1915] Gudger : The Whale Shark. 371 



our waters, is that of the Florida Keys specimen, for which data 

 have been given in 1913, by Gudger, Smith and Townsend. 

 Through the kindness of Col. C. R. M. O'Brien, C. M. G., gov- 

 ernor of the Seychelles, and of Mr. P. R. Dupont, Curator of the 

 Botanical Station at Mahe, I have received information (De- 

 cember 8, 1914), that the "chagrin" is very common about the 

 Seychelles throughout the year. Mr. Dupont writes that he has 

 come across several himself, that the fishermen report that the 

 smallest seen measures about 20 feet long, and that they come 

 in shore when shoals of a Caranx make their appearance. 



Thus we see that this huge but very rare fish, so far from 

 having a restricted distribution, has an extraordinarily wide 

 one. While found in the Atlantic, and not altogether infrequent 

 in the Pacific, its especial habitat seems to be in the Indian 

 Ocean and the waters contiguous thereto. 



Size. 



In size this fish varies greatly. Lloyd's specimen (the small- 

 est ever taken) was 14 feet long and 9% feet in girth. Smith's 

 Table Bay specimen was 15 feet long and 9 feet around. Buist's 

 figures make this shark 40 to 60 feet in length, the mouth being 

 sometimes 4 feet wide. Steuart's sharks were of such enormous 

 bulk that they made ordinary sized sharks look like pilot-fish. 

 Gill's Gulf of California shark was 20 feet long. Wright dis- 

 sected an 18-foot specimen. His friend, Swinburne Ward, meas- 

 ured one over 45 feet in length, while he himself saw specimens 

 exceeding 50 feet, and "heard of some individuals — of about 70 

 feet in length." These latter were reported to him by the whale 

 fishers of Saint Denis, "trustworthy men accustomed to calculate 

 the length of the sperm whale." 



Haly's 1883 specimen measured 23 feet 9 inches over all and 

 13 feet in girth behind the pectorals and had a mouth 3 feet 

 wide, while that of 1890 was 5 feet shorter (18 feet). Chierchia 

 in the Bay of Panama in 1884 "saw several great sharks some 

 miles from our anchorage." The one captured was about 29 

 feet long over all and about 21 feet in circumference — an extra- 

 ordinary girth for the length, the former generally being about 

 one-half the latter. According to Thurston, the Madras speci- 

 men while fresh was 22 feet long, but the girth was not taken. 



