670 NATUBAL HISTOET OF AQUATIC ANIMALS. 



into him and lie darted down into the water, and finally he went down again, and kept coming up 

 and going down. I began at four o'clock and tried to haul him up until a,bout supper-time, but could 

 not, and he towed the smack all night. He came on until he got abreast of the oil works at 

 Provincetown, and then he turned and I couldn't get him up; he went about as fast as you would 

 row a dory moderately. The water became shoaler and shoaler until there was eight or ten feet 

 over his back, and then he went towards Beach Hill. We were in the dory and he then came 

 back within a quarter of a mile of the vessel. We went aboard and got something to eat. We 

 got him within six or eight feet of the top of the water and the warp parted and we lost him. I 

 don't think one has been killed here for more than twenty years." 



These monsters are occasionally stuffed and carried about the country by showmen, advertised 

 under various high-sounding names. 



The Mackbebl Shark — Lamna oornubioa. 



This species, called at Provincetown the "Blue Shark," occurs in the Northern Atlantic, being 

 occasionally seen at various points on the coast of the United States from Kewfoundland to Florida, 

 and in the West Indies. In the Eastern Atlantic it is found everywhere from the south of the 

 North Cape, entering the Mediterranean. It has also been recorded from Japan. It is abundant 

 on the coast of Great Britain, where it is known as the "Porbeagle." It also occurs in California. 



The ordinary length of this species is from eight to ten feet. They roam about in summer, 

 often several together, preying upon small fish and squids, being particularly fond of mackerel. 

 They are very abundant on the coast of Massachusetts in the mackerel season, and are a great 

 annoyance to the fishermen who use nets, since they become entangled in the twine, destroying 

 the nets by tearing them and rolling them up. Although their livers yield a considerable quantity 

 of oil, formerly prized by curriers, I am unable to learn that they are now regarded as of any 

 practical value. 



Storer wrote, in 1847, that the procuring of oil from these fish, which was once a regular busi- 

 ness, had at that time been almost entirely abandoned. The practice of saving the oil was a com- 

 mon one, but had been abandoned on account of the apparent decrease in the quantity obtainable.' 

 Storer also, in 1846, quoting from Captain Atwood, remarked : " Seven gallons of oil were at that 

 time frequently extracted from the liver of a single fish, while eleven and a half gallons have been 

 taken from one. Of late years this fish has yielded less oil than formerly, so that they are now 

 scarcely worth saving. Formerly a barrel of oil was made from the livers of eleven fish. Captain 

 Atwood tells me that, many years since, his father procured often a barrel of oil from eight livers; 

 not selecting the best, but employing large and small indiscriminately ; but now at least one hun- 

 dred livers would be required to furnish this amount of oil." 



The Man-eater Shark — Carcharodon oarcharias. 



The so-called " Man-eater Shark," the American form of which has been described under the 

 name Carcharodon Atwoodii, in honor of Captain Atwood, who sent specimens to Storer, the histo- 

 rian of the " Fishes of Massachusetts," is probably identical with the Great Blue Shark, Oarcha- 

 rias Bondeletii, common throughout the Atlantic and Mediterranean, and also known to occur in 

 the Indian Ocean and about the Cape of Good Hope and Australia. In tropical seas it attains an 



' A Mackerel Shark, measuring nine feet in length, was seen by two men flouncing upon the flats in this harbor 

 on Saturday last, having got entangled ia the eel-grass in ehoal water, who went to him and cut his throat. His liver 

 made three gallons of pure oil. — Barnstable Patriot, September 8, 1833. 



