November 5, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



655 



shark is found on the coasts of Australia, 

 Ecuador and Peru. So abundant are they in 

 the latter region that a profitable fishery is 

 carried on, their livers being utilized for oil. 

 Stevenson quotes a Captain Baker, of New 

 Bedford, that he took 125 barrels of basking- 

 shark liver oil in 2 days. Stevenson further 

 says that this great shark is reported to be 

 taken at Kurrachee in northwest British India. 

 All the authorities are agreed, however, that 

 this latter shark is Rhineodon typus, the whale 

 shark. 



Last of all, Stead (1906)" notes that Oeto- 

 rhinus is found on the coasts of New South 

 Wales and Victoria, but not abundantly. This 

 statement is probably based on the accounts of 

 McCoy, Waite and Kershaw. 



Even McCoy's notice is, however, not the 

 first on the occurrence of this great shark in 

 the South Seas, for Bennett (1840)12 j^ i^jg 

 zoology of the voyage of the whaleship Tuscan 

 tells us that : 



While cruising in the south Pacific, we occasion- 

 ally observed large animals which bore a great re- 

 semblance to whales (excepting that their tail-fin 

 was perpendicular, and they did not spout), 

 swimming near the surface of the sea. They ap- 

 peared to be nearly 20 feet in length, and were 

 called by the whalers bone-sharks, a name which 

 implies little more than the very vague idea enter- 

 tained of their true character. They are said to 

 have whalebone in the mouth, yet do not spout; 

 but partake of the nature of a shark, or other fish, 

 and, like fish, can maintain a submarine existence 

 for an indefinite time. They have been occasion- 

 ally mistaken for whales, and harpooned by inex- 

 perienced whalers, when, taking away the line with 

 irresistible impetuosity, they have disappeared in 

 the ocean's depths, and left their assailants to 

 watch in vain for their return to the surface. 



Since whalers religiously avoid an encounter 

 with these troublesome creatures, it follows that 

 their real form and structure are but little known. 

 If we admit that an error exists on the subject of 

 there being whalebone in its mouth, it appears 

 probable that the bone-shark is allied to, or is 

 identical with, the Basking-shark {Squalus maxi- 

 mus), a fish, measuring from 15 to 30 feet in 



11 Stead, David G., "Pishes of Australia," pp. 

 233, 235, 236, 251. Sydney, 1906. 



12 Bennett, F. D., ' ' Narrative of a Whaling Voy- 

 age Eound the Globe, from the Year 1833 to 1836," 

 Vol. II., London, 1840. 



length, and which was formerly regarded as a spe- 

 cies of whale. 



Before bringing this note to a close, I wish 

 to call attention to one other matter of impor- 

 tance. None of the observers save Kershaw 

 correctly gives the shape of the snout. Giin- 

 ther (1880) indeed says 



. . . young specimens have a much longer and more 

 pointed snout than adults. . . . 



And McCoy notes that it has a 



fusiform head very small, abruptly narrowed to a 

 short snout, with a slightly concave profile rising 

 from a little behind the eye . . ., 



all of which structures are shown in his figure, 

 the snout appearing as a very weak and ineffec- 

 tive structure. 



Goode and Bean (1895) merely say " snout 

 blunt," and their figure, which is copied from 

 Annales du Musee d'Hist. Nat. Paris, Vol. 

 XVni., pi. 6; and from Fish. Ind., pi. 249, 

 upper figure, and which in turn has been widely 

 copied (and is the only one save McCoy's 

 known to the present writer), so shows it. 

 Jordan and Evermann (1896), for example, 

 simply copy Goode and Bean's text and figure. 

 So practically does Bridge (1904). While 

 Jordan (1905) calls it elephant shark but as- 

 signs no reason for the name. 



Kershaw (1903) specifically notes that 



. . . the front of the head is considerably ex- 

 tended, and forms a thick, fleshy, truncated snout, 

 with the extremity produced into a curved fleshy 

 hook, which altogether gives the fish a most ex- 

 traordinary appearance. 



This peculiarity, according to some earlier ob- 

 servers, occurs only in the young specimens, and 

 has led to the erroneous opinionis that several dif- 

 ferent genera and species of basking sharks ex- 

 isted, an opinion which can hardly be wondered at 

 considering the greatly different appearance this 

 gives to the fish. 



This specimen, was a young one, only 12 

 feet 11 inches long ; however, a year previous a 

 fisherman had reported to Kershaw the capture 

 in Melbourne Harbor of a large shark having 

 " a long thick snout terminating in a hook." 



13 Gilnther, A. C. L., "Introduction to the Study 

 of Fishes," p. 323, Edinburgh, 1880. 



