316 PLAGIOSTOMATA. 



Schleg. Fauna Japon. Pois3. p. 304, pi. cxxxv ; Yarrell, Brit. Fish. (ed. 2) ii, 

 p. 524 (ed. 3) ii, p. 518; Gray, Chond. p. 70 ; White, Catal. p. 131 ; Kessler, Bull. 

 Soc. Nat. Mosc. 1859, ii, p. 473; Kroyer, Danm. Fisk. iii, p. 868, c. fig.; Nilss. 

 Skand. Faun, iv, p. 731 ; Duineril, Icli. i, p. 437 ; Bocage and Capello, Peix. 

 Plagiost. p. 21; Glinther, Catal. viii, p. 418; Collett, Norges Fiske, p. 211; 

 Winther, Prod. Dan. Mar. p. 58; Canestrini, Fauna d' Italia, p. 39 ; Giglioli, Cat. 

 Pesc. Ital. p. 52 ; Moreau, Poiss. de la France, i, p. 342, f. 58. 



Spin ax Fernandezianus, Guicken. in Gay's Chili, Zool. ii, p. 365. 



Acanthias Americanus, Storer, Mem. Amer. Acad, ii, p. 506, ix, p. 232, 

 pi. xxxviii, f. 1 and Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist, iii, p. 270. 



Acanthias sucklii, Girard, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sc. Phil. 1854, p. 196 and U.S. Proc. 

 R. R. Exp. Fish. p. 368. 



Acanthias Lirmei, Malm, Fauna, p. 624. 



Picked-dog, Couch, Fish. Brit. Isles, i, p. 49, pi. xi. 



Body elongated and somewhat rounded. Head flattened above. Spiracle 

 rather large and placed a little behind the orbit. Eyes large and situated nearly 

 midway between the first gill-opening and the end of the snout. Mouth as long 

 as it is broad at its base, rounded anteriorly, mouth arched, with a deep lateral- 

 groove on either side. Nostrils on the ventral surface, and considerably nearer to 

 the snout than to the front of the mouth. Teeth in two rows similar in both 

 jaws, flattened, with smooth edges, and their points placed obliquely, so that 

 their inner edge is the cutting one. Gill-openings rather narrow, the posterior 

 one being situated just before the base of the pectoral fin. Fins the first dorsal 

 commences above the inner edge of the pectoral, it has a strong spine at its 

 anterior edge which rather exceeds half the height of the fin : the second dorsal 

 is placed above and just behind the termination of the ventral, its spine is 

 somewhat larger and stronger than is that in the first dorsal fin, these spines are 

 somewhat triangular and grooved along their posterior edge. Pectoral large if 

 laid forward, reaching to the eye. Caudal lobed, upper the longer. Skin rough 

 if the hand is passed from behind forwards. Colours grayish or brownish along 

 the back and sides, becoming light or even wdiite below the lateral-line : young 

 examples have white spots sparsely scattered over them which mostly decrease or 

 disappear with age. 



Varieties. Couch alludes to one that was intensely black all over except a 

 line of dusky yellow that passed along the belly. 



Monstrosities. Yarrell mentions a young one with two heads, the separation 

 continuing so far back as behind the pectoral fins. In another specimen the eyes 

 were on the ventral surface of the head, before the mouth, and were not visible 

 when the fish was laid on its belly. 



Names The name of this fish or "picked dog-fish " appears to be a corruption 

 of " Piked dog-fish " as it seems to have been termed so late as in Low's time. 

 The word " piked " or " spiked " being derived from the two sharp spines on its 

 back, one placed before each dorsal fin. Common dog-fish : Sp>ur- spear- or hone- 

 dog : Hoe (in Orkney) : Skittle-dog (male in Cornwall). Cu-maire, Celtic, or sea- 

 doo- in Firth of Forth, also Gobag or vivarach pronounced beerach (Gordon, Zool. 

 p. 3488). Ci pigog, Picewd, Welsh. De Doornhaal, Dutch. L'Aiguillat, French. 



Habits. It is a gregarious fish which rambles through the seas for prey. 

 Occasionally, says Low, it is in such shoals at the Orkneys that the fishermen load 

 their boats to the water's edge, while it is the commonest shark around our shores. 

 R. Couch says that in Cornwall " in winter it retires to deep water, and feeds 

 near the ground : in summer it approaches the shores in multitudes." But 

 J. Couch also remarks that it is not affected by cold or heat in the severest 

 seasons, and he has known them taken when, due to severe cold, every fish except 

 a few stragglers of the cod family had retired to deeper water. Mr. Dunn 

 observed in Land and Water, Dec. 4th, 1882, that the fishermen report that a fair 

 season for pilchards has been nearly spoilt by the violent ravages of the picked-dog. 

 These predatory vermin, in many instances, the moment the pilchards entered the 

 net rushed on them by the thousand, and not only ate up every fish that had been 

 meshed, but also the net itself, thus a great many of the boats have some nets 



