Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-07-07

their habits.
Artillery practice at Sandy Hook and that
| Of the navy in Southern waters are held
| to have frightened many of the smaller
| fish from their homes in those regions.
| These lesser fish are the ordinary food of
| the shark family, and, deprived to great
| extent OF their favorite meal, the sharks
| may be farlng forth into new and strange
fishing grounds, even venturing to the bath
| ing grounds, which they generally avoid
/ through their native cowardlce.
AT the Academy of Natural Sciences 10th
and Race streets today there was given for
| a perusal recent paper on THE Sharks"
by John T. Nichols and Robert C. Murphy.
| issued by the Brooklyn Museum. Botn
| these authorities, we'll as Dr. Frederick
A. Lucus, director of the American Museum
Of Natural History, New York, who has
appended bulletin to the collaborated
paper, are disposed to consider lightly the
possibility of 40-feet sharks In New Jersey
waters,
Doctor Lucas says: "A question frequent
ly asked is. What Is the danger Of being
attacked by a shark about here?' and tho
answer Is that 1t is frequently less than that
Of being struck by lightning.
True, not q summer passed without
some maneater' being taken along the New
Jersey or Long Island coast, and some
times the monster reaches n length of so
much as eight feet. but these 'maneaters
usually ItSOlNe themselves INTO harmless,
If ugly-looking sand sharks
WHEN SHARKS BITE.
Sharks belonging to the two really
dangerous species, the white shark and the
blue shark, are occasionally taken Off our
coasts but so far as 1 am aware. there is
no record OF any fully grown individual
ever having been taken within hundreds of
miles of New York. Cases of shark-blt
do now and then occur. but there Is a great
difference between being attacked by n
shark and being bitten by one and the
cases of shark-bite are usually found to
have been due to some one incautiouIy ap-
preaching a shark impounded or tangled In
a net or hasping on the shore. And, under
such circumstances, almost any creature
will bite"
A few years ago Herman Oerichs,
through the New York SUM- offered $500
for an authenticated case OF a man having
been attacked by n shark in temperate
waters The lack of response indicated
that virtually there is no danger from
these fauna, according to r. Lucas, who
continues: zone of the commonest state.
ments Is that the shark bit off the mans
leg as though II were n carrot an assertion
that shows that the maker or writer of 1t
had little idea of the strength of the
apparatus needed to perform such an
amputation.
Certainly no shark recorded as having
been taken In these waters could possibly
perform such an act, though this might
occur II shark, 80 feet or more in length.
happened 10 catch a man fairly on the knee
joint where no severing of the bone was
necessary"
MANEATERS' STRENGTH
Contrary TO general belief, the shark is
not strong in the jaws. Doctor Lucas tells
of having witnessed the efforts of a 12-foot
shark to cut a chunk out or u sea lion, dead
for week and supposedly tender, but
the shark tugged ana thrashed and made a
great-to-do over each mouthful.
Sharks were among the very earliest of
fishes TO be found on the earth. The true
sharks. among which are the dangerous
kind. have nasal apparatus we'll developed
Sharks are more dependent smell in
finding their food than most fishes" assert
Doctors Nichols and Murphy. "As a rule
they are rather sluggish, but capable OF at
tanning great speed when excited. Most of
them have a formidable array OF teeth and
eat living food, yet are ready to turn to the
humble role of scavenger Few authenti-
Gated cases exist OF their attacking a living
man in the water.
Undoubtedly, the true man-eater shark
which is the largest species or the mackerel
sharks. a group containing the most active,
most voracious and swiftest forms, would
not hesitate TO do so but since this is
everywhere rare FISH, II is a popular fall
lacy to call any large, fierce-looking shark
'maneater'.
THE FISH DESCRIBED
There is something peculiarly sinister
In sharks makeup. The sight OF his
dark. lean nm lazily cutting zgzags in the
surface OF some quiet. sparkling summer
sea and then slipping out OF sight not to
appear again suggests an evil spirit
His leering chinless face, his great
mouth with its rows OF knifeless teeth.
which he knows too well how to use on
the hsherman's, gear, the relentless fury
with which. when his last hour has come.
he thrashes on deck and snaps at HIS enc
miesi his toughness his brutal nerveless
vitality and insensibility to physical injury,
fail to elicit the admiration one feels for the
dashing, brilliant destructive gastronomic
bluehsh, or salmon. Probably few swim
mers have actually met in him their fate.
but doubtless many a poor drowned sailor
has there found his final resting place"
THE smooth doghsh. continue the col
laborators. "swtms lazily along. until Il
scents its prey, perhaps a crab lying out
OF sight In tuft Of waving eel grass
then II turns and. rapidly moving the head
from side 10 side, begins a systematic
search over the bottom, circIing closer and
closer to the hiding crustacean, which is
finally seized with rush. shaken as a
terrier shakes rat, and quickly swal-
lowed"
TEETH OF MAR-EATERS.
But these are altogether different from
the man-eating shark. which has teeth from
~ 70 l y inches long. They are hard to
kin. A specimen taken In Buzzard's Bay
had large, thoroughly healed opening
through the wall Of its body Into this hole
lobe Of the liver had grown. forming a
wound from which probably no hibher
vertebrate could have recovered.
Another was hooked. shot fun OF Iead
from a repeating rifle haFpoOned hauled on
deck and diAemboweleds yet Il still lived
thrashinS its tail and Opening ana shut-
ting its weird. sxprssslonless eyes."
Sharks are good 70 eat Their desh Is
bonelsss. nutritious ana palatabla.