20 BROOKLYN" MlSKl'M SCIKNCE BULLKTIX 3. I. 
South t)f Montauk Pt)int on August S, 191 3. the junior writer, with 
Mr. Francis Harper of the Brooklyn Museum and Mr. W'iUiam Parsons Jr. 
of Montauk, met a hammerhead about five feet in length which cleverly 
e.scaped cai)ture. It cros.sed the bows of our launch, swinnning lazily at 
the surface with its donsal fin expo.sed, swishing its long tail slowly but 
very limberly. A swordfish harpoon was made ready, and after a few 
moments we followed u]) the shark, which had not gone far. As we 
approached .softly at half-speed, Mr. Harper ]irepared to .strike it from 
the bowsprit, but while the iroa was poised the hammerhead dodged 
quickly, dived below with an agilitx' which contra.sted sharply with its 
former sluggishne.ss, and came np a.stern. Thereafter it swam in small 
circles for a while so that we could not overtake it, finally diving and 
disappearing altogether. 
The food of the hammerhead shark is known to include squids, 
barnacles, and crabs, besides menhaden and other fishes. There is a 
record of an eleven-foot example, taken in a net at Riverhead in the >ear 
1805, the stomach of which contained man\- detached parts of a man, 
together with his clothing. 
12. THRESHER SHARK; SWTNGLETAH. 
Alopias vu/pcs ( Gmelin ) 
Jordan and E verm an n, p. 45. 
]'iilpecula Diaiina. Garman, p. 130. 
First dorsal fin large, situated opposite the space between the pectoral and ven- 
tral fins. Second dorsal and anal fins very small. Caudal fin reniarkablv long, about 
as long as the head and body. Snout rather short. Color blackish above, pale lielow. 
Length 15 feet. 
The thresher is a warm-water species, conunon to both the Atlantic 
and the Pacific coasts of America, and on our seaboard ranging northward 
in stimmer to Maine. Around Block Island it is .said to be the conunon 
