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GjANTS OF THE DEEP SEA Whale Shark Largest of All Harmless Unless Attacked. Tliexe Creatnrcs Sometimes Attain Length of Seventy Feet Dreaded "3Iah-Eaters. As the "open season for sharks approaches. South American liners arriving in New York report "the sighting of these sea monsters, a fact which lends interest to the following communication to the National Geographical Society by Dr. Hugh M. Smith, a world famous authority on fish: "AVhcn giant fishes are mentioned most people will at once think of the shark, among which indeed are found the largest fish now existing." writes Dr. Smith. "Of the many species of sharks noteworthy on account of their size, there are about half a dozen which are pte-eminent. These differ much in their disposition, some being as harmless as doves and others the incarnation of ferocity. "The sleeper shark Somniosus microcephalus. whose scientific name fits it so admirably, appears to have developed its body at the expense of its brain, for it is a sluggish, stupid glutton, about six times as long as an average man. At home in the Arctic regions it sometimes makes visits as far south as Cape Cod, the British Isles and Oregon. It is most often observed lying quietly on the surface apparently dozing and easily approached, but at" times, when hungry, it rouses itself and fiercely attacks whales, biting huge pieces out of ;"tlieir sides and tails, and when feeding oh the carcass of a whale which has been killed by hunters, it is so voracious that it permits spears and knives to be thrust into it without seeming to take any notice. TEETH THREE INCHES X0NG. "One of the most prodigious and perhaps the most formidable of sharks is the man-cater Car-cbaradon carcharias. It roains through nil temperate and tropical seas and everywhere is an object of dread. Its maximum length is forty feet and its teeth are three inches lon. While there are few authentic instances of sharks attacking human beings prior to the tecent tragedies, flieVe undoubtedly have been many cases where sharks simply swallowed persons who had fallen overboard just -as they would swallow any other food. "How easy it would be for a man-eater to devour a persons whole may be jifllged from the Hading of an entire 100-pound sea lion in the- stomacli of a thirty-foot shark on the California coast. A certain man-eater thirty-six and a half feet long had jaws twenty inches wide, inside measure, and teetii two and a half inches long. This may have been the great fish of the Scripture narrative, and it is possible that Tit that time much larger man-eaters existed than are how known, as shark teeth with cutting edges fire inches long have been found on the sea bottom, and these are believed by naturalists to have belonged to sharks .not long dead. "The phosphate beds of South Carolina yield large : fossil teeth of a shark Which was related to the man-eater of the present day, judging from the comparative size of these teeth. Professor Gpodc thought that sharks seventy or eighty feet long must have been common. THE BASKING SHARK. "Many years ago a Norwegian bishop in a learned paper brought to the attention of the scientific .and theological worlds a shark which he attempted to prove must have been the great fish that swallowed Jonah. This was the basking shark Cc-toihinus maximus, known also as the elephant or bone shark, which is an inhabitant of the. Polar seas, but occasionally strays as far south as Virginia and California, and. in. former years was not Tare, on the United States and Britis.h, coasts. The species lias" the habit at times "of toiiectIngI"n" schools at the: surface and basking in the sun with Its back partly out of water, It reaches a .maximum length of fifty feet and is exceeded in size by only three or four animals extant. "Provided with small teeth, it feeds on fishes and floating crustaceans, and is not of a ferocious disposition.- It is dangerous only by virtue of Its great bulk and when attacked its powerful tall easily demolishes boats. In former years the basking shark was hunted for its oil on the coast- of Norway arid Ireland; it was also harpooned on the shore of Massachusetts in the. early part of. the last century, and as many as twelve barrels of oil were sometimes obtained from the liver of one shark. "There are many records of basking sharks twenty-five to thirty-eight feet long from the coast of New York, Massachusetts and Maine, hut the species lias not been common iu our waters iu recent years. WHALE SHARK THE LARGEST FISH. "The largest of all fishes, the largest of all cold-blooded animals and, the largest of all existing animals, with the exception of n few species of whales, is the whale shark Rhineodon typicus, originally described; from Good Hope, but now known from India, Japan, South America, Panama, California, and various other places, a smali specimen having been obtained on the Florida coast a few years ago. "This shark has a very broad and obtuse snout and an exceedingly wide mouth, armed with numerous, minute teeth; the dark colored body is marked with niany small whitish spots. The -species is stated to attain a length cf seventy feet, and is known to exceed fifty feet. Notwithstanding its immense size, however, it is harmless to man unless attacked, and feeds on the small creatures for which its teeth are adapted. Its huge bulj riiakes it dangerous in the same way that a whale is dangerous. "Years ago it was reported that the sperm whale fishermen at the island of St. Denis, in the Indian Ocean, dreaded to harpoon a whale shark by mistake, and st6ries are told of a harpooned fish, having by a lightning-like dive exhausted the supplyT of rope which had been accidentally fastened to the boat, dived deeper still, and so pulled a pirogue and crew to the bottom. "
