1915] Gudger : The Whale Shark. 377 



row; each tooth is recurved backwards and acutely pointed, 

 swollen and with a heel-like projection in front rising from its 

 base." 



How accurate is Dr. Gill's description may be judged from 

 the accompanying Figure 129 of the teeth of this specimen which 

 is here copied from Mr. Bean's 1905 paper: 



Wright speaks of the Seychelles "Chagrin" as having "a 

 mouth of immense width, furnished with- small teeth." Here 

 it will be well to recall Buist's statement that the Kurrachee 

 specimens had mouths 4 feet wide, while that of Haly's Ceylon 

 fish was 3 feet across. Of the teeth, Haly writes (1883) : 



"When fresh, the lower jaw was quite straight and flat, near- 

 ly, if not quite, on a level with the surface of the abdomen, and 

 considerably in advance of the upper, so that the band of teeth 

 in the lower jaw was quite uncovered. This band averages one 

 inch in breadth [in a 23-foot, 9-inch specimen], and consists of 

 14 rows of minute, sharp, recurved teeth, 2 mm. long, all of 

 equal size. The band in the upper jaw is % inch broad, and 

 consists of 11 rows of similar teeth." 



Chierchia merely says of the Panama specimen: "The set 

 of teeth is all covered by a membrane that surrounded internal- 

 ly the lips ; the teeth are very little and almost in a rudimentary 

 state." 



Nation sent a portion of the jaw of the Callao specimen to 

 the British Museum. This was examined by Giinther and the 

 teeth compared with those of Ward's specimen from the Sey- 

 chelles. Giinther writes (1884) : "The teeth differ in no re- 

 spect from those of a Seychelles Chagrin ; they are conical, sharp- 

 ly pointed, recurved, with the base of attachment swollen." This 

 is the first detailed description of the teeth of R. typus, and so 

 like Gill's account of the dental armature of Micristodus punc- 

 tatus that Giinther unhesitatingly declares them to be identical. 

 (Here see Figure 129.) 



Thurston says of the specimen in the Colombo Museum : "Each 

 jaw is armed with a band of teeth arranged in regular trans- 

 verse rows (14 in the lower jaw), and so minute that, in the 

 present specimen their number has been calculated to be about 

 6,000." 



