SPINACID^E. 319 



Genus II Centrina, Cuvier. 



Oxynotus, Rafinesque. 



Spiracles wide and placed immediately behind the eye. Gill-openings narrow. 

 Mouth narroiv, with a deep lateral groove. No nictitating membrane to the eye. 

 Teeth in lower jaw rather small, triangular, erect, and with their edges finely serrated. 

 Those in the upper jaw in a group anteriorly and of a slender and conical form. 

 Each dorsal fin with a strong spine arising at or behind- the centre of its base. A 

 fold of skin runs along either edge of the abdomen as well as along the back between 

 the dorsal fins. 



1. Centrina salviani, Plate CLXI. 



Centrina, Rondel, p. 384; Salvian. p. 157 ; Gesner, De Aquat. p. 609 ; Aldrov. 

 p. 401 ; Jonston, Pise. lib. i, p. 28, t. vii, f. 4, 5 ; Willughby, lib. iii, p. 58, t. B2, 

 and B3 ; Raj, Synop. Pise. p. 21. Vulpecula, Belon. pp. 63, 64. Galeus 

 centrina, Gesner, p. 104(5. Squalus, sp. no. 5, Artedi, Synon. p. 95 and Genera, 

 p. 67. Galeus, sp. no. 7, Klein, Mss. iii, p. 10. 



Squalus centrina, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 398 ; Bloch, t. cxv ; Gmel. Linn, 

 p. 1502 ; Lacep. i, p. 276, pi. ix, f. 3; Bonnaterre, Ency. Icb. p. 12, pi. v, f. 13 ; 

 Shaw, Zool. v, pt. ii, p. 340, pi. cliii ; Bl. Schn. p. 134 ; Briinn. Pise. Mass. p. 3 ; 

 Risso, Icb. Nice, p. 42. 



Oxynotus centrina, Rafin. Ind. pp. 45, 60 ; Gray, Catal. Cart. Pish. p. 72 ; 

 Gill, Anal. Syn. Squa. Ann. Lye. N. York, vii, p. 405 ; Dumeril, Icb. i, p. 444, 

 pi. v, f. 8, 9 (scales). 



Squalus (Acanthorhinus) centrina, Blainv. Faun. France, p. 61, t. xv, f. 1. 



Centrina salviani, Risso, Eur. Merid. iii, p. 135 ; Bonap. Fauna Ital. Pesc. 

 pi. cxli, f. 2 ; Miiller and Henle, p. 87 ; Bocage and Capello, Peix. Plagiost. p. 32 ; 

 Guicben. Explor. Sc. Algeria, Poiss. p. 126; Giintber, Catal. viii, p. 417; 

 Canestriiii, Pesc. Ital. p. 41 ; Giglioli, Pesc. Ital. Catal. p. 52. 



Centrina humantin, Cloquet, Diet. Sc. Nat. vii, p. 385, pi. xxxi. 



Centrina oxynotus, Swainson, Fisbes, ii, p. 315. 



Centrina vidpecula, Moreau, Poiss. de la France, i, p. 355, f. 61. 



Body somewhat triangular. Head flattened ; snout sbort and obtuse. A bony 

 ridge over the orbits. Eyes ratber large. Spiracles large, nearly triangular, 

 and placed a sbort distance bebind the orbit. Mouth small, with rathar fleshy lips. 

 Nostrils near to the end of tbe snout. Teeth a single row of about nine flattened, 

 erect, triangular teeth in the lower jaw, which have their edges serrated : those in 

 the upper jaw slender, conical, and in a group anteriorly. Gill-openings small. 

 Fins the first dorsal fin commences in the form of a ridge at the occuput and is 

 higher than its base is long, a strong spine commences from behind the middle 

 of its base and passing upwards emerges somewhat forwards near the upper third 

 of the anterior edge of the fin : second dorsal having its anterior portion above the 

 ventral and a spine commencing behind tbe centre of its base, which passing 

 upwards and somewhat backwards emerges near the upper third of the anterior 

 edge of the fin. Caudal lobes not well developed. Along the back and at each 

 angle of the abdomen is a keel of skin. Skin covered with somewhat rough 

 scales. Colours when just captured the Cornwall specimen was dark cinereous 

 in blotches over the back and of a light cinereous on the belly ; whereas now it 

 is very dark brown. Name La Humantin, French. 



Habits. Is supposed to inhabit great depths. As food useless. 



Habitat. Mediterranean and coasts of Portugal, and the Bay of Biscay so far 

 north as the mouth of the Loire (Moreau). A straggler in 1877 was obtained by 

 Mr. Cornish off Cornwall where it was trawled in 26 fathoms- water near the 

 Wolf lighthouse (Zool. 1877, p. 221). In Pontoppidan's " Natural History of 

 Norway," this fish is figured plate ciii, as the Haae-lcasring, which is described at 

 p. 115, and Bloch (Icb. pt. in, p. 310) says it is termed Purh-Haae or Haa-kiaering 

 in Norway. The example figured is 25 inches long, and in the collection of 

 Sir J. St. Aubin. This fish is said to attain to 4 or 5 feet in length. 



