NO. 1877. NEW PHILIPPINE 8QUAL0ID SHARKS— SMITH. 685 



base; caudal fin short and broad, its length equal to distance from 

 mouth to tip of snout, its breadth about .75 length; the tail not 

 inclined upward, expanded posterior to the contracted peduncle, and 

 terminating in a sharp point on the posterior margin of the fin; 

 ventrals short, the base tliickened, the ends expanded into broad 

 plates, as large as eye, directed backward, while from the anterior and 

 outer base of each plate there extends forward a long, slender spine 

 bifid at its tip; pectorals short and broad, their base well in advance 

 of dorsal origin and their tip reaching to a point under middle of 

 dorsal base. 



Color: Uniform jet black; first dorsal brownish at base, margin 

 wliite; second dorsal white; caudal lobes brownish, posterior margin 

 wliite; ventral rays and plate-like expansions white; pectorals white, 

 with black area at upper extremity. 



Type. — Cat. No. 70259, U.S.N.M., a male specimen 15 cm. long, 

 taken with a beam trawl on June 8, 1908, at station 5268 (lat. 13° 42' 

 N.; long. 120° 57' 15" E.), in Batangas Bay, Luzon, at a depth of 170 

 fathoms, on a bottom of sand, shells, and pebbles. 



Another specimen, 11.5 cm. long, taken with a beam trawl on July 

 24, 1909, at station 5297, in the same locality, agrees with the type 

 in all respects, except that it has no modification of the ventral fins 

 and is apparently a female. 



Tliis is one of the smallest known sharks, the fully developed male 

 specimen which is the type being only 6 inches in length. 



