576 



R A TIDE. 



an indiscriminate feeder, living on small fishes, and different 

 kinds of Crustacea." 



" The specimen described, which was of the ordinary size, 

 measured three feet eight inches in length, of which the tail 

 was nineteen inches ; the breadth two feet four inches and a 

 half. The snout projected three-quarters of an inch, pro- 

 minent and elevated ; the mouth three inches and a half 

 wide, six inches from the snout. Under jaw peaked in the 

 middle ; the teeth slender, sharp, in rows not very closely 

 placed. The body passes off circularly from the snout, the 

 greatest breadth opposite the centre of the disk, and of a 

 rounded form. From the snout the ridge is elevated to the 

 eyes, a distance of five inches and three-quarters ; eyes two 

 inches asunder ; temporal orifices large. Body thickest pos- 

 teriorly ; the tail stout at its origin, rounded above, tapering ; 

 a groove along the body and tail ; two fins on the latter 

 close together. A few spines near the end of the snout ; a 

 semicircle of them behind each eye ; four short parallel rows 

 on the centre of the back, and a middle one continued along 

 the groove to the tail, which is covered with stout hooks, 

 scarcely in regular order. The remainder of the body 

 smooth. Colour above a uniform dusky brown, white below. 

 On the back a variable number of ocellated spots, the size of 

 the section of a large pea ; the centre pale yellow, the margin 

 a deeper impression, of the colour of the skin. I have 

 counted from eight to sixteen of these spots in different 

 specimens, and believe they have no determinate number ; 

 but they are always placed, on each side, with corresponding 

 regularity. 



" Besides this description and figure, which I hope will 

 enable^, those who visit our fishing vessels to ascertain this 

 species, I will further observe, as marks of distinction from 

 the other British species of this genus, that in addition to 

 the form of the teeth, which are crooked and slender, resem- 



