36 " THETIS " SCIENTIFIC RESULTS. 



Teeth in two alternate rows in each jaw, placed obliquely, 

 notched externally, otherwise entire. The fifth gill opening is 

 smaller than the others, all are equally spaced, and the last two 

 are situated above the base of the pectoral. The space between 

 the origin of the first dorsal and the front of the head is slightly 

 more than the width of the latter ; this fin arises wholly behind 

 the pectoral, its base is contained two-thirds in its height, 

 which equals half the width of the head, it is posteriorly 

 produced. The second dorsal, situated over the posterior third 

 of the anal, is small and produced backwards into a long acuminate 

 lobe. The ventral arises midway between the origin of the 

 pectoral and the base of the caudal. The anal is larger than the 

 posterior dorsal, deeply excavated behind and produced like that 

 fin. The caudal is contained three and a half times in the total 

 length, the lower lobe two and a half times in the upper \ the 

 notch is small. 



Colour. — The general colour above, the under part of the 

 membrane behind the head, and the membraneous portions of all 

 the fins is of a dull lead colour. All other portions of the under 

 surface are yellowish-white. 



Family CARCHAKIID^. 



CARCHARIAS, Rafinesque. 



C ARCH ARIAS TAURUS, Rafinesque. 



Grey Nurse. 



Carcharias taurus, Rafin., Caratt, d' Ale. Nuov. Gen., 1810, p. 10, 



pi. xiv., fig. 1. 

 Odontaspis taurus, McCoy, Prod. Zool. Vict., Dec. vii., 1882, 



pi. Ixiv., fig. 1. 



Station 23. 



On raising the trawl off Newcastle, from the depth of 16 to 19 

 fathoms, some little excitement was caused on discovering that we 

 had a shark in the net ; on bein;< hauled aboai'd it swept the fish 

 right and left until despatched. It was of this species and 

 measured eight feet in length. A somewhat larger example was 

 hooked in Broken Bay. Sharks were specially attracted to the 

 "Thetis" on account of the amount of food thrown over, com- 

 prising mainly the inedible species, such as sting-rays, fiddlers, 

 dogfishes, etc., together with the waste parts of the fishes pre- 

 served for consumption. There has been no previous authentic 

 record of the Grey Nurse having been taken north of Port 

 Jackson. 



