Gudgei — Notes on Some Beaufort, N. C, Fishes. 143 



Squalus acanthias Linnaeus. 

 PICKED DOG-FISH. 

 < Mi May 23, 1907, Director Aller obtained from a fisherman an adult 



specimen of tin's small shark, lie noted, several hours after death, that 

 there were about 44 spots arranged in two rows on tin' upper part 

 .'! the body. This specimen was a female (length was not noted) and 

 when cut open :! young were obtained. This negatives the statement 

 made by Jordan and Evermann (1896) that all of the Squalidae are 

 oviparous. 



This specimen, taken in Beaufort harbor, is the first recorded from 

 North Carolina. However, Coles took two with hook ami line at Cape 

 Lookout in L910, hut saw none in 1911. The local name for this fish is 

 Bone-shark in allusion to its dorsal spine. 



Sphyrna tiburo Linnaeus. 



BONNET-HEAD. 



The best find made by the writer in 1011 was a female bonnet-head 

 shark taken at the Straits about 7 miles east of Beaufort, on June 30, 

 1911. This fish measured 50 inches over all, and was ~}4 inches between 

 the eyes. The spread of her pectorals was 18 inches, the horizontal gape 

 I width) of her jaws :', :i ( and the vertical gape '■'> 1 .j inches. 



The two bilateral oviducts were in the usual position and were united 

 behind in a short tube opening into the cloaca. Slightly back of the shell. 

 gland, each oviduct was enlarged to form a uterus s or <i inches long and 

 \% or 2 inches in diameter, slightly larger at the anterior end. Each 

 uterus contained 5 eggs, 4 of which had on them embryos measuring 

 about oil mm. long, the egg nearest the posterior end in each vessel being 

 infertile. 



The exterior wall of the uterus was firm, tough, and muscular. The 

 lining mucous membrane was very crinkled, folded, and plaited. Between 

 the two was a layer of connective tissue so loose in its arrangement as 

 to resemble a mass of fluffy cotton. One purpose of these structures is 

 evidently to allow for the expansion necessitated by the growth of the 

 embryos. 



The embryo- were about 50 nun. long and quite well developed. 1'ro- 

 truding from the gill-slits were large bunches of long external gill fila- 

 ments measuring 15 to is mm. The embryos were attached to the flatoily 

 yokes by umbilical cords some 45-50 mm. long. These latter were thickly 

 beset with what Alcock ( L890), in describing the allied Zygsena blochii, 

 the Indian hammer-head shark, calls " appendicula," like the tube feet 

 of echinoderms. 



The r^j;< lay separate from each other in spindle-shaped depressions 

 or compartments. Each egg was enclosed in a shell composed of very 

 thin but tough and elastic material highly iridescent in appearance and 

 curiously crinkled and plaited at the ends. In all respects they were very 

 like those previously reported for the butterfly ray, Pteroplatea maclura 

 (Gudger, 1910). The compartments were similar to those described by 

 Alcock ( 1890) for Carcharias melanopterus, and the other structures were 



