HE PORBEAGLE. 413 



Lamna cornubica.* — The Porbeagle. 



Description. — " Bocty fusiform, very narrow at the tail, and strong 

 \y keeled there on each side ; skin smooth when stroked backwards, 

 of a uniform greyish-black colour, the belly white ; snout obtusely 

 pointed, with a band of punctures on each side of the forehead ter- 

 minating above the eyes, a few similar punctures behind the eyes, and 

 a triangular patch of them before the nostrils, they are the apertures 

 of canals filled with a transparent jelly ; eyes round, dark blue ; bran- 

 chial slits five, cut across the neck, the posterior oblique and close to 

 the pectoral fin ; back rounded ; dorsal fin triangular, with a free, 

 pointed, pale-coloured process behind; posterior dorsal fin also pointed 

 posteriorly; pectorals somewhat triangular, obliquely sinuate on the 

 posterior edge, black ; ventral fins rhomboidal, meeting on the mesial 

 line, on which are the anal and generative apertures ; anal fin small, 

 pointed behind ; tail lunate, with unequal lobes, the superior and 

 largest with a projecting outline near the tip ; above the tail there is 

 a flat space bounded by a short transverse ridge, and a similar one 

 opposite on the ventral side ; lateral line straight ; the keel on the 

 body runs forward on the tail, and there is a small keel beneath this 

 confined to the tail itself. The length along the lateral line five feet 

 eight inches and a half; circumference in front of the dorsal fin, two 

 feet eight inches and a half; from the snout to the eye, four inches 

 and three quarters ; diameter of the eye, one inch and one-tenth ; 

 breadth between the eyes, five inches and one quarter ; from the snout 

 to the margin of the upper lip four inches and a half, thence to the 

 angle of the mouth also four inches and a half; breadth of the mouth 

 from angle to angle eight inches and one quarter ; from the snout to 

 the first gill-aperture one foot three inches ; snout to pectoral fin one 

 foot six inches and a half; length of pectoral fin one foot one inch ; 

 breadth of pectoral fin six inches and a half; snout to dorsal fin two 

 feet one inch and three quarters ; height of dorsal fin nine inches 

 and three quarters ; length of dorsal fin ten inches and one quarter ; 

 length of the free portion of it three inches ; space between the first 

 and second dorsal fins one foot eight inches ; length from the snout 

 to the anal aperture three feet eight inches ; extreme breadth of the 

 tail one foot eight inches ; length of the tail in the mesial line six 

 inches and one quarter." — (Dr Johnston.) 



This species of Shark is met with occasionally on the Devon- 

 shire and Cornish coasts, but is said to occur more frequently 



* Lamna cornubica, Cuv., Yarr., Flem. Squalus cornubicus, Jen. Don. 

 Penn. 



