NKW-YORK FARMER AND 



250 



d be in S more than thirty feet long, and of corres- 

 ponding proportions in other respects, was earned 

 from place to place for show, on a wagon construct- 

 ed for the purpose. I decided it to be one of the fa- 

 mily called sqaltis maiimits, " the great or basking 

 Shark." Tho French zoologists have separated the 

 individuals of this genus into three or four species. 

 But, as I had not viewed their specimens, nor had 

 any thing more than a dried specimen to examine for 

 myself, I suppose, for the present at least, it will be 

 best to continue the old denomination. It hence ap- 

 pears, that this huge creature, who inhabits theocoan- 

 ic tracts of the North Atlantic, comes sometimes as 

 far south as the aforesaid place ; and indeed further, 

 for I have come at intelligence that he has been often 

 .,een olF Capo Cod. More, from a horny excres- 

 cences on one side of the gill-arches, having some re- 

 semblance to what is vulgarly called whalebone, this 

 fish has been called thereabout, the Bone Shark. A 

 .straggler of the kind, found his way by Sandy Hook 



to Middletown Point, in the year , and was there 



killed. The preparation was exhibited in the city as 

 the Sea Serpent, and the inhabitants relished the no- 

 tion very much. I have understood that this speci- 

 men for want of proper antiseptic and drying ingre- 

 dients, has perished ; this renders the surviving ar- 

 ticle the more interesting. Their journeying from 

 place to place, affords zoologists exemplary oppor- 

 tunities for examination. 



A Whale killed in Cow Bay. 



The flesh is stated by naturalists, to be rank and un- 

 savoury : this is a mistake, as I know from my own 

 experience, fori procured a good ration of one a feu 

 years ago. My family, children, servants and all. 

 ate it with avidity, and asked for more. I recom- 

 mend it therefore, as an excellent article for food, 

 and worthy of higher consideration than it has recei- 

 ved, both for the market and table. 



,'/)» uncommon Fish, the Ccnlronotus, caught at 



Coney Island 

 During the period of my ichthyological recollec- 

 tions, there have been, within perhaps eighteen or 

 twenty years, three individuals catched of a singular 

 fish, and one of them during August, 1828. This 

 latter weighed twenty-two pounds, and |»vas hand- 

 some and even splendid. When first brought to me, 

 I examined the books and museums until I was tired, 

 without finding any description or figure. I there- 

 fore found it necessary to make a new genus, whicli 

 I named Centronotus, from two Greek words sig- 

 nifying Prickly Back, in consequence of a row of 

 short, stiff and distinct spines to the number of seven 

 or eight, situated in front of the dorsal fin. It has 

 somewhat the general aspect of a mackerel ; but the 

 broad and flattish form of the head, the wide separa- 

 tion of the eyes, the unequal division of the tail, of 

 whicli the upper portion is the largest, and the num- 

 ber and disposition of the teeth, seemed to offer a 

 plenty of discriminating marks. My specimen after 

 having been described and figured, was cooked and 

 served up for dinner. One of the coloquial names 



Among the rarer occurrences in Zoology, is the 

 capture during the spring of 1826, of a whale in Last j given it by the people of my kitchen, from the great 



JRiver Sound. The individual got aground in Cow 

 Lay, on the north side of Long-Island, about twenty 

 miles eastward of the city. It was living fintil after 

 a rope had been attached to it for security. The find- 

 er then concluded to kill and cut it up, for the oil. As 

 it was only about eighteen feet long, it may be con- 

 sidered as quite a young one. As far as our opinion 

 could be formed from some of the garniture of the 

 mouth which was saved, it was a Balcena, and proba- 

 bly from the appearance of the lower jaw bones, of 

 the mysticetus, or right whale (blubber) species. — 

 The event is here recorded, as one of rather an un- 

 common kind ; the like having certainly never hap- 

 pened during the last half century, if indeed it ever 

 was known before. 



The Trunk Tortoise near Sandy Hook. 

 The capture of an individual of the hugest of the 

 Tortoise family, near Sandy Hook, in the summer of 

 1S28, deserves to be mentioned. Once in about five 

 or six years, or sometimes not so often, a solitary 

 Trunk Turtle makes its appearance along the coast. 

 This is the Tesludo coriaria of the books, called 

 olherwise the Leathery Tortoise, weighing not un. 

 frerruentlv, eight hundred pounds, and gveji more..— 



nnmVcr of crabs found in the stomach, was Crab 

 Eater ; and the article was so well relished, a request 

 was made that I would, as soon as possible, procure 

 another Crab Eater, but it never has since been in my 

 power. 



Great Show of Nereids at Brooklyn. 

 During August, 1828, the tide-water in the bav 

 of New-York, was enlivened by visitors whom I ne- 

 ver saw before. They swam with remarkable agility 

 near the surface, in sinuous and curvilinear courses. 

 When my attention was first called to their sprightly 

 motions, I soon decided they were not fish ; and a 

 little further observation, satisfied me they were not 

 shrimps, nor any of the crustaceous tribe. Howev- 

 er, on catching some of them and subjecting them to 

 examination, they turned to be Nereids, about an 

 inch and a half long, and as they moved ihrough the 

 water, appearing ol' a faint redish colour. These 

 creatures, who made an exhibition novel to me, are 

 said to come only at distant and irregular times, and 

 that during the term of their continuance, tish in their 

 neighbourhood, who are prone to take the baited 

 hook, bite no more, by reason of having preferable 

 food enough to satisfy their appetites, So- the Clic 



