26 Bulletin 47, United States National Museum. 



with a free cylindrical cirrus; an upper and lower lip, the latter not ex- 

 tending across the symphysis j fourth and fifth gill openings close together. 

 Genera 3, species about 5; large sharks of the warm seas. (SCYLLIID^E, 

 part, Giinther, Cat., vm, 407-409.) 



a. Tail moderate, about % total length; spiracles minute; suout rather blunt. Teeth in both 

 jaws in many series, each with a strong median cusp, and 1 or 2 smaller cusps on ea h 

 side ; second dorsal nearly opposite anal. GINGLYMOSTOMA, 1C. 



16. GINGLYMOSTOMA, MiilJer & Henie. 



Ginglymostoma, MULLER & HENLE, Wiegmann's Archiv., 22,1837, (cirratm). 



Characters of this genus given above. (ytyyA^of , hinge ; arofia, mouth.) 

 28. GINGLYMOSTOMA CIRRATUM, (Gmelin). 

 (NURSE SHARK; GATA.) 



Head obtuse, depressed; nasal cirrus reaching the lower lip; angles of 

 the fins obtusely rounded; tail forming nearly i of the total length; 

 skin very thick. Uniform brownish; young specimens with small, scat- 

 tered, round black spots. L. 6 to 10 feet. A large shark of the warmer 

 parts of the Western Hemisphere, abundant about coral reefs in the 

 West Indies and on the west coast of Mexico, and occasionally on our 

 South Atlantic coast, (cirratus, bearing cirri.) 



Squalus cirratus, GMELIN, Syst. Nat., i, 1492, 1788; American Seas, after Broussonet. 



Ginglymostoma cirratum, MULLER & HENLE, Plagiostomen, 23, 1838; GUNTHER, Cat., vm, 408, 1870. 



Squalm cirratus, BONNATERUE, Tableau Encycloped. Ichthyol., 7, 1788; after Barbillon of Brons- 

 eonet. 



Squalus punctatus, BLOCK & SCHNEIDER, Syst. Ich., 134, 1801 ; Cuba, after Gata Hispanis of Parra. 



Squalus punctulatus, BLOCK & SCHNEIDER, 1. c., 549; Cayenne, after Sqnale pointille of Lacepede. 



Sqnalus argus, BANCROFT, Zool. Jour., v, 82, 1832-1834, "West Indies. 



Ginglymostoma fulvum, POEY, Memorias, n, 342, 1801, Havana. This name was applied to 

 unspotted specimens; these occur on both coasts of Blexico, and the absence of spots in the 

 young is probably an individual variation. If not, G. fulvum may rank a* a species or sub- 



Ginglymostoma caboverdianus, CAPELLO, Jour. Sci. Phys. Lisb., 1867, 167, Cape Verde. 



Family X. PSEUDOTRIAKID^. 



Body elongate; mouth wide, with a very short labial fold near the 

 angle; snout depressed; nostrils inferior, not confluent with the mouth; 

 eyes oblong, lateral, without nictitating membrane; spiracles well devel- 

 oped, behind the eye ; gill openings moderate, in advance of pectoral ; jaws 

 with many rows of very small, tricuspid teeth; first dorsal fin long and 

 low, highest posteriorly, inserted opposite the space between the pecto- 

 rals and ventrals ; second dorsal rather large, larger than anal ; ventrals 

 and pectorals well developed ; no pit at root of caudal ; caudal fin very 

 low and long. Skin with minute asperities. One species known, a large 

 shark of the North Atlantic, in most respects similar to the SCYLLIORHIN- 

 IP^E, but having the dorsal fin different in form and placed farther forward. 

 The insertion of the first gill opening is also different. For these reasons 

 we have placed the genus provisionally in a distinct family. (PsEUDOTRi- 

 ACIS, Giinther, Cat., vm, 395.) 



