TICKED DOG-FISH. 



being synonymous with pike or spike. Among the Scotch 

 islands, where it is called the Hoe, it appears most nume- 

 rous at the full and change of the moon, on account of the 

 then greater quantity of water, and consequent increased 

 strength or race of the tide in some of the narrow straits. 

 Being gregarious, they frequently make their appearance in 

 such shoals that the fishermen load their boats to the water's 

 edge with them ; and, acccording to Mr. Low, they prove a 

 valuable capture. The flesh is dried and eaten : the livers 

 yield a large quantity of oil, while their intestines and other 

 refuse parts are strewed over the land as manure. Dr. Neill 

 and Dr. Parnell say this species is very common in the Forth 

 during the Herring season, where numbers are caught ; but 

 their flesh is not eaten in that neighbourhood. The Dog-fish 

 is common also at Berwick, and on the north-eastern coast 

 generally. 



The Picked Dog-fish is found in numbers at most of the 

 fishing stations along the south-eastern coast, round to Kent 

 and Sussex, where it is almost universally called the Bone 

 Dog. According to Montagu's MS. it is very numerous in 

 Devonshire and in Cornwall. Mr. Couch says, " It is the most 

 abundant of the Sharks, and is sometimes found in incalcu- 

 lable numbers, to the no small annoyance of the fishermen, 

 whose hooks they cut from the lines in rapid succession. I 

 have heard of twenty thousand taken in a sean at one time ; 

 and such is the strength of instinct, that little creatures not 

 exceeding six inches in length may be found, in company 

 with the larger and stronger, following schulls of fish, on 

 which at that time it is impossible they should be able to 

 prey. The Picked Dog bends itself into the form of a bow 

 for the purpose of using its spines, and by a sudden motion 

 causes them to spring asunder in opposite directions : and so 

 accurately is this intention effected, that if a finger be placed 

 on its head, it will strike it without piercing its own skin. 



