1915] Gudger : The Whale Shark. 375 



jaw of 3500 teeth, if 15 rows, then 3750 teeth. Later it will be 

 shown that both their description and their figure of the teeth 

 are alike erroneous. 



In his fuller paper (1849) Smith merely says: "teeth, small, 

 recurved, closely congregated, and disposed in a broad, trans- 

 verse belt along the inner surface of each jaw, immediately in- 

 side the lips." While of the Arabian Sea specimen Dr. Buist 

 (1850) does nothing more than state that in the "Mhor" the 

 mouth sometimes reaches a width of 4 feet. 



In 1865 August Dumeril after examining the Table Bay speci- 

 men gives as the characters of the family Rhino dontidae : 



"Teeth exceedingly small and very numerous, analogous to 

 the teeth of a card which are very fine and bent backward, and 

 comparable to the brush-like teeth of certain teleosts, forming 

 a band rough to the touch on each of the jaws on which the 

 band is interrupted in the region of the median line." 



While under the heading, R. typicus, he thus specifies: 



"The band of teeth is formed by 12 or 15 transverse rows 

 of teeth, having a width of about m. 3. In a square of m. 

 3. on each side are found 17 teeth in 12 rows each or 204 

 teeth. Now the two jaw bands form together, deduction being 

 made for the median spaces, a length of one metre (.45 above, 

 and .55 below) , 33 squares of m. 3. on each side, or 33 times 

 204 equals to at least 6732 teeth. This number is considerably 

 larger than that given by Miiller and Henle, who counted 12 to 

 15 rows of 250 teeth each, a number evidently too small, and 

 who got only 3750 teeth" [in each jaw, a point Dumeril over- 

 looked] . 



Dr. Gill, in the same year (1865), in writing of the form 

 from the Gulf of California, says: 



"The dried dentigerous band of the upper jaw is slightly 

 curved forward, about 19 inches between the extremities, and 

 somewhat more than an inch in width in front. The teeth 

 are fixed and extremely minute, the largest being little more 

 than a line in length, and decrease toward the ends of the jaw; 

 they are disposed in regularly transverse rows, of which there 

 are over one hundred and sixty (164-167) on each side, while 

 in front there are from thirteen to sixteen in each transverse 



