70 AUSTRALIAN ZOOLOGY, 
excellent eating. The laying bird carefully effaces any mark she 
may have made in scooping out a place for the eggs, but the keen 
eye of a native quickly detects the slightest sign of recent dis- 
turbance of the mound, and he seldom fails to hit upon the eggs. 
Weirr Pointer on Waite SHARK—Carcharodon rondeletii, 
Description.—This gigantic shark is by far the largest and most 
formidable of those approaching the Australian coast. Its length is 
from 15 to 16 feet, this is the measurement of some specimens caught 
in Port Phillip Bay. It is the same as the terrible White Shark, 
sometimes found on the English coasts, and more common in the 
West Indies. Its form is elongate and fusiform; the snout is sub- 
triangular and rounded atthe point. The nostrils are large and 
midway between the tip of the snout and the mouth, rather nearer 
to the eye. It has two spiracles, that is minute pores, one on each 
side, level with the general surface, a little below the eye and 
behind the mouth. The gill-openings are very large. The first 
dorsal fin is over the space between the pectoral and ventral fins; 
the second dorsal fin and the anal fin are nearly equal; both are 
very small; they are almost opposite, the anal fin being a little 
nearer the tail. There are five fins on the under-surface, two 
pectoral, which are very large, and two ventral—these are in pairs ; 
also the anal fin, referred to above. There is a strong keel on each 
side of the tail; the caudal is large and crescentic, the lower lobe 
being pointed like the upper lobe and almost equally large. The 
teeth are very large, broad and triangular, with a thin-edged hollow 
base ; they are coarsely serrated on the sides. The teeth are dis- 
posed in several rows, one posterior to the other, slightly movable 
and inclined backwards. By this arrangement the prey, when once 
seized, is effectually prevented from escaping without severe 
laceration. The body of a man killed, while bathing in the Parra- 
matta River, was fearfully torn. The teeth vary in length from 
one inch to one anda half inches. ‘The colour of its skin is ashy 
brownish-grey above, but paler below. 
Habits.—At sea and in the harbours, in company with a shark, 
it is usual to find a faithful attendant, the pilot-fish (Naucrates 
ductor). If several sharks swim together, the pilot-fishes are 
generally absent: whereas on a solitary shark being seen, it is 
equally rare to find it unaccompanied by one or more of these 
reputed guides. It never injures its faithful companion. The 
shark’s fearful armature of the mouth, which has rows of great tri- 
angular serrated teeth, renders any wound fatal. The serratures of 
the teeth are about ten in half-an-inch, they are closer near the point 
and slightly irregular. The size of the fish, even in Australian 
waters, is often so great that a man could be swallowed whole with 
ease, as Captain King mentions in his ‘ Survey of Australia.” 
Bluembach, the famous anatomist, who was a perfectly trustworthy 
authority, mentions a whole horse being found in one of this species, 
This of all sharks is the most dreaded by sailors, on account of its 
