SQUALID.E. 



were taken. This Shark appears to be known to several 

 authors in the North of Europe, and has been called annula- 

 tus by M. Nilsson in his Prodromus of the Ichthyology of 

 Scandinavia, as quoted at the head of the synonymes, on 

 account of the ring-shaped disposition of the coloured 

 markings. 



The account of this species in the MS. of Mr. Couch is as 

 follows : 



" The specimen from which my description has been 

 taken was caught on a line by a fisherman of Polperro on the 

 8th February 1834. Its length was twenty-five inches 

 and three-quarters, and seven inches round where stoutest. 

 The head flat on the top, rather wide posteriorly ; snout 

 thin, protruded one inch and three-quarters from the ante- 

 rior angle of the eye ; nostrils one inch and a quarter from 

 the snout, double, one beneath linear, the other on the mar- 

 gin, the hinder edge prominent, a depression in the head im- 

 mediately above it ; eye rather large, oval, close behind it a 

 moderately sized temporal orifice ; mouth one inch and three- 

 quarters wide ; teeth numerous, small, sharp, at each side of 

 the base of each tooth a small sharp process ; spiracles five, 

 open ; the back somewhat elevated close behind the head ; 

 the skin rough against the grain ; pectoral fins wide, much 

 like those of the Picked Dog : the first dorsal begins at 

 twelve inches from the snout, and behind the ventral fins ; 

 the second at sixteen inches and a half, both rather small : 

 ventrals ten inches from the snout ; anal fin four inches long, 

 rather narrow, terminating just opposite the end of the second 

 dorsal ; extreme length of the tail seven inches : the upper 

 lobe in a line with the body, bent down towards the termina- 

 tion, rounded, incised, or jagged ; under lobe rather narrow 

 in its course, expanded beneath ; the upper ridge of the su- 

 perior lobe has a double row of prickles pointing outward and 

 downward on each side ; lateral line suddenly bent opposite 



