294 J.D. OGILBY AND A. R. McCULLOCH. 
STEGOSTOMA, Miller and Henle. 
Stegostoma, Miller and Henle, Arch. f. Vat., 1837, i, p. 395, 
(fasciatum = tigrinum),; id., Plagiost., p. 24, 1841 ; Cantor, 
Journ. As. Soc., Bengal, xviii., 1849, p. 1378 ; Giinther, Brit. 
Mus. Cat. Fish., viii, 1870, p. 409; Regan, Proc. Zool. Soc., 
1908, ii, p, 363. 
Body moderately robust, rapidly decreasing posteriorly, 
the tail very long, slender, and strongly compressed, not 
elevated distally above the axial plane. Scales minute, 
tricarinate, the middle carina terminating in a strong, 
acute point; scales of the mental region much larger, 
smooth, and ovate; lateral line inconspicuous. Head short, 
wide, and depressed, with moderate, broadly rounded snout. 
Nasal valves confluent, folded anteriorly, forming a narrow 
flap on the angle of the upper lip, and with a short, free, 
median cirrus. Mouth inferior, transverse, rather small, 
a little nearer to the tip of the snout than to the eye, with 
short, deep, labial grooves round the angle. Teeth similar 
in both jaws, arranged in many series, small and tricuspid, 
occupying a pair of transverse, subquadrangular cushions. 
HKyes very small; spiracle large, vertical, close behind the 
eye. Anterior gill-slits wider than the posterior; four 
above the pectoral. Tail more than twice as long as the 
head and trunk. First dorsal fin inserted for the most 
part opposite to the ventrals, larger than the second; anal 
fin inserted wholly behind the second dorsal, rather low, 
close to and overlapping the caudal, which is exceedingly 
long; (c7eyos, a roof or covering; o76va, mouth; in allusion 
to the wide overhanging upper lip, which conceals the 
mouth). 
Ground sharks of large size from the Indian and Western 
Pacific Oceans, not entering rivers. Monotypic. 
a 
