328 



BASKING SHAHK. 



inches : first dorsal fm three feet : second one foot : 

 pectoral fms four feet : ventral two feet : upper 

 lobe of the tail five feet ; lower three. Great num- 

 bers of this species of Shark were observed to visit 

 the bays of Caernarvonshire and Anglesea in the 

 summers of 17 56, and a few succeeding years; 

 continuing there only during the hot months, and 

 quitting the coast about Michaelmas. They ap- 

 pear in the Firth of Clyde, and among the Hebrides 

 in the month of June, in small shoals of seven or 

 eight, but more frequently in pairs; and depart 

 again in July. They had nothing (says Mr. 

 Pennant), of the fierce and voracious nature of 

 other Sharks, and were so tame as to suffer them- 

 selves to be stroked : they generally lay motionless 

 on the surface, commonly on their bellies, but 

 sometimes, like tired swimmers, on their backs : 

 their food seemed to consist entirely of sea-plants, 

 no remains of fish being ever discovered in the 

 stomachs of numbers that were cut up, but the 

 half digested parts of Algae, &c. Linn.neus says 

 they feed on Medusje. At certain times they were 

 seen sporting on the waves, and leaping with vast 

 agility several feet out of the water. They swam 

 very deliberately, with the dorsal fms above the 

 water : their length was from three to twelve yards 

 or more : their form slender, like others of the 

 Shark kind : the upper jaw was much longer than 

 the lower, and blunt at the end : the mouth placed 

 beneath, and each jaw furnished with numbers of 

 small teeth: those before were much bent, those 

 more remote in the jaw were conic and sharp- 



