The Zoologist — August, 1873. 3653 



previous winters, has been entirely absent, as far as I have been able to 

 learn. — G. B. Corbin. 



Shark and Pilot-fish.— Off San Domingo, Monday, May 5, 1873. Two 

 sharks appeared on the scene. The first went at the hook ravenously, and 

 at the first attempt was most ignomiuiously hauled in and cut to pieces, 

 while the other, a much larger one, made a grab at his tail as he disappeared. 

 I never saw a more determined brute. Three times was she hooked, and 

 almost triced up ; but before we could get a bowline round her fins to hoist 

 her in, the hook drew, or she managed to wriggle herself free. However, a 

 fourth time she came up, followed by five pilot-fish, the two which had at 

 first accompanied the others having attached themselves to her company : her 

 mouth was bleeding freely from where she had been wounded before, and 

 yet she came at the hook with its same bit of pork as fiercely as ever. This 

 time the hook held, and the bowline got well jammed behind the head, and 

 in she came over the stern, and was taken forward on a grating into the 

 ship's head. Here the cutting up commenced, and, as she was a tremendous 

 size round for her length, many people suggested she had young inside her. 

 I had always been sceptical of sharks going about with young inside, but 

 this time the question was settled, for I saw ten young sharks, from a foot 

 and a half to two feet long cut out of her. They were quite lively and ready 

 to start off on their own hook. They were a dark gray colour above and 

 white below, and had all parts perfect,— eyes, breathing-holes, &c., —and 

 snapped with their little jaws with as much vigour as their parent, but they 

 had only very small attempts at teeth. In the stomach of the shark was 

 found rather a curious medley of things — beef-bones, a jam-pot, marline- 

 spike, lots of oakum, and oily rags used for cleaning guns. She had 

 evidently been following us for a few days, but bad not been noticed before, 

 as we were going too fast through the water. In addition to the pilot-fish 

 following her, the shark had two suckers attached, but they got scraped off 

 in hauling her over the taffrail. I fancy she was between seven and eight 

 feet long, and enormously heavy and big round from having so many young 

 in her. — C. F. Penny, li.N., in litt. 



Pilot-fish off Penzance— Two pilot-fish were taken last night in the 

 mackerel-nets here, about fifteen leagues off shore south-west from this 

 place, and consequently in deep water. It is but very rarely that this fish 

 is taken in the open sea, — they are usually captured in harbours, — and these 

 are supposed to have followed some vessel home from the Mediterranean. 

 The captors report that there were many vessels about at the time they 

 were captured.— TAo?Has Cornish; Penzance, June 28, 1873. 



Angel-fish at St. Leonards.- A fine specimen of the angel-fish {Squatina 

 angelus, Yarrell, vol. ii. p. 407) has been taken here. The length from the 

 tip of the nose to the tip of the tail was four feet five inches and a half, and 



SECOND SERIES — VOL. VIII. 2 S 



