I'MSIIKS — WAITK. 33 



little rein.'ukalilc lluil wc scciiicd Imt ;i, siiij^lc cxniiiplc. Tiiis, u 

 sin.'ill specimen, was taken oil' Newciaslle. in 1^1 IS fathoms. 



lAuiiilij GALEID^^]. 



GALE US, Rajinexqtie. 



GALEUS ANTARCTICUS, Gimther. 



Gummy. 



Mustelus antarcticus, Giinth., Cat. Fish. Brit, Mus., viii., LSTO, 

 p. 387. McCoy, Prod. Zool. Vict., Dec. ix., 1884, pi. Ixxxvii., 



%. 1. 



Stations 11, 12, 21, 37, 48, 49, 52. 



Giintlier's original specimen, having doubtless become dis- 

 coloured, was described as " uniform greyish." McCoy correctly 

 described the colour as follows: — "Back and sides ashy-grey with 

 a slight pinkish-brown tinge on side of head and body: with, from 

 nape to second dorsal, very small lighter spots on back and sides 

 above lateral line"; he further says : — " Whole under surface of 

 body and under side of pectorals and ventrals milk-white." This 

 refers, however, only to the basal portion and the margins, the 

 larger portion of these fins being coloured alike above and below. 

 In our examples the hind edge of the dorsal and the tip of the 

 caudal are not darker than the other portions. While the small 

 milk-white spots are present in most of our specimens, no trace of 

 such exist in others. On the side next the body the claspers 

 (Ptery go podia) are of grey colour, but below are whitish like the 

 whole ventral surface of the shark. The growth of the claspers 

 is well illustrated in our series and may be thus briefly noticed. 



In festal stages the claspers do not reach to the margin of the 

 ventral fin, but attain to that point shortly after birth. They do 

 not, as a rule, appear to be developed further until much older, 

 and in an example measuring 585 mm. (23 inches) they have 

 barely outgrown the fin. On the other hand, a smaller specimen 

 measuring 530 mm. (20f inches) has them nearly twice as long 

 as the inner posterior margin of the fin. No specimen of such 

 dimensions has any rigid skeletal development in the claspers. 

 The smallest example in which such appears is 625 mm. (24f 

 inches) in length. 



Parker has described'^' how, in this species, the embryo is 

 attached to the uterus with a placenta: it is therefore referable to 



* Parker— Traus. N.Z. Inst., xv., 1883, p. 219, pi. xxx. 



