l6 BROOKLYN MUSEIM SCIENXE BULLKTIN 3. I- 
For most of our local data concerning the brown shark we are in- 
debted to Mr. Edwin Thorne of Babylon, whom the senior writer has 
accompanied on shark hunts. In conducting this form of fishing, one 
man .stands on the bows])rit of a sloop, holding a long pole with 
a metal dart fitted loo.sely on its lower end. and attached by a coil of 
ro])e to a bucket. A .second man. aloft, keeps a keen lookout for sharks, 
which may be seen from that height at some distance through the water, 
and instructs the third man at the helm exactl>' how to steer. Now the 
lookout sees a shark moving along the edge of the bar! With care and 
patience he works the sloop towards it. avoiding the shoals where she 
would go aground, and following the winding course of the .shark. The 
man with the hari)oon. who until now has only heard the orders from 
aloft to the helmsman, steadies himself as the sloop swings from one tack 
to the other, and with straining eyes finally begins to see an ehisive 
shadow moving a couple of boat lengths ahead. At any moment it ma\- 
turn and shoot under the bowsprit giving him a fraction of an instant to 
■Strike, or the sloop may creep up till he can laiuich the harpoon forward 
and downward upon the fish, only to see the iron graze its side and the 
pole stand quivering in the sand, while the shark darts awa}- into deep 
water and is gone. All within the thrill of a moment, if skill and luck 
favor, the dart strikes home, and away goes the shark, spinning out the 
coil of roj^e and carrying the tub o\-er the water with a rush I 
The brown sharks taken b>' Mr. Tlmnie have been niostlx" females, 
and have averaged between five and seven and a half feet in total length, 
most of them being over six and a half. The xoung are usuall\- fri)m 
eight to fourteen in number, about equallx" males and females. Fish con- 
taining voung have been recorded from Jtuie 22 to July 18. As there 
is more or less confusion of the clo.sely allied species of the genus Car- 
rharlunus inhabiting the eastern coast of the I'nited States, careful 
measurements in feet and inches of two s]>ecimens of the brown shark 
from Great South Ba\- ma}- be of use : 
I II 
Total length 6' 10" 6' 6" 
Lens^h of head and body 5' 4" 
Distance of back fin from .snout 2' 2" i' 1044" 
Distance of back fin from tail 2' 4'2" 2' \^" 
Ori^nn to apex of back fin i' i '4 " '' i" 
Vertical heij^ht of back fin 11" '^H" 
Length of tail i' 9" i' <^%" 
Length of breast fin i' 4'2" i' ^" 
Distance of breast fin from snout 1' S3^ " 
Distance of ventral fins from snout 3' 9" 3' 5'^'' 
Circumference at root of tail \o" ^Vz" 
Circumference at front of back fin 3' 3" 2' \\%" 
Circumference at eye j' lo^i'" i' 9'' 
Di.stance from eye to snout ~" ^M" 
Di.stance from mouth to snout T)Yz" b%" 
