224 



and finding himself fast, he rushed back again and attacked the 

 boat, leaving five teeth broken in the wood. The boat fortunately 

 was strong enough to bear the shock. He then ran off again to some 

 distance, and, finding escape hopeless, rushed a second time at the 

 boat. On this the men attacked and finally succeeded in disabling 

 him by violent and repeated blows upon the head with a large piece 

 of wood ; they then towed him the whole length of the line, so as 

 " to drown him," as it is termed, and brought him to Sydney alive, 

 but helpless. He died some hours after being landed on the wharf, 

 being very tenacious of life. The huge monster was soon a great 

 object of curiosity, and, being enclosed, was duly advertised for ex- 

 hibition to the public ; whereby the capturers realized the very hand- 

 some sum of about £80. The animal was afterwards presented to 

 the Museum, in which institution it remains in an excellent state of 

 preservation. Its size, by actual measurement, is as follows : — 



feet, inches. 



The circumference of the body, about the centre 6 7 

 Height from the abdomen to the base of the 



dorsal fin 2 10 



Height from the base of the pectoral fin 2 



Length from the end of the tail to the point of 



the nose 12 4 



Length of dorsal fin 1 1 



Breadth of ditto at base 1 4 



Length of pectoral fin 2 3 



Length of second pectoral fin 8 



Caudal fin, upper part 2 4 



Caudal fin, lower part 1 9 



Anal fin 3^ 



Second dorsal fin 4 



Expansion of jaw, breadth 10 



Perpendicular length of jaw 1 



This is the expansion of the jaw in the dried state ; when alive no 

 doubt it could have been expanded to a greater extent. The head ap- 

 pears to be small in comparison to the enormous bulk and length of 

 the body. There is a singular pectinated line running down on each 

 side near the back from the base of the head to the commencement 

 of the tail, as if situated just beneath the cuticle. The fish in its 

 recent state was of a uniform bluish-grey colour, excepting the dorsal, 

 caudal, and other fins, which were of a darker tint. Branchiae 5. 

 No spiracles. I would not venture to send one alive to the Zoolo- 

 gical Gardens, as its keep would be ruinous ; for the contents of the 

 stomach were as follows : — 



Eight legs of mutton, half a ham, hind quarters of a pig, head 

 and fore legs of a bull dog with a rope round the neck, about 300 lbs. 

 of horse-flesh, a ship's scraper, and a piece of bagging. 



From the liver of the fish 12 gallons of oil were obtained. 



On the 29th of September, 1858, I examined a Shark harpooned 

 in the harbour of Port Jackson- It was similar in character to the 



