338 Jordan — Sharks' Teeth from California. 



Art. XXXII. — Some Sharks' Teeth from the California 

 Pliocene; by David Starr Jordan. 



To Mr. H. Maus Purple, general manager of the Tor- 

 rance Lime and Fertilizer Company of Los Angeles, I am 

 indebted for the opportunity to examine a number of 

 shark teeth of the man-eater type (Lamnidce), surprising 

 in the fact of their coming together in one place. These 

 teeth were found in deposits of bones and shells of Pleisto- 

 cene age, composing hills at Torrance and Lomita, 

 suburbs of Los Angeles, between the city and the ocean. 

 The shark teeth may be described in detail. 



1. Carcharodon braxneri Jordan. 



Two specimens — both of extraordinary size, as large as 

 the largest Car char odon megalodon of deposits along the 

 Atlantic. 



The largest of these has the crown three inches in 

 height, the oblique length of its distal margin six inches. 

 It is somewhat oblique, the interior more convex and rela- 

 tively vertical; tip rather blunt. Edges of the tooth 

 somewhat irregular with obsolete serrations — but no well- 

 defined serrations except near the base. 



A second specimen shows about half the tooth, split 

 lengthwise. It shows the long exterior margin about four 

 inches long, the crown 2% inches high. This like the 

 other is flat or a bit concave on the interior side, but the 

 sharp edge is obviously but very finely serrated, the ser- 

 rse blunt, 120 to 125 in number along the side. 



These teeth may be provisionally identified with Car- 

 char odon branneri described by me 1 from Bolinas Bay, 

 California. These specimens are larger than even this 

 giant species, and the serine much finer. The type of 

 Car char odon branneri may however have been a median 

 tooth of a smaller example, the teeth perhaps less worn. 



In the collection from Torrance, there is another large 

 tooth which corresponds almost exactly to Carcharodon 

 branneri. The crown is 2% inches high, the long margin 

 somewhat over three inches. The tooth is more erect 



1 The Fossil Fishes of California, Univ. of California, Publ., V. no. 7, 

 p. 116, 1907. 



