STKUCTUKE OF THE SHOVEL- NOSE DOG. 71 



out to diy, and taste, when broiled, " like veal chops." 

 They are eaten by the -poorer class, "as a relish for 

 breakfast." The great heads, and the intestines, &c., 

 are left in the harbour till picked up by the owners of 

 crab-pots or stalkers for baits. The livers are cleaned 

 and boiled for oil for the boats in winter. There is an 

 immense deal of gelatine in these heads and fins, and I 

 tried in vain to persuade the men to boil them up, quot- 

 ing the example of the Chinese, who esteem shark's-fin 

 SOU}) as a great delicacy. 



The rigs have a long projecting nose (one species of 

 shark is called "old shovel-nose," by the sailors), and 

 this nose is of the same service .to the rig as the snout 

 is to a pig, for with it he routs about among the sand for 

 small fish. The plaice, sole, &c., are essentially hiders 

 in the sand, and the dog-fish comes and routs them up 

 with his nose, and then snaps them up as they attempt 

 to escape. I found several of these small fish in their 

 stomachs, and in one monster the skin and the dorsal 

 spikes of his cousin, the " pike dog-fish," called by the 

 men, the " spur-fish." In Dorsetshire they call them 

 " spur-dogs." In order to see how this nose acted, I 

 pressed a rig's head into a heap of w^et sand and shingle. 

 It was quite marvellous to remark how beautifully the 

 nose was fitted to its work ; man, curiously enough, 

 copies its shape exactly in the instrument used for par- 

 ing turf. On making a section of the nose I was much 

 struck at its internal anatomy ; it is not solid, for that 

 would be too heavj^ ; the outer skin forms a framework, 

 and from side to side firm white strings are stretched 

 across so as to make a series of chambers, which are 

 filled wdth a beautiful white gelatinous fluid. The organ 

 of smell is highly developed, and the delicate membrane 

 on which the nerves are spread (answering to the 



