BASKING SHARK. 



observed to approach the shores, in order to de- 

 posit their young in the most favourable situations : 

 these are discharged, to the number of two or three 

 at a time, still adhering to the capsule in which they 

 had been before inclosed, and are excluded before 

 the young animal has had time to break from it : the 

 length of the newly-hatched Shark does not exceed 

 that of a few inches. 



I must not conclude the present article w ithout 

 giving the reader the Count de Cepede^s explanation 

 of the French name Requin, by which this species 

 is known. The word, according to this author, 

 is a corruption of requiem, " Requin est, en effet, 

 un corruption de requiem^ qui designe depuis long- 

 tems, en Europe, la mort et le repos eternel." 



BASKING SHARK. 



Squalus Maximus. S. plumheo-fuscus, svbtus albicanSj dentihus 

 porvulis conico-subidatis mmierosissimis. 



Leaden-Brown Shark, whitish beneath, with small- conic- subu- 

 late very numerous teeth. 



Squalus maximus. S. clentibus conicis, pinna dorsali anterior e 

 majore. Lin, Syst. Nat. 



Basking Shark. Fenn. Brit. Zool. 



Th;is is a very large species, scarcely, if at all, 

 inferior in size to the white Shark ; its length, ac- 

 cording to Mr. Pennant, being from three to tw^elve 

 yards, and even sometimes more. The measure- 

 ments of one observed by that author on the shore 

 of Loch Ranza in the Isle of Arran were as follow : 

 viz. The w^hole length twenty-seven feet, four 



