NOTES AND QUERIES. 397 



supposed shade of colour, length of body, or height and shape of fins. 

 Moreover, it should be borne in mind that some twenty years ago, or 

 over, there was a profitable Basking Shark fishery off the north-west 

 coast of Ireland, which, however, dwindled away as the price of liver 

 oil declined. It is said the Sharks approached the Irish coast from 

 the Atlantic in spring, by midsummer and in autumn sheering off by 

 way of the North of Ireland, passing round Scotland to the Norwegian 

 area. This would tally with an occasional odd and big one appearing 

 in the neighbourhood of the Minch, ergo the Loch Broom specimen. 

 I may refer you to the latest account of the facts of the case in Green 

 and Holt's " Cruise of the ' Harlequin ' " in ' Report to Council, Royal 

 Dublin Society,' 1892, pp. 39 and 301. — J. Mukie (Leigh-on-Sea, 

 Essex). 



Quite a number of communications have reached me, to which I 

 have replied privately, including sketches of the back fins, &c, of the 

 animals, and including two accounts of the Loch Broom appearance. 

 I have not, however, seen the account sent to the daily papers, as Mr. 

 Workman had (he does not quote the reference). The first communica- 

 tion about the animal seen at Loch Broom, between the Priest Island 

 and GlasleagBeg (not Glostloch Beg as printed), was from Mr. Mackenzie 

 Catton, with a drawing, done from memory. The next in reply to 

 inquiry was from Mr. Henderson, Ullapool, — Mr. Workman's corre- 

 spondent — with a drawing, in all respects similar to that supplied by 

 you to Mr. Southwell (ante, p. 356), and labelled " Basking Shark " 

 by Mr. Henderson. I replied to that, that I was inclined to agree 

 with Mr. Henderson in his identification ; but I did not quite appre- 

 ciate the pointed appearance given to the larger fin. I then had a 

 letter and a drawing of a "sea monster" from Her Grace the Duchess 

 of Bedford, which was much truer to the outline of the truncated back 

 fin of the Basking Shark, as viewed by her from the deck of her yacht 

 (in litt. Sept. 9th, 1906); and she distinctly says, "the stick-like 

 upper part and sudden widening, and that it was not the usual pointed 

 fin." I recognized this as belonging to the Basking Shark, and wrote 

 to Her Grace to that effect. Then followed a journal of Mr. J. Pedder's 

 sojourn in the West in July, August, and September, 1906, with report 

 of similar appearance, and a sketch taken on the spot ; i. e. from the 

 deck of the yacht he was on board of. Mr. Pedder is an artist (and, 

 you may be aware, illustrated the ninth volume of our Faunal Series 

 (* A Vert-Fauna of North-west Highlands and Skye,' 1904). Shortly 

 afterwards Mr. Pedder paid me a visit (Sept. 14th-15th, 1906), and I 

 told him his sketch and description clearly authenticated the fact that 



