Smithsonian miscellaneous collections . naanalis alteri pinnae dorsalis pccne opposita. Rhincodon typus, mihi. Supra viridi-griseus maculis et lineis albis numerosis; subtus rubroalbusad rubrum transiens; dorso ante anteriorem suam pinnam carinato, post ro-tundato, deinde piano. Colour of back and sides greenish gray, with numerous white spots, vary-ing in size from that of a sixpence to a halfpenny; also several white lineson the sides of the head, body and about the branchiae; below reddish white,passing into vermillion red, anterior part of back carinated, posterior roundedor flat. Length o
Smithsonian miscellaneous collections . naanalis alteri pinnae dorsalis pccne opposita. Rhincodon typus, mihi. Supra viridi-griseus maculis et lineis albis numerosis; subtus rubroalbusad rubrum transiens; dorso ante anteriorem suam pinnam carinato, post ro-tundato, deinde piano. Colour of back and sides greenish gray, with numerous white spots, vary-ing in size from that of a sixpence to a halfpenny; also several white lineson the sides of the head, body and about the branchiae; below reddish white,passing into vermillion red, anterior part of back carinated, posterior roundedor flat. Length of the specimen from which the description was taken, fifteenfeet; greatest circumference, nine feet. Was caught by fishermen in TableBay, during the month of April, 1828, and the skin was purchased for £6sterling, and forwarded to the Paris Museum. There followed considerable confusion in the name of Dr. Smithsnew genus. He evidently first intended to use the name Rhincodon Fig. 17 ??—Harpoonused in capture ofshark at 2E-^^J HISTORY OF THE WHALE SHARK I4I and the name as printed, Rhincodon, was probably a mistake of theprinter, so that we deem it best to now use the name finally adoptedby Dr. Smith in his illustrations of the Zoology of South Africa,wherein a figure of the species is given, plate 26, published in March,1845, ^d a description published in the following October. In hisaccount of the distribution of vertebrate animals, C. L. Bonaparte in1832 listed the name Rhincodon (p. 121). Muller and Henle in1838 used the name Rineodon, and in the same year (1838-1839)William Swainson refers to this fish under the name Rineodon,(i, p. 142), Rhineodon, (11, p. 191), and Rhiniodon (11, p. 317).Swainson seemed to be under the impression that at least two differ-ent sharks were in question, or else he was careless in the construc-tion of his artificial keys. In two places he refers to the small spir-acles (11, pp. 191, 317), while in another key he says spiracleswan
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