p. 199) proposed the new name Centrophorus kaikourae for Thompson's specimen, and it is under this name or as Deania kaikourae that the species is recognised by subsequent authors.

The features of Thompson's specimen leave no doubt that it belongs in the genus Deania rather than Centrophorus, for although it has laterally grooved finspines, a subterminal notch on the lower side of the caudal fin, and one-cusped teeth dissimilar in the upper and lower jaws, these characters are common to both genera; while the rounded inner corner of the pectoral fin, the attenuate head in which the preoral length is greater than the distance from the mouth to the level of the pectoral origin, and the pitch-fork shaped dermal denticles are diagnostic of Deania.

The recognition of Thompson's specimen as D. kaikourae rather than D. calcea appears to rest solely on its greater length of first dorsal base to second dorsal base than is the case in D. calcea, for in no other feature does Thompson's account differ from those of D. calcea. Thompson's specimen can no longer be found in the Canterbury Museum, so his account is the only information available on it.

In Thompson's illustration the length of the second dorsal base (measured from point of emergence of spine to posterior end of base) is 1.5 in that of the first dorsal similarly measured, while in all other species of Deania this proportion varies from 0.9 to 1.3. The difference would seem to give validity to D. kaikourae were it not for the fact that in 9 out of 10 New Zealand specimens of Deania which I have examined, and which are from the same or nearby localities as Thompson's specimen, the proportion lies between 1.0 and 1.3, and only in the tenth is it 1.6 and hence comparable to Thompson's figure.

On this evidence, the separation of D. kaikourae from D. calcea on the lengths of its dorsal fin bases is not tenable, for these are strongly variable features, with Thompson's specimen, like my tenth specimen, lying at one extreme of the variation.

Phillipps (1946, p. 18) states that D. kaikourae has a shorter tail than D. calcea, but I am not able to confirm this in specimens of comparable size, although it should be noted that the tail undergoes considerable change with growth, becoming proportionately shorter as total length increases.

Comparison of New Zealand specimens of Deania with a mature male D. calcea taken south-west of the Faroes (kindly loaned to me through the courtesy of Dr. J. R. Pfaff from the Universitets Zoologiske Museum of Copenhagen) confirms the view that D. kaikourae and D. calcea are conspecific, for I can find no feature in proportional dimensions, external morphology, or details of teeth and dermal denticles on which to separate them. The name D. kaikourae should therefore be relegated to the synonymy of D. calcea.

The New Zealand specimens of D. calcea provide evidence that the North Pacific D. eglantina Jordan & Synder, 1902, is also synonymous with D. calcea. D. eglantina (including D. aciculata (Garman, 1906), D. hystricosa (Garman, 1906) and D. rostrata (Garman, 1906) following Bigelow & Schroeder, 1957, p. 104) can be distinguished from D. calcea only because the few specimens known show marked sexual dimorphism in the shape of the lower teeth. Females of D. eglantina have strongly oblique lower teeth, while the two males which have been described have erect teeth (including a symmetrical median tooth) at the centre of the lower jaw.^*

In contrast, the lower teeth of D. calcea are described as oblique in both sexes, and in the one North Atlantic male which I have seen, there is no symmetrical median tooth. The teeth of New Zealand D. calcea agree with the description of those from the North Atlantic, though they do show some sexual dimorphism, for the females generally have more strongly oblique lower teeth than the males (Text–Fig. 1A, 1B). This dimorphism is not constant in that a few females tend

Text–fig 1—Lower right teeth at centre of jaw from New Zealand specimens of Deania calcea Fig. A—744 mm female with strongly oblique teeth Fig. B—823 mm male with less oblique teeth than the female in Fig. A. Fig. C—835 mm male with symmetrical median tooth and nearly erect paramedian tooth.

towards the less oblique teeth characteristic of the males. Of four New Zealand males examined, one 835 mm long differs markedly from the rest in having erect teeth at the centre of the lower jaw and a symmetrical median tooth (Text–fig. 1C). In these features it matches the condition in D. eglantina as illustrated in Garman (1913, Pl. 12, Fig. 2, as Acanthidium aciculatum). The consequences of this is that in the absence of other characters to separate D. eglantina from D. calcea the possession of erect lower teeth (and a symmetrical median tooth) in the only two male D. eglantina described can no longer be regarded as sufficiently distinctive to warrant specific recognition. D. eglantina (as known from Japan) is therefore proposed as a synonym of D. calcea.

Smith (1949, p. 58, Fig. 49) identifies a South African species of Deania as D. eglantina, but his illustration is of a shark which though generally similar in dimensions to D. calcea has a relatively higher and shorter first dorsal fin, the height about 1.5 in the length of its base measured from the origin of the spine. In D. calcea (now including the Japanese D. eglantina) the first dorsal fin is markedly low and long, its height 3.0 to 4.0 in its base similarly measured (Text–Fig. 3A). This difference in proportions is significant since it cannot be accounted for by change with growth, available data on specimens of D. calcea 300 mm to 1,110 mm long indicating that as total length increases there is very slight decrease in the height of the first dorsal fin relative to its length. Consequently Smith's species cannot be retained in D. eglantina, but instead appears close to, if not conspecific with the Australian D. quadrispinosa (McCulloch, 1915) which has a similarly high and short first dorsal (its height 15 in its base from spine in the illustration of the type, and about 2.0 in an 890 mm paratype, Austral. Mus. No. 1. 13536).

The remaining species of Deania currently recognised are the South African D. natalense (Gilchrist, 1922), the Philippines D. profundorum (Smith and Radcliffe, 1912), and the recently described D. elegans Springer, 1959, from off North Carolina, U. S. A. These also have high first dorsal fins like D. quadrispinosa, but D. natalense and D. profundorum differ from D. quadrispinosa and D. elegans in

that their pectoral fin tips reach to or beyond a vertical through the first dorsal spine. In D. calcea, D. quadrispinosa, Smith's “D. eglantina” and D. elegans the pectoral tips fall far short of the first dorsal spine, the distance varying from ⅓ to ⅔ the length of the pectoral fin. As this distance shows little relative increase with growth in D. calcea (unlike some other squalid species such as Scymnodon plunketi where in juveniles the pectoral tips reach almost to the spine while in adults there is a distance equal to half the pectoral fin length), the difference between D. calcea and the D. natalense-D. profundorum group is diagnostic.

The smaller size at maturity of D. profundorum (Garman, 1913, p. 219 lists a mature male at 440 mm and a female at 590 mm) contrasts with D. calcea where maturity is not yet known at less than 700 mm in either sex. D. natalense is unusual in the shape of the inner corner of its pectoral fins, which Gilchrist (1922, pl. 7,

Text–fig. 2.—Deania calcea, male 823 mm (Dom. Mus. No. 2688) from New Zealand. Fig. A—Group of dermal denticles from high on side at level of 1st dorsal, and including three forms of denticles—viz., I = simple trifid denticle; ii = denticles with a fourth tooth projecting vertically above pedicle at anterior end of median ridge; iii = denticles similar to form ii but having an extra process or tooth on each side arising from the lateral ridges. Fig. B—lateral view of simple trifid denticle (form 1 in Fig. A) Fig. C—lateral view of form ii denticle. Fig. D—Lateral views of form iii denticles showing two shapes of the processes from the lateral ridge. Fig. E—Anterior view of form ii denticle showing fourth tooth at anterior end of median ridge Fig. F—external view of denticles from the flank of a large female (1,030 mm, New Zealand) showing three shapes of the angular processes which are sometimes present on the lateral margins of the median teeth of the largest denticles