THE BASKING SIIAKK. 253 



This individual agrees in every cliaracter with the M. stvUatus as described by 

 Risso,* Hist. Nat. 1' Eur. Merid., torn. iii. p. I'iG. Mr. Yarrell's ligure oi M. 

 Icevis (vol. ii. p. 393) is a very good representation of this fish. The present 

 individual differs from it in having a close row of spots along the lateral line, 

 and both lobes at the base of the caudal fin conspicuously displayed, the ante- 

 rior one nearly as much so as in the preceding figure of Galeiis vulgaris in the 

 same work. 



" The specimen under description is a female. The stomach was filled with 

 brachyurous Crustacea, including a perfect and fuU-giown Conjstes Cassice- 

 lanus. 



" Other specimens of Mustelus Icpvis that I have examined, and which were 

 about the same size as the one described, were similar in the characters above 

 given ; this is mentioned as showing that the white spots above the lateral line 

 are not peculiar to the yoiuig fish. See Yarrell, B. F., vol. ii. p. 394." [P. 513 

 of 2nd edition]. 



Dr. J. L. Drummond jiroctirecl specimens of this fish at Hol3'Avood 

 (Belfast Bay) in 18^6, and Dr. Ball has obtained it at Youghal and 

 Dublin. 



The Squalus mustelus, Smooth Hound-fish, of Sampson's Derry cannot, 

 I presume, be this species, from the circumstance of his describing " 5 or 

 6 rows of teeth ; " consequently we must omit " Londonderry," given by 

 Mr. Yarrell as a station of this fish. There can, however (though it is 

 not proved), be no doubt of its occurrence there. 



3I'Skiin))iiti, in his 3rd edition, notes it as rare. In his first edition 

 the name Stinkard was applied to it, " from its leaving a bad smell on 

 the hands after handling." 



The Basking Shakk, or Sun-fisii, Selaclms maximus, Cuv., 



Is taken on the ocean coasts of Ireland, chiefly on the West : I am not 

 aware of its occurrence on the eastern side. It is generally known as 

 the " sun-fish," and is the species so valuable for its oil. 

 In Harris's Down (published 1744) it is stated that — 



" The coasts of Ireland, especially those in the West, have, of late years, 

 been much frequented by Whales and Sun-Jish, which come in March or April, 

 and stay till November. 



" They frequent the herring bays in the fisliing season, and not only destroy a 

 great deal of fish but mar the fishing." 



The following paragraph ajipeared in the Derry Sentinel in July, 

 1849 :— 



"A Shark caught in Lough Fotjle. — As Messrs. William Gillespie and 

 Thomas Lecky, jun., of Longfield, were out behind the Shell Island, on Wed- 

 nesday last, fishing plaice, they caught a shark of the species called ' squa- 

 lus maximus,' or, as Pennant names it, 'the basking shark.' It is evi- 

 dently a very young one. It measures 5^ feet long, and 2 feet 2 inches in cir- 

 cumference ; the colour of the back is a deep leaden, and that of the belly white ; 

 the skin is rough, like shagreen, and the upper part of the jaw and upper part 

 of the tail much longer than the lower. The teeth are evidently only beginning 

 to grow, and are about \ inch long, in three or four rows. Some of the oldest 

 inhabitants of the neighbourhood agree in saying that they never heard of a fish 

 of a similar kind being caught in Lough Foyle, and it is very unusual at all to 

 see them on the North coast of Ireland." 



In August, 1840, Dr. G. J. AUman informed me that " a fine specimen 

 of the haskitKj shark was lately entangled in the fishermen's trammels in 



* The figure of 5^. Hinnulus in the Fatme Fran^aise shows the identity. 



