364 Zoological N. Y. Zoological Society. [1;19 



The figure in his book is, like the preceding, more or less the 

 product of the fancy of the artist and calls for no reproduction/ 



In his report of the Colombo Museum for 1889, Haly (1890) 

 notes the capture at Negombo, Ceylon, earlier in that year, of 

 an 18-foot specimen. The skin of this specimen was presented 

 to the British Museum where it was mounted and is now on 

 exhibition. It is presumably the skin elsewhere referred to as 

 mounted by Gerrard. 



In 1894, Edgar Thurston, of the Madras Government Mu- 

 seum, published the following interesting account of specimens 

 from Ceylon and the east coast of India. 



"While in Colombo I took the opportunity of examining the 

 excellently preserved specimen of Rhineodon typicus in the Cey- 

 lon Government Museum for the sake of comparison with the 

 specimen, 22 feet in length from the end of the snout to the 

 extremity of the tail, which was cast on shore at Madras in 

 February, 1889, when I was unfortunately far away from head- 

 quarters, so that the chance was missed of examining its stomach 

 contents and internal anatomy. The telegram which reached 

 me announcing the arrival of the monster ran as follows : — 

 'Whale on shore. Stupendous spectacle.' But, on the following 

 day, I learnt, from the evidence of an expert, that the whale was 

 a shark. As the following extract shows, but few specimens of 

 this gigantic elasmobranch have been recorded." 



The "extract" referred to gives a resume of the work of 

 Smith, Wright, and Haly, and notes that the latter succeeded 

 in obtaining several specimens. One of these was the 1889 spec- 

 imen which was presented to the British Museum. This, it is 

 stated, has been mounted by Gerrard, and though only a small 

 specimen 17 feet long, makes a striking object in this great 

 museum. In a foot-note we read that in April, 1890, another 

 small specimen 141/2 feet long was taken off Bambalapitiya, 

 Ceylon. 



Who the author of the above "extract" is, I have been unable 

 to ascertain. The figure of the Madras mounted specimen is 



'In a personal letter to the present writer. Dr. Holder says that 

 these figures are the work of artists employed by the publishers and for 

 which he is in no wise responsible. 



