MONTHLY MAGAZINE. No. 146.] AUGUST 1, 1806. [1 of VOL. 22. The ufuul SUPPLEMENTARY NUMBER was published on the 25th of July, containing RETROSPECTS of ENGLISH, FRENCH, and GERMAN LITERATURE, INDEXES, &c. ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS For the Monthly Magazine. THE LONG-TAILED SHARK, OR THRESHER. (Squalus Vulpes of Linnæus.) 1805, the mackrel-fifhers near Chriftchurch were furprised, on hawling one of their nets, to find in it an animal fo large and powerful, that, till it was completely landed, they could not believe it to be any other than a porpeffe. It however proved to be a long-tailed fhark, which meatured in extreme length eleven feet and a half, and in its greatest girth, which was just before the dorsal fin, three feet and a half. It weighed very nearly two hundred pounds. The muzzle was fhort, and fomewhat pointed; and the mouth, which was by no means large, was fituated quite under the head. The teeth were fo fmall, that the largest of the whole fcarcely exceeded a quarter of an inch in length. They were triangular, and ranged in three rows in front of the upper, and in four rows in front of the lower, jaw. At the fides of the mouth, both above and below, there were only two rows. The lower teeth were much sharper than the others, and their points had an inclination towards the throat. The tongue was remarkably hard. The noftrils were fomewhat in the fhape of an Italic S: they were about half an inch afunder, fituated in front of the mouth, and about two inches from the eyes. The eyes were within four inches of the extremity of the muzzle. On each fide of the body, and fituated near the bafe of the pectoral fins, were the five branchise or breathing apertures. The fins were hard, car tilaginous, and fmooth. The firit dorfal fin was nearly equi-diftant betwixt the nofe and the origin of the tail. It was an amazingly firm and ftrong fin, of a triangular thape, and nearly equilateral: it flood perfectly upright, and could not be clofed upon the back like the dorfal fins of most other fish. The fecond dorMONTHLY MAG., No. 146. fal fin was fituated near the origin of the tail: it was very fmall, and fharp-pointed, but not spinous. The anal fin was fituated immediately under this, and was about the fame fize. The were almost united at their base, and they extended backward in a direction parallel to each other. The tail was extremely remarkable: its upper lobe had much the shape of a fabre, and was fix or feven times the length of the lower lobe. The former, in the individual that I am defcribing, was not more than two inches in depth, and one-third of an inch at the extremity. Its lower edge was thin, and every part of it had a furpri fing degree of ftrength, firmnefs, and elafticity. To the touch it was nearly as hard as the ftouteft leather, but it was much more elaftic. The fkin of the bo dy was very fmooth when the hand was paffed along it in a direction from the head to the tail; but when it was rubbed the contrary way, a flight degree of roughnefs was to be felt. The lateral line was ftraight, and extended from the head to within a little diftance of the end of the tail. All the upper parts of the body were of a cinereous blue colour, which, when the animal was first taken out of the water, had fome refemblance to the bloom on a fresh-gathered plum. The under parts were white, but fpotted here and there with patches of afl-colour. On prefling the body with the fingers, the fleth felt foft and elastic, almoft as if there had been blubber immediately beneath the skin. The above animal was one of three which had followed the fame fhoal of mackrel. It had been entangled in one of the mackrel-nets a few evenings before it was caught, but it broke its way through and efcaped. When it was the fecond time entangled, it did not ftruggle much till the net grounded; but it then beat about the water and fand in the molt violent manner imaginable. As A foor foon as the men were able to approach near enough, they Itunned it by beating it about the head with pieces of wood; but, in fpite of all their efforts, I faw it alive on the following morning, and the marks of their blows were not then vifible. There has not, in the memory of man, been seen on this coaft any fhark of the prefent fpecies fo large as this. Some years ago a few individuals were caught, but none of them were bigger than a tolerable-fized falmon. They generally follow the fhoals of mackrel and herrings, on which they chiefly feed, and among which they fometimes commit fuch havoc, as entirely to drive them away from the shores they had approached. The fishermen confequently hold them in great deteftation. The mouth and the teeth of the longtailed fhark are fo fmall, that I know not how to credit the general notion that it will frequently attack, overcome, and devour, that frong and active animal the grampus. Several feamen, however, at different times, have afferted to me that they have feen the two animals engaged in combat. If this is fact, there can be little doubt that the grampus has been the offender, and that the fhark has merely acted on the defenfive. It has certainly fufficient power to defend itself against the onset of a grampus, fince a ftroke of its tail must be very violent, and this is the weapon that it always employs against its foes. I have heard failors declare, that a blow from this weapon may fometimes be heard in a ftill and calm night to the distance of nearly a league. It has been generally faid that the long-tailed fhark is very unpleasant to approach on account of the fetid odour which iffues from its body. In the individual above-mentioned there was not, however, any unpleasant finell whatever. Even when the body was opened the smell was not more offenfive than what might be fuppofed to iffue from the opening of any large animal. The flesh was firm and white, and, as I was informed, by no means bad eating, The heart was triangular, and finall, The liver confifted of two unequal lobes, of which the longest was about two feet and a half in length: it appeared to contain a very confiderable quantity of oil. The fophagus was wide, and the ftomach fmall, but peculiarly mufcular. On the interior coat of the ftomach there were numerous small and whitish globules, 3 6 From the extremity of the muzzle ft.'inch. From the extremity of the muzzle From the extremity of the muzzle Length of the bafe of the first dorfal fin, Height of this fin, Length of the pectoral fins, From the point of the lower lobe perpendicularly to the upper part of the tail, 2 6 4 5 9 1 5 3 7 5 6 09 1 1 7 0 8 1 34 5 10 1 2 WM. BINGLEY. Christchurch, Hants, May 1, 1806. For the Monthly Magazine. PLAN of a MUSEUM for an INSTITUTION intended to diffuje a TASTE for SCIEN TIFIC INQUIRY. IT is fuppofed to be the intent of this Inftitution to lay before the public, at certain periods of the year, the rudiments of every branch of human knowledge; to invite to the purfuit of science, by pointing out whatever is most interesting, ufeful, or delightful; to clear the way of fcience, by marking the diftinction between doubtful terms and clear ideas, between experience and hypothe fis, between fact and inference. Sciences relating to mind, morals, or political concerns, do not require the exhibition of phyfical objects or of experiments; but the truths of phyfiology can not be adequately explained or demonftrated without fuch exhibitions. No defcription is adequate to convey complete ideas of many of the instru ments, proceffes, and productions of art. A repofitory of fuch machinery and products for exhibition is therefore requifite. in this Inftitution. A museum, every article of which is placed according to the oft approved method of fcientific arrangement, will comtantly lecture to the eye, will make indelible impreffions on the memory, will afford the readieft aid to the unlearned, will fuggeft new affociations to the most experienced. Such a collection need not contain every minute variety; it may fuffice to the purposes of initiation, to the excitement of inquiry, to exhibit the most remarkable objects of art, and fpecimens illuftrative of the claffes, orders, genera, and of the moft fingular fpecies of natural objects. The connecting points of different claffes of natural objects fhould be diftinctly exhibited; and remarkable anomalics fhould be found near thofe objects to which they bear the clofeft relation. I fhall fuppofe a feparate portion of the mufeum to be wholly confecrated to arts and experimental sciences. Models illuftrating the first principles of mechanics might be fucceeded by others reprefenting the most important machines in which thefe principles are applied. Next to machines which augment and multiply powers, might be exhibited fpecimens of architecture, civil, military, and maritime, and agricultural machinery. With inftruments which multiply and accelerate motion, certain products of manufactures. Machines for purposes of menfuration may be thofe ufed in geometrical operation, nautical obfervation, microscopical notation, &c. Near to each clafs of objects fhould be placed one or two tablets describing the arrangement of the objects, and referring to books at hand concifely explaining the peculiar properties of each. eg. TABLE I. MECHANICS, 1. Atwood's machine, exhibits the time in which bodies fall through different portions of pace. The pendulum marks the time,the graduated feale the distance, 2. Leavers of different kinds, 9. Pullies. in an upper apartment fitted up as an obfervatory. MAGNETISM, The finall portion of apparatus neceffary for this fubject, together with the much more extenfive machinery required for the illuftration of the phenomena of ELECTRICITY AND GALVANISM may probably be in the neighbourhood of preumatics, CHEMISTRY, 3. Of the Palmyrene. 4. Of the Grecian orders, from the finest remains in Greece or Italy. 5. Of the Latin orders. Tufcan, of which there are no antique remains, and Compolite, from the Baths of Diocletian. 6. Saxon, Norman, and Gothic. Tablets might refer to the models, and ftate the proportions. Cafts of a few of the fineft ftatues of antiquity, with fimilar tablets of reference, and pictures of feveral tchools, might be here exhibited, with a few fpecimens of the most remarkable gems and vafes. Every thing fhould be arranged with a view to inftruction, and calculated to excite rather than to fatiate curiofity. The apparatus contained in fuch preffes and apartments would of course be applicable to the use of lecturers in the feveral branches of fcience. A confiderable portion of fuch a mufeum must be dedicated to the dapartment of natural hiftory. An important place fhould be allotted to a judicious felection of the most interesting objects of COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. Thefe might be feparately exhibited, or placed in preffes in rooms dedicated to cach branch of zoology. PISCES. Order 1. Nantes. Gills and lungs. Rays of the fins cartilaginous. 2. Apodes. No ventral fins. S. Jugulares. Ventral fins placed before the pectoral ones. 4. Thoracici. Ventral fins under the thorax. 5. Abdominales. Ventral fins in the abdomen behind the thorax. Sixty-one genera. Heart one ventricle and one auricle: blood cold and red. They breathe by gills. CLASS |