THE BASKING SHARK, 327 



to fourteen, and its girth at from six to eight feet. Its 

 colour is ashen gray; it has two spiracles, and five gill- 

 openings. It is a formidable foe to the Greenland whale, 

 pursuing it when alive, and preying upon it when dead. 

 In the former case it bites fragments out of its flesh ; 

 in the latter, it feasts greedily upon the blubber, and so 

 rapaciously enjoys its banquet that not even the presence 

 of man, or a blow from a harpoon, will drive it away. 

 In the absence of other food it has been known to attack 



The Basking Shark,* the last but one of the tribe to 

 which we shall direct the reader's attention, is popularly 

 known as the Sun-fish, t and in the Orkney Islands as the 

 " Hoe-mother." 



It attains the length of thirty feet and upwards. For- 

 merly, it was ranked among the whales; on account, 

 perhaps, of its comparative amenity and peacefulness of 

 disposition, and its love of basking in the sunshine on the 

 surface of the waters. It makes its appearance in the 

 Firth of Clyde, and along the western coast, about the 

 end of April or beginning of May ; generally in pairs, or 

 in small shoals of seven or eight. Its tail is very large. 

 The colour of the upper part of the body is a dull lead ; 

 of the belly, white ; the skin on the back is granulated, 

 like shagreen. In the interior of the mouth, towards the 

 throat, is a substance resembling whalebone. 



A regular fishery is carried on for taking the sun-fish, 

 on account of the large quantity of oil (as much as nine to 



* Now very generally classified as Selachias maximus. 



t The reader will remember that it is not to be confounded with the Ortha- 

 goriscus mola, which is also called the sun-fish. 



