ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



1425 



of them are salted, then freshened and after- 

 wards smoked, when they are called Folkstone 

 beef. 



Our native dogfishes are now being eaten to 

 a limited extent in Canada and New England. 



The writer has personally tried young drum- 

 fish, eel pouts, conger eels and even the despised 

 toad fish, and found them palatable. 



THE CAPTURE AND TRANSPORTA- 

 TION OF A LARGE SHARK. 



By W. I. DeNyse. 



IN anticipation of obtaining a large shark for 

 the Aquarium, a boat was prepared for 

 transporting it. An old dory twelve feet 

 long, such as fishing smacks use, was converted 

 into a well-boat or floating live fish-car. Two 

 feet from each end a bulkhead was constructed 

 from the bottom of the dory to the top rail, 

 making the central part of the boat available 

 for a water compartment. This section was 

 decked over with two hinged doors running fore 

 and aft, which could be raised to admit speci- 

 mens. 



Openings were made in each side of the boat 

 four inches above the bottom. The openings 

 were four inches wide and eighteen inches long, 

 and covered with heavy half-inch mesh wire 

 netting. Numerous three-quarter inch holes 

 were also bored in the bottom of the boat. The 

 length of the well being eight feet, it made an 

 ideal conveyer for the shark. 



A motor boat was hired at Gravesend Bay to 

 tow the well-boat, and on INIonday, September 

 11, a start was made from the Bay at three 

 in the morning, for the pound nets along the 

 New Jersey beach at the southern end of New 

 York Bay. At daj^break the pound nets were 

 reached, just as the fishermen were about to 

 "haul" them. A large shark was at once located 

 in the pound net of Capt. Jacob Schnoor, and it 

 was transferred to our well-boat without injury, 

 and the hatch closed. Then commenced the 

 journey to the Aquarium twenty-one miles away. 



The sea was rough and the tide ahead all the 

 way, but we reached the slip beside the Aqua- 

 rium at eleven o'clock, having been four and 

 one-quarter hours on the way. The transfer to 

 the large pool in the Aquarium was made in five 

 minutes. A large canvas was placed on the 

 landing stage to which the shark was quickly 

 transferred. The canvas was seized along the 

 sides by several of the Aquarium men, and the 

 twisting and rolling shark was rushed into the 

 pool, where it was soon swimming about, very 



little the worse for its capture and hurried trip 

 to the Aquarium. 



This specimen, a sand shark (^Carcharias 

 littoralis), was eight feet long. It lived six 

 weeks, or five weeks longer than any other large 

 shark ever brought to the Aquarium. 



AQUARIUM ATTENDANCE. 



THERE is little doubt that the recent de- 

 crease in the number of visitors at the 

 public museums of New York, is attribut- 

 able to conditions resulting from the war in 

 Europe. 



P'or eight years the annual attendance at the 

 Aquarium exceeded 2,000,000, amounting in 

 1913 to 2,205,729 persons. 



In 191 1, the attendance fell to 2,029,707 af- 

 ter five months of the war. 



In 1915, after twelve months of war, the at- 

 tendance fell to 1,538,831, while for 1916, the 

 attendance to September 30 amounts to 1,212, 

 036. This number, compared with the attend- 

 ance for the same months of 1915, shows prac- 

 ticalh' no decrease, and we may therefore ex- 

 pect about the same total for 1916 as for 1915. 



After the commencement of the war there 

 was a decrease in transatlantic steamship travel 

 and in immigration, both of which served to 

 limit the number of persons passing through 

 New York City. 



The twelve months of war in 1915, as com- 

 pared with the five months of war in 1914, pro- 

 duced more etfect. Immigration from Europe 

 has practically ceased and the legion of tourists 

 aoins; abroad has been reduced to a mere rem- 

 nant. These conditions continue and may be 

 expected to continue for some time to come. 



Meanwhile the annual attendance figures for 

 the Aquarium show a tendency to become sta- 

 tionarv. — C. H. T. 



Miss Ida M. Mellen, who has been appointed 

 secretary and stenographer at the Aquarium, 

 holds not only a certificate as an expert amanu- 

 ensis, but comes to the Aquarium with an excel- 

 lent training in biological work. She has had 

 the advantage of academic and normal school 

 training, followed by special biological studies 

 at the Marine Biological laboratories at Woods 

 Hole, and at Cold Spring Harbor. 



]Mr. Robert Sutcliffe, clerk of the Aquarium, 

 has been with the New Jersey militia at Doug- 

 lass, Arizona, since June. 



