Tue ZooLocist—APRIL, 1875. 4417 
assist the fish in a particular way of feeding. Its minute and 
feeble teeth, of which there are six rows, tend to show that it is 
not a preying or voracious shark; they are barely a quarter of an 
inch in length and two-tenths of an inch in width, one measuring 
but two-tenths in length, the root rounded, and two-tenths of an 
inch beneath the gum. 
Individuals of this species must vary greatly in size and colour. 
if Couch’s plate is a correct representation. This fish is of a dull 
brownish or dusky black on the head and back; sides and fins 
some shades lighter; under parts grayish. Dr. Fleming says the 
skin is smooth, but had he handled this individual fish he would 
have found the scales (?) rough and spinous, cutting the fingers so 
as to bring blood; the skin is about half an inch in thickness, 
hanging in loose folds above and about the lower fins, and is more 
like that of the hippopotamus than of a fish. Both above and 
below the tail there is a peculiar-looking indentation. Neither the 
head nor the snout is rounded enough in the figure referred to, nor 
are the pectoral fins of sufficient length ; but the upper lobe of the 
caudal is, proportionately, much too long; and Couch’s plate gives 
one no idea of the vast size, proportions, or power of this, the most 
gigantic of all true fishes, dwarfing all quadrupeds, too; so that 
the elephant, rhinoceros and hippopotamus would, if laid along side 
of it, appear but mere pigmies. There are five immense gills well 
nigh encircling the head; they are comb-like, black, and resembling 
whalebone, fringed or covered by a peculiar-looking leather-like 
flap of about two inches in width. ‘The eye, which is said to 
resemble that of an ox, is one foot and three inches from the 
snout; and the nostril, which is very small, is two feet and eleven 
inches from the nose. 
The dimensions are :— 
Feet. Inches, 
Length from snout to the end of the tail - : - - 28 10 
Greatest circumference of body between dorsal and pectoral fins 15 0 
Circumference below the ventral fins - - - - - 5 6 
Length of head - . - - - 4 : 644.00 
” upper jaw - : - - a " seat it Q 
Y lower jaw - - - - : - ae L 
Width of mouth - - - - 3 e : at AO 
Height of first dorsal fin - - - : - 3 ae 0 
Width of first dorsal fin - - - - : : a8 9 
Height of second dorsal fin wins 3 : Steak IL 4 
