790 



SCIENCE. 



[X. S. Vol. XXI. Xo. 542. 



circumarea. To express the submerged zona- 

 tion on the sea coast, the English word shelf 

 can be used. This is authorized by every- 

 day speech, for we refer to a shelf of rock, 

 a continental shelf, or a shelving beach. To 

 speak of the marine shelves, i. e., the Fucus 

 shelf, the Laminaria shelf, would be to use 

 the word with exactness. For the zonation 

 of a beach, strand, river shore or prairie 

 edge, the writer suggests the word strip. We 

 should then speak of the shrubby strip, the 

 grassy strip, the forest strip, etc. The idea 

 of zonation on a river island, where the vege- 

 tation of a particular band runs completely 

 around the island, and not continued length- 

 wise, as the word strip implies, the term 

 girdle could be used. For forest zonation, 

 where it is vertical, the term layer (stratum), 

 or story ought to be accepted. 



These terms are proposed because it seems 

 to the writer that as the time approaches 

 for the convocation of the Botanical Con- 

 gress at Vienna in June, a full ventilation 

 of nomenclatorial views should be made, not 

 only for discussion, but also as suggestions to 

 those who will take part in the deliberations 

 of the congress. 



John W. Harshberger. 



Uni\"ersity of Pen?<sylvaxia. 



SPECIAL ARTICLES. 

 on the habits of the great whale shark 

 (rhineodon typus). 

 One of the most interesting of fishes and by 

 far the largest of all is the Rhineodon typus 

 (better known by the later name Rhinodon 

 typicus). This has received the quasi-ver- 

 nacular name whale shark, although, under 

 the native Indian name (Mhor) it has been 

 the object of a regular fishery for a long time 

 along the northwestern coast of India (Sind). 

 One might naturally suppose that the animal 

 was so rare that nothing was known of its 

 range or habits if the most recent works, 

 popular as well as scientific, were consulted, 

 but really, scattered through various volumes, 

 many data may be found. A gentleman de- 

 sirous of learning the history of the fish was 

 unable to find data I informed him about, 



even after I had told him in what periodicals 

 they were published. I, therefore, found them 

 for him, and the difficulty that had been ex- 

 perienced by him, and may be by others, leads 

 me to summarize the information that may 

 be gleaned. 



The species was first named Rhineodon* 

 typus by Dr. Andrew Smith in 1829, in the 

 Zoological Journal, and the genus was adopted 

 by Bonaparte in 1832 in the Oiornale arcadico 

 di Scienze, etc. (vol. 52). The numerous sub- 

 sequent modifications of the name and notices 

 of the species do not demand consideration in 

 this place. 



In 1850 an article, ' On Shark Fishing at 

 Kurrachee ' was communicated by George 

 Buist to the Proceedings of the Zoological 

 Society (pp. 100-102) and in it is an unmis- 

 takable reference to the whale shark, but 

 which has been overlooked and not identified 

 by Indian or other zoologists. From this and 

 other recent sources the following account is 

 compiled. 



The greatest — the most gigantic — of the 

 sharks is one not uncommon in the Indian 

 Ocean, but which, on account of its huge size, 

 is represented by remains in very few mu- 

 seums and is little known. It is the Rhine- 

 odon typus, the type not only of the genus 

 Rhineodon, but of an independent family — 

 Ehineodontids ; the not inappropriate name 

 whale shark has been coined for it. 



The whale shark is a huge animal occa- 

 sionally, it is said, attaining to a length of 

 sixty feet, although the average size is much 

 less; it may be considered a pelagic species, 

 not willingly often approaching land. It is a 

 slow, apathetic animal, mostly living near the 

 surface of the ocean and often resting, idly 

 floating along and supposed to be ' sleeping.' 



Its gigantic size is in inverse ratio to its 

 food. Unlike the giant Carcharodon or man- 

 eater, it has extremely small teeth and its food 

 consists of very minute animals. Its teeth, 

 indeed, are quite similar (in a general way) 



* The generic name was misprinted Rhineodon 

 — evidently a typographical error. 



