26 AUGUST 1893, Page 3

A letter to the Times of Wednesday gives a most

alarmist account of the sharks off the English coast. "Sharks of such size as to render them dangerous to human life " abound just now, says the writer, in the western portion of tha Channel. Two of the sharks, caught by the pilchard-boats, were over 9 ft. long, and a larger fish got away with sixty fathoms of line. All this was within two miles of the coast. The writer ends by cautioning bathers, " between Ply. mouth and Falmouth at least," to avoid a very real and serious risk. There are, of course, always a few small sharks to be met with in English waters in the summer, but they seldom cause any trouble. We presume the heat-wave is responsible for their appearance in such size and numbers as " Long, Liner " reports.