48 AN EXTRAORDINARY SHARK; f 



Measurements. Total length 59.5 ; snout to angle of mouth 4.5, 

 to back of skull 4.25, to occipital pores 3.9, to end of gill covers 7., 

 to end of pectorals 14.25, to vent 35.5, to base of ventrals 32., to end 

 of ventrals 38.6, to base of anal 39.75, to end of anal 47.6, to base of 

 dorsal 42.25, to end of dorsal 47.75, to base of caudal 48.5; greatest 

 width across ventrals 7., greatest width across caudal 5., greatest 

 width across dorsal and anal 6.5, greatest circumference of body 11.5, 

 width of head across eyes 3.5, width of teeth between the outer 

 prongs (length of longest prong little less) .25 inches. 



Rows of teeth { ^ ||. 



Rays on hyomandibular and ceratohyal (first branchial arch) 22, on 

 second arch 15, third 14, fourth 12, flfth 9, sixth 6, and on the seventh 

 none. 



Hab., Japanese seas. 



Description. Body very long, slender, eel-like, in- 

 creasing in size comparatively little anteriorly, compressed 

 near and behind the vent, which is in the posterior half 

 of the total length. Head broad, wider than high. 

 Crown slightly convex forming a rather sharp angle with 

 the snout and sides of the head, from the eyes forward. 

 Skull with an anterior foramen, beginning a short distance 

 in front of a vertical from the front edge of the orbit, re- 

 sembling that of Raja. Behind this, midway between the 

 eyes, there is an elongate depression on the crown as of a 

 second foramen, while on the occiput a little distance in 

 front of the occipital pores a deep rounded depression in- 

 dicates what is commonly called the second, the posterior 

 foramen. Snout broad, roiinded, hardly extending in 

 front of the jaws, rather acute-angled or shovel-shaped at 

 the top. Nostril moderate, vertical, separated by a fold 

 from each side into an upper opening looking forward and 

 a lower one looking backward, situated about midway 

 from eye to end of snout and near the middle of the space 

 from top of head to mouth. Eye moderately large, orbit 

 elongate, near a vertical from the middle of the length of 

 the mouth. Spiracle very small, over the hyomandibular ; 

 its distance behind the eye equal to that from eye to 



