96 SALT-WATER FISHES 



ground, realises this, and loses no time in scrambling out on 

 the bank when he has to play a heavy fish. Completely 

 immersed, he would be helpless ; and the Malay natives, who 

 swim under water and attack the largest and fiercest sharks 

 with only their knives, are rare exceptions, worthy of curiosity, 

 but not of imitation. Five or six years ago the writer 

 addressed a letter to the "Times, in which he took occasion to 

 warn summer bathers from the decks of yachts anchored a few 

 miles from shore against the possibility of shark bite. He 

 was roundly abused as an alarmist and severely taken to task 

 (by, among others, a Plymouth correspondent !) for applying 

 the name "shark" to mere dog-fishes. Yet, though there is no 

 case actually on record of a bather having been attacked by 

 sharks in British waters, there can be no doubt of the boldness 

 and fierceness of several British kinds ; and this is a case in 

 which, while prevention is easy, cure might be impossible. 

 The late Matthias Dunn was in the habit of relating well- 

 authenticated instances of Cornish sharks turning savagely on 

 fishermen who ventured too near them when captive in the 

 nets or in the well of the boat. 



The Tope, or Toper {Galeus vulgaris), is a dull grey shark, 

 which grows to 6 or 7 ft. in length, and hunts in packs. It 

 has the nictitant membrane over the eye and also small spiracles. 

 Its teeth are serrated ; there are no spines before the fins ; 

 there is no pit before the root of the tail. The skin of this 

 shark is exceedingly rough, and it has the usual five gill- 

 openings. It is also known, from its colour, as the " silver 

 dog," and its more common name is presumably a corruption 

 of " top," in allusion to its habit of following the lines to the 

 top of the water, and there snatching off the whiting or other 

 fish in full view of the helpless fishermen. There is a 

 practically identical shark in Australian seas, which there 

 treats the snapper-fisher in the same way, showing as much 

 boldness in robbing the hooks just before they are clear of the 

 water. Of the extent to which this shark is to be regarded 



