306 PLAGIOSTOMATA. 



rolling on the ground, for it is often found greatly bent. As soon as they discover 

 that their efforts are in vain, they swim away with amazing rapidity, and with 

 such violence that there has been an instance of a vessel of seventy tons having 

 been towed aw T ay against a fresh gale. They sometimes run off with two hundred 

 fathoms of line, and with two harpoons in them, and will employ the fishers for 

 twelve and sometimes twenty-four hours before they are subdued. Low gives an 

 account of one, a male, 23 feet long, which remained a whole day in the harbour 

 of Stromness, which it went slowly round several times, allowing boats to 

 approach close without seeming the least disturbed, every now and then setting 

 up its large back fin, and sometimes having great part of its back above water. 

 In this manner it proceeded without the least disturbance, till several boats were 

 manned and went after it with harpoons and lances. From its liver six barrels 

 of oil were obtained. Another, the same length, was noosed, and from it twelve 

 barrels of oil were taken. Females are said to give more than males. The Isle 

 of Wight example, wdrich was 28 feet 13 inches long, made no resistance to a rope 

 being passed round its tail, and was dragged quietly along. Forty or fifty men 

 could not move it when on shore. Twenty-horse power had to be employed to drag 

 it out of reach of the tide. Care has to be taken to keep boats out of reach of 

 a blow of the tail of this fish which, when wounded, might stave them in. 



Uses. — A very fine oil is obtained from their livers. One is recorded by 

 Pennant as having been caught off the coast of Anglesey, measuring 26 feet in 

 length, and producing 150 gallons of oil ; a large fish generally yields about 

 eight barrels of oil. A fish, 30 to 40 feet long, Dr. Ball estimated, in 1839, would 

 be worth £80. Couch's specimen, captured in Cornwall, was 31 feet 8 inches long, 

 and from its liver 198 gallons of oil were obtained ; two examples of about 30 feet, 

 taken at Broadhaven, in Scotland, yielded almost nineteen barrels, of which eight 

 went to the ton (Couch). The Isle of Wight fish, 28 feet 10 inches long, gave 

 about 102 gallons of oil. 



As food. — Low says its flesh looks partly like beef and partly like turbot, and 

 is eaten by the poorer classes in the Orkneys. 



Fisheries. — Those off the Irish and Scotch coasts would appear to be only 

 occasionally utilized. These sharks are said to have been counted, off Tory Island, 

 in shoals of from sixty to one hundred basking in the bright morning sun of 

 June. Off Norway, according to a correspondent in Land and Water, it is found 

 along the coast from Ptyvarden, latitude 59 deg. 31 min. 35 sec, up to Finmarken ; 

 but in some localities it has become more rare than in others. This fishery a 

 century ago w r as almost unknown. We first hear of its being carried on in the 

 north, in the district of Namdal, about the year 1760. In the southern parts of the 

 country it was at the same time pursued with great avidity and perseverance, 

 and with such success as for a series of consecutive years to form the staple and 

 chief support of the inhabitants of the district in which it was carried on. Of 

 late years, however, this shark has either been driven away from its favourite 

 haunts in the south, or its numbers have so far decreased as to diminish the 

 importance it had for years maintained. 



Not being a voracious fish, it is neither to be enticed nor caught by the same kind 

 of bait or mode of fishing as pursued with the Lcemargus microcephalus, but rather 

 that followed for the whale. About the end of the dog days, this shark makes 

 its appearance on the coast, when the fishery immediately commences. Large 

 open boats are generally employed, from 37 to 42 feet in length, each boat being 

 manned by four men, and furnished with harpoons similar to those used in 

 harpooning the sturgeon. The harpoon is attached to a line proportioned to the 

 depth of water on the ground selected, which usually is from 300 to 400 fathoms. 

 This rope lies coiled up in the bow of the boat. 



Thus equipped the fishermen, selecting a slight breeze and warm weather, 

 cruise about under a triangular sail, near the mouth of the fjords the fish are in 

 the habit of seeking. They are generally found lying perfectly still near the 

 surface, apparently basking in the sun, and slowly follow the wake of the boat as 

 soon as discovered. When the fish approaches close enough, the harpooner, 

 watching his opportunity, urges his harpoon as deep into the body of the fish as 



