. Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand . be regretted that sofine a specimen was not preserved in some way and placed inone of our museums. The following account of the fish, and of its capture, wasgiven me by Mr. W. J. Fox :— On the 12th December, 1889, as I was working on thelarge crane on the breakwater, I observed what I took to bethe fin of a large shark appearing above the water about aquarter of a mile east of the breakwater. I at once went,with a companion, in a boat to the spot, taking some dyna-mite with us; but the creature had disappeared. After awhile we discovered it
. Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand . be regretted that sofine a specimen was not preserved in some way and placed inone of our museums. The following account of the fish, and of its capture, wasgiven me by Mr. W. J. Fox :— On the 12th December, 1889, as I was working on thelarge crane on the breakwater, I observed what I took to bethe fin of a large shark appearing above the water about aquarter of a mile east of the breakwater. I at once went,with a companion, in a boat to the spot, taking some dyna-mite with us; but the creature had disappeared. After awhile we discovered it lying on the bottom, on its side, inabout 10ft. of water, and I thought it might be a calf dropped a charge of dynamite down to it, which, when itexploded, must have stunned it, and turned it over. Wethen returned to the breakwater to fetch a boat-hook. Afterthe explosion of another charge of dynamite the fish came tothe surface, and lay with one side of its head out of the water. Iratmijittm* ^atu fbahmfr $mtiint$t Vol. xxv., PL Orthagoriscus mola Smith.—Notes on Neiv Zealand Earthworms. Ill We then laid a dynamite cartridge on the head, with a shortfuse attached, the explosion of which effectually stunned then we were able to get a rope round it and to tow it tothe breakwater. Our rope not being strong enough to lift it by,we used the chain sling and the grab of the Hercules. Judg-ing from the power it required to lift it, the engineer reckonedthat the weight must have been about 3-J- tons. The lengthfrom head to tail was 9ft., and the measurement from tip totip of the upper and lower fins was lift. 6in. When the fishwas brought out of the water, the body was found to be coveredwith small red insects, like what are commonly known as whale-feed. We tried to skin it, but did not succeed, as it seemedimpossible to separate the skin from the flesh, which was likea mass of white indiarubber. The eye looked small, onlyabout 2in. in diameter; but when it
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