1915] Gudger: The Whale Shark. 385 



Mounted Specimens. 



So far as can be found, the preserved specimens of Rhineodon 

 typus in the museums of the world are as follows: (1), Smith's 

 original specimen, preserved by J. Verreaux and now in the 

 Museum of Paris; (2), the one mounted in 1883 in the Colombo 

 Museum under the direction of A. Haly; (3), the one in the 

 British Museum (Haly's second specimen) mounted by Gerrard 

 about 1890; (4), the Madras specimen of 1889, presumably 

 mounted under the direction of Thurston; (5), the Japanese 

 specimen (1901) preserved by a local curio dealer in Tokyo; 

 (6), the first Florida specimen (1902), the skin of which is 

 preserved in the United States National Museum; (7), Capt. 

 Thompson's specimen from Florida, now on exhibition in the 

 various cities of the United States. 



Name. 



At first (1829) Smith gave his great shark the name Rhineo- 

 don typus, but later (1849) changed it to the more common 

 forms Rhinodon typicus. The reason for this will now be given. 



In 1831 Bonaparte followed Smith in using the generic name 

 Rhineodon. In 1838-1839 Swainson published the names Rineo- 

 don, Rhineodon and Rhiniodon. About the same time Miiller 

 and Henle, at the conclusion of their visit to London made to 

 collect data for their great forthcoming work on Selachians, 

 published in the Magazine of Natural History and in Archiv filr 

 Naturgeschichte (1838) a preliminary paper in which they give 

 the genus Rhineodon, but three years later (1841), when they 

 published their great work on sharks and rays entitled System- 

 atische Beschreibung der Plagiostomen, they gave this shark 

 the name Rhinodon typicus, which has been the one commonly 

 used ever since. Careful scrutiny of their work reveals no rea- 

 son whatever for this change. However, when Smith (1849) 

 came to give his larger and more complete description of the 

 Whale Shark, he gave up the name he had first used and adopted 

 the last one propounded by Miiller and Henle. 



Dr. Gill in 1902 used the name Rhinodon typicus, but noted 

 that Rhineodon was the first generic title. In his second paper, 

 however, this great ichthyologist returns to the correct name 



