8 DEEP-SEA FISHES OF THE ATLANTIC BASIN. 



Scymnus borealis, Fleming, British Animals, 1828, 166. — Yarrell, Brit. Fish., 1st ed.. n. 103, 2d ed., n, 527. — 

 Swainson, Fishes, n, 315. — Nilsson, Skand. Fauna, iv. 721. — Thompson, Nat. Hist. Ireland, iv, 255. 



Lcemargus borealis, MOller and Hexle, op. eit., 1838, 93. — Gaimard, Voy. Greenland, Poiss., pi. xxn. — Yar- 

 rell, nji. eit., 3d ed., n. 521 — Dumeril, Ichth., i. 155, pi. v, figs. 1-2. — GfiNTHER, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mns., 

 viii, 126. 



Scymnus borealis, MOller and Hexle, op. eit., 93. 



Scymv us glacialis, Faber, Fische Islands, 1829. 2S. — Nilssox, Prodr. Ichth. skand., 116. 



Scymnus Gunneri, Richardson, Fauna Boreali — Americana, m. 313. 



Squalus norwegianus, Blainville, Faune Francaise, 61. 



Squalus norvegieus, Gray, Gronow. Syst. Ichth., 8. 



Scymnus micropterus, Valenciennes, Nouv. Ann. Mns., i. 1834, 154, pi. \x. 



Leiodon echinatum, Wood, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., n, 174. 



A Somniosus with body robust, rapidly tapering behind, its greatest depth about one- 

 fifth its length; mouth transverse, moderate, with deep groove at its angle; upper jaw with 

 five rows of small lancet-shaped teeth, lower jaw with about six rows of broad, quadrangular 

 teeth, divided in then- centers by a perpendicular ridge and directed outward; about 

 twenty six teeth on eaeli side: spiracles present, small; skin with line tubercles; tins small, 

 the first dorsal about as large as tlie ventrals and larger than the second dorsal and both 

 spineless; pectorals short; caudal short and bluntish 



The Nurse Shark belongs to the northern parts of the North Atlantic and the Arctic 

 Ocean. Twenty or more have been taken about the British Isles within the past century, 

 chiefly along the northern shores, though one has been seen off Suffolk, and one in L832 was 

 found in the estuary of the Thames. In the western Atlantic it has not been seen south of 

 Cape Cod. Three came ashore at Provincetown in 1848-49, one at Portland, Me., in 1S4(>, 

 and one about Cape Ann before 1818, when Le Sueur saw and described its stuffed skin at 

 Marblehead. About Greenland it is frequent near the shores, as it is also off Iceland and 

 Norway, and the jaws are often seen in ethnographical collections, being used by the Eski- 

 mo to make a rude tiara-like headdress. Curiously enough, this sluggish shark is a deter 

 mined enemy of the whale, and bites great lumps of flesh from its body, as Scoresby has 

 recorded in his "Arctic Regions." 



Somniosus descends to considerable depths, and, as Liitken has shown, deposits its 

 numerous soft, globular eggs, devoid of protective covering, in the soft mud in the bottom 

 of the deep sea. — (Liitken, Vid.-Medd.. 1879-'80, pp. 56-61. Zoological Record. 1S74. Day, 

 Fishes of (ireat Britain and Ireland. II, 321]. 



Somniosus rostratus (Scymnus rostratus, Risso= Loemargus rostratus, Canestrini), is a 

 form recognized by Italian naturalists from a very few individuals observed about Nice and 

 Genoa. It lives a grande profondita (Canestrini) and attains the length of 10 decimeters. 



Family ECHINORHINID^E. 

 ECHINORHINUS, Blainville. 



Echinorhinus, Blainville, Bull. Sei.. 1S1H. 121; Faune Francaise. 66. — Bonaparte, Icon. Faun. Ital.,m, fasc. 



mil 1836, No. 138.— MOller and Hexle, S. B. Plag., 1841, 96.— GOnther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., \ in, 



128.— Jordan and Gilbert, Bull, xvi, U. S. Nat. .Mus.. 1883, 13. 

 (hmioilii.t. Agassiz, Poiss. Foss., in [type Goniodus spinosus, pi. E, tig. 13]. 



Scymnoid sharks with two small spineless dorsal tins, the first opposite the ventrals; anal 

 fins lacking, pectoral and caudal but slightly developed, the latter with no pit at its base. 

 Mouth crescentic with a labial fold around its angle; nostrils midway between the mouth and 

 the end of the snout. Teeth in bothjaws very oblique with smooth cutting edges, the points 

 being turned outward; two or more strong cusps on each side of the principal point. No 

 nictitating membrane. .Spiracles small; gill openings of moderate width. Skin with seal 

 tered, round, prickly tubercles, each leaving a scar when detached. 



ECHINORHINUS SPINOSUS, (Gmelin), Blainville. (Figure 9.) 



Squalus spinosus, Gmelin, in Linn., Syst. Nat., 1788, I, 1500. — LACEri:nE, Hist. Nat. Poiss., i, 283, pi. m, fig. 



2.— Schneider, Syst. Ichth. of Bloch, 1801, 136.— Risso. Ichth. Nice, 42. 

 Scymnus spinosus, Cuvier, Ri'gne Animal, 1817, ii, 131. — RlSSO, Hist. Nat. Eur. Mi-rid., Poiss., in, 130, 



