10 



FISH GALLERY. 



Bays. On the floor within the same railing are specimens of an 



Electric Ray, Torpedo hebetans, 1080, caught in the Menai Straits, 

 North Wales, and a large Hay, Rata marginata, 1079, caught in 

 Walfish Bay, South-west Africa. 



Hanging from the roof in the middle of the Gallery are two 

 other large Rays, both from Muscat, in Arabia — an Eagle-Ray, 

 Aetobatis narinari, and a Devil-Ray, Dicerobatis eregoodoo, a 

 fish which grows to 15 feet in width, and is distinguished by 

 the paired projection (head-fins) in front of the mouth. 



Beyond these Rays, also hanging from the roof, is a Whale 

 Shark, Rhinodon typicus, the largest of all Sharks, growing to 

 50 or 60 feet in length ; the specimen shown is not more than 

 half the full size. The Whale Shark occurs mostly in the Indian 

 and Pacific Oceans and has been caught off Florida and the Cape 

 of Good Hope. Like the Basking Shark the Whale Shark is a 

 slow-moving, apathetic fish, harmless to man, and often found 

 basking or sleeping at the surface of the sea. The mouth and 

 nasal openings are near the extremity of the broad, fiat snout. 

 The dorsal fin is much farther back than is that of the Basking 

 Shark, and the gill-slits are not so large. The teeth are extremely 

 small for so large an animal (see specimen 53 in Wall-case 1), and 

 are closely set in regular rows in the form of a ribbon. The 

 Whale Shark feeds on the minute semitransparent crustaceans 

 and molluscs that abound at the surface of the sea, and to a 

 certain extent also on sea-weed. 



Hanging from the roof at the North end of the Gallery is 

 a large specimen of the Sun-fish, Orthagoriscus mola, from 

 Australia, and hanging near it is a smaller specimen of the same 

 species caught off Dungeness in Kent (see fig. 3). 

 Side-rails. Running the whole length of the Gallery are two side-rails 

 suspended from the roof by chains. Hanging from these rads 

 are, besides the Sun- fish just mentioned, a Sturgeon* (opposite 

 Wall-cases 6 and 7), 10 feet 4 inches long, caught off the Dogger 



* For information concerning the structure and habits of these suspended 

 fishes the visitor is referred to the accounts given in the description of the- 

 Systematic Series of Fishes exhibited in the Wall-cases. 



