.",24 PLAGIOSTOMATA. 



together, while their size is very varied ; some are seen on the fins. Risso 

 observes that there are fewer spines in the female than in the male. Lateral-line 

 with marks of small tubes and quite white. The colours of a specimen taken in 

 1867, when fresh, were as follows : Deep gray darkest along the back ; a few 

 patches of pale reddish on the sides, brown along the belly, a defined line 

 of separation running between the sides and the belly from the ventrals towards 

 and obliquely upwards to the pectorals. In Dr. Smith's specimen from the Cape 

 Seas, the belly was pale coppery-yellow clouded with purple and brownish tints and 

 marked with blotches of vermilion red. Mr. Cornish suggests " whether there 

 are not two permanent varieties, one a ground shark, the other a round or 

 swimming fish." 



Names. Spinous shark, due to the spines over its body. 



Habits. Although this shark is not a common visitor, it can scarcely be 

 considered rare off our south coast, and judging from the instances recorded 

 would appear to be present at any season of the } r ear, while it has been mostly 

 captured by baits while swimming near the bottom. The specimen trawled off 

 Brixham in 1837 had a portion of a gurnard in its stomach. Mr. Fox found in 

 one, in 1835, no fishes but the remains of Crustacea. 



Habitat. This species of shark is widely distributed; in fact, from the North 

 Sea and the Atlantic to the Cape of Good Hope, also in the Mediterranean. 



In 1851 a dead one was cast ashore at Gamrie, in the Moray Firth (Smith, 

 Zool. p. 3057) ; July, 1875, one was secured off the river Ythan, and is now 

 in the University Museum at Aberdeen ; on August 31st, 1883, a female 

 6 feet 8| inches long, and in whose stomach were the remains of fish, was taken 

 in a trawl at Stains, 14 miles north of Aberdeen ; in 1874 a female from near the 

 Bass Rock (Turner, Journ. Anat. and Phys. 1875, p. 297) ; in July, 1876, a female, 

 about 6 feet long, got entangled in a salmon net at the mouth of the Tyne, and 

 made great havoc with the meshes, its spiny tubercles cutting and tearing them to 

 pieces ; this specimen is now in the Newcastle Museum ; another was taken at the 

 same place in 1869 (Trans. North, and Durham Nat. Hist. Soc. v, p. 342). A stuffed 

 specimen, 4?; feet long, is in the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art. One 

 was taken off Yorkshire prior to 1828, and a second in the summer of 1830 

 in Filey Bay (Yarrell), and on 'August 11th, 1838, a third in Bridlington Bay 

 (Strickland, Rep. Brit. Ass. 1838, p. 107), and in June, 1853, a fourth at 

 Scarboi'ough (Murray, Morris Nat. 1853, p. 277). Mr. Gatcombe remarked that 

 one 6^ feet long was captured in a trawl off Plymouth, January 25th, 1877, and 

 in its stomach were four picked dog-fish ; this, he observed, was the third taken off 

 Plymouth in eight years (Zool. p. 108). In Couch's journal it is stated, on the 

 authority of Mr. Gatcombe, that the female spinous shark in the museum at 

 Plymouth, 7 5 feet long, was captured near Land's End in July, 1866 ; nothing was 

 found in its stomach. In November, 1837, one was trawled off Brixham ; also 

 on November 9th, 1838, one was taken on a line off Berryhead, in Devonshire 

 (Holdsworth) ; one was trawled off Brixham, March, 1872, 5 feet 3 inches long 

 (Parfitt) ; and on December 6th, 1849, another, 8| feet long, in a trawl off 

 Falmouth Harbour (W. Cocks) ; November 7th, 1867, a female, 7| feet long, taken 

 on a line at Polperro, it had nothing in its stomach ; a female, 9 feet long, 

 containing 17 eggs, was taken on a conger line January 1st, 1869, off the 

 Eddystone, inside it were several dog-fishes, some 3 feet in length. Mr. Fox 

 obtained one 5| feet long, taken about a mile from land, near Halfoi'd, in 

 Cornwall (Couch) ; on June 2nd, 1881, one, 6 feet long, was caught 16 miles off 

 the Deadmans on a hook and line when fishing near the bottom for cong - ers. 

 The bait used was a piece of mackerel ; the creature showed considerable violence 

 before capture, and after being taken into the boat it took a deal of mauling 

 before the hook could be extracted, when it was thrown aside and left for dead ; 

 ten hours after, on being landed, it was found to be still alive. Mr. Cornish has 

 likewise recorded the five following : December 15th, 1865, one 6 feet 2 inches 

 long, and having two laryc lobes of milt, in 10 or 12 fathoms water, and on a 

 shingly bottom, in Mount's Bay, Cornwall, taken with a conger bait, while in its 

 stomach were a grey gurnard and portions of other fish (Zool. 1866, p. 102). On 



