Puget Sound, where it is not very 

 uncommon, and is occasionally taken on trawl lines set for dog-fish. 

 It attains a length of eight feet, and is very sluggish, lying ni the 

 water like a log. The livers are used for making " Dog-fish Oil." 



Squalus accmthias, L., Dog-fish, Spinarola — The "Piked Dog-fish," 

 is found at Santa Barbara and Monterey, but is not abundant south 

 of Puget Sound, where it is taken in vast quantities for the oil in its 

 liver. It has a long spine before each of the two dorcals. 



It inhabits deep or quiet bays and channels, and comes into shal- 

 low water in pursuit of schools of herring and salmon. Its chief 

 food is the herring, but it eats everything it can, even its own young, 

 which in Puget Sound are born in June. 



It reaches a length of three feet, and inhabits all temperate seas of 

 both the northern and the southern hemispheres. It occurs on the 

 coast of Alaska as far north as Kodiak. 



CLASS MARSIPOBRANCHII. 



Entosphenus tridentatiis, Large Lamprey — The species of Lamprey, 

 formerly supposed to be five, have under investigation dwindled to 

 two, namely the small Ammocoetes plumbeus and the large Entosphenus 

 tridentatus. 



The latter reaches a length of two feet, is extremely fat, and has 

 been observed at various points from Santa Cruz to Puget Sound. 

 Like other lampreys it ascends rivers in spring to spawn. It runs 

 np the Columbia in June. In Humboldt county, and probably else- 

 where, it is occasionally eaten. 



Ammocostes 2^lumbeus,ihe small Lamprey or Lamperina, is very thin 

 and small, often only about six inches long, and never over a foot. 



Polistotrema dombeyi, Hag — The habits of the Myxines or Hags 

 are, in a general way, well known, but the writer had never wit- 

 9^ 



