352 Zoologica: N. Y. Zoological Society. [1;19 



the idea that this was the largest shark he had ever seen. We 

 immediately took the launch and row-boat attached to it, 

 and started to the fish which was then moving slowly along 

 with its tail above water, parallel to the viaduct and only a few 

 feet from it. The Captain shouted to a man on top of the via- 

 duct, asking him if he had seen the shark. He replied that he 

 had seen it, but that it was not a shark — and that he did not 

 know what it was, and that it had been around there for three 

 or four days. We approached closer, and finally the boat was 

 right over the fish, and we could see his spotted back three or 

 four feet below the surface. We were in this position when 

 Captain Thompson threw the harpoon. The fish was harpooned 

 at about half past nine in the morning. We called to our aid 

 some fishermen who happened to be near with their boats, and 

 with their help, succeeded after a while, by means of a sharp 

 hook thrown over the fish's nose, in getting his body nearer the 

 surface of the water, and from time to time, during the day, shot 

 him in the back, perhaps forty or fifty times with a rifle. We 

 tried shooting him with a shotgun with number 2 shot at a dis- 

 tance of perhaps two feet from his back, but the shot bounded 

 off, leaving their impression in a circle of about an inch and 

 one-half or two inches, for the depth of perhaps an eighth of an 

 inch in his back. 



"The fish circled several times in from the viaduct, perhaps 

 half a mile, coming back again to the viaduct, and at one time 

 when the tide was running rapidly out about one o'clock in the 

 afternoon, we thought that he might go outside. The boats were 

 carried by the tide outside the viaduct, but the fish remained 

 inside and finally started further inside and made another circle. 



"I was surprised that the fish did not put up any fight. He 

 proved to be a sluggish monster, and seemed to fail to realize 

 that anything particular was happening to him. He kept cir- 

 cling in his slow way, moving his tail, which was always above 

 water, in an arc of about eight to ten feet, in a slow, regular 

 fashion, drawing the several boats after him with great ease. 

 There were several harpoons in him, and one line was fastened 

 through his tail and another to the dorsal fin. 



"About half past five o'clock at night, he made his last circle 

 in from the viaduct, and was directed over toward a sand-bank 



