26 BROOKLYN MUSEUM SCIENCE BULLETIN 3. I. 
"The subject of shark bites was also agitated in I-'onst and Sfrcani 
about 1896. 
" These various discussions did eHcit a number of well authenticated 
instances of attacks, resulting in death, from sharks in troi>ical waters, 
where the real "man-eating" white shark, Can/iawdon, is found. But 
remember that sharks of this species, which reach a length of fort\- feet 
and are armed with teeth an inch and a quarter to an inch and a half in 
length, are far different creatures from the average shark seen or taken 
along our coasts. 
" Coi)ies of some of the.se communications are ai)i)ended to this 
chapter, in order that the reader may form his own ojiinion of them. 
" The writer of the.se lines, in his lK)>hood, sjjcnt four years at .sea, 
but he never met a man who had been attacked by a shark nor even one 
who knew of an in.stance of the kind having happened. Not that such 
attacks do not occur, es])ecially under favorable circum.stances, such as 
tho.se noted later where sharks were attracted b_\' the .scent of blood or 
offal and accustomed to feeding on whatever the\' found. 
"One of the commonest .statements is that "the shark l)it off the 
man's leg as though it were a carrot," an assertion that shows that the 
maker or writer of it had little idea of the .strength of the a])paratus 
needed to ]ierform such an amputation. Certainl\- no shark recorded as 
having been taken in the.se waters could ]:)ossibh' i)erform such an act, 
though this might occur if a shark thirty feet or more in length hai)i)ened 
to catch a man fairly on the knee joint where no .severing of the bone was 
necessary. The next time the reader carves a leg of lamb, let him 
speculate on the power required to .sever this at one stroke— and the bones 
of a sheej) are much lighter than tho.se of a man. Moreover, a shark, 
popular belief to the contrary notwithstanding, is not ]mrticularly .strong 
in the jaws: under "blue shark" Mr. Murphy notes the difhculty of 
sharks in tearing meat from the carcass of a whale, and I remember m\- 
own disa])i)ointment at witne.ssing the efforts of a twelve-foot shark to cut 
a chunk out of a .sea lion. The .sea lion had been dead a week and was 
su])])0.sedl\- tender, but the shark tugged and thrashed and made a great 
to-do over each mouthful. 
"But it is the part of wi.sdom to keep awa\- from ])oth ends of a 
captured shark, for a blow of the tail is almost as l)ad as a l)ite. 
"Some of the su])joined notes appeared in the Xcw )oik TiniiS and 
some were received as i)er.sona] letters. 
