270 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVIII. No. 973 



where lie will serve as associate professor of 

 surgery in the University of the Philippines. 



A LECTURESHIP in fossil botany has been 

 started at University College, London Univer- 

 sity, to which Dr. Marie Stopes has been ap- 

 pointed. 



DISCUSSION AND COMBESFONDENCE 



A SECOND CAPTURE OF THE WHALE SHARK, 

 KHINEODON TTPUS, EST FLORIDA WATERS 



In Science for February 28, 1902, and 

 again in Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collec- 

 tions, Vol. 48, 1905, Mr. B. A. Bean, of the 

 United States National Museum, has recorded 

 the coming ashore on the beach three miles 

 north of Ormond, Florida, of an 18-foot speci- 

 men of the whale shark, Bhineodon typus, the 

 skin and some parts of which are preserved 

 in the National Museum. 



Mr. Bean, in the above papers, and Dr. Gill, 

 in Science for May 23, 1902, and May 19, 

 1905, have thoroughly and interestingly sum- 

 marized almost all the scanty literature of 

 this very large and very rare fish. The pur- 

 pose of this note is to record the capture in 

 Florida waters of another and much larger 

 specimen than the one of which Mr. Bean has 

 made note. 



On June 1, 1912, Captain Charles Thomp- 

 son, of Miami, Florida, captured near Knight's 

 Key, Florida East Coast Railway Extension, 

 what is probably the largest specimen of the 

 whale shark ever taken by man. This mon- 

 ster is reported to have been 45 feet long, and 

 23 feet in circumference, and its weight is 

 estimated at from 15,000 to 30,000 pounds. 



While in Miami last summer I talked with 

 Captain Thompson and saw the as yet un- 

 mounted skin. To one who has never seen a 

 whale, the skin of this shark is inconceivably 

 large. During the winter Captain Thompson 

 has had the skin mounted, and photographs 

 of it show that the work has been well done. 

 Through his courtesy I have not only these 

 photographs, but also one of the fish taken 

 shortly after its capture. 



During the winter I have been collecting 

 data on Bhineodon, and during the coming 

 summer I expect to be in Miami, at which 



time I purpose with Captain Thompson's per- 

 mission to describe and to make careful meas- 

 urements and to get from him full data con- 

 cerning the capture of this great fish. This 

 will be embodied in another and more ex- 

 tensive paper to be published later, in 

 which will be included certain historical 

 data not given in either Dr. Gill's or Mr. 

 Bean's papers above referred to. In the 

 meantime it seems well to call attention to 

 this the second occurrence of the whale shark 

 in the waters of the east coast of the United 

 States. 



As to the name of this fish, Bhineodon 

 typus, the following statement may be made. 

 The whale shark was first described from 

 Table Bay, Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, 

 by Dr. Andrew Smith in April, 1828. His 

 description and figure were published in the 

 Zoological Journal for 1829 under the name 

 Bhineodon typus. However, this is clearly a 

 typographical error, since the derivation is 

 rhine, file -}- odous (odont), tooth. Muller and 

 Henle (1838) first used the name given at the 

 head of this paragraph, but later (1841) wrote 

 it as it is commonly put, Bhinodon typicus. 

 Dr. Gill, however (1905), goes back to the 

 former spelling. 



e. w. gudger 



State Normal College, 

 Greensboko, N. C. 



" carbates " 



To the Editor of Science: In this age of 

 method, accuracy and conciseness, we say 

 sulphates instead of sulphurates; phosphates 

 for phosphorates (better still, sulfates and fos- 

 f ates) ; nitrates for nitrogenates ; chlorates 

 for chlorinates. Why should we not say car- 

 hates instead of carbonates? 



We already say carbides instead of carbon- 

 ides; why should we not follow the fashion 

 consistently and say carbates? 



We should then have the word carbation to 

 mean the formation of carbates, leaving the 

 word carbonation to refer to the development 

 of carbon in a substance which would fittingly 

 correspond to the present word carbonize, and 

 so avoid a puzzling ambiguity. 



