810 FISHES OF INDIA. 



Zygcena dissimilis, Murray, Annal. and Mag. N. H. (5) xx, 1887, p. 304. 



Anterior edge of head nearly straight, and forming a more or less right angle with its 

 lateral margin. Length of the hind edge of one of the lobes equal to or rather exceeding 

 its width near the eye. Eyes — nostrils near them : but no groove running along the front 

 edge of the head. Teeth — oblique, as broad at their base as long, with an indistinct lateral 

 notch, and serrated on both edges. Colours — brownish graj', becoming white beneath. 



Halitat. — Red Sea to Kurrachee where one, a little over 10 feet in length, was captured 

 in April, 1884. 



Page 722. Add Lajina guntheri, Murray. 



Murray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. (5), xiii, p. 349. 



Said to differ from L. spallanzanii in having -|| teeth on either side, and the dorsal fin 

 being a little further behind the base of the pectoral. 



By an error in transcribing (Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. 1887) I placed this shark instead of 

 Carcharias vmrrayi, Giinther, as a synonym to Carcharias ellioti. It occurred owing to 

 having noted, after having examined the type that Murray's shark fi-om Korrachee, that it 

 seemed to be identical with Elliot's shark from the coasts of India. 



Habitat. — Kurrachee. 



Page 722. Add Genus 2 — Odontaspis, Agassiz. 



TriglocMs, Miiller and Henle. 



Spiracles viinute and ahove the angle of the mouth. No nictitating memhrane. Mouth wide 

 and crescent-shaped. Teeth large, aid-shaped, and with one or two chsjjs at the base. Gill- 

 openings of moderate size. Two spineless dorsal fins, the first opposite the interspace between 

 the 2>sctoral and ventral : the second dorsal and anal not much smaller than the first dorsal. 

 A pit present or absent at the root of the caudal fin. 



Geographical distribution. — Temperate and tropical seas. 



1. Odontaspis teicuspidatus. 



Carcharias tricuspidatus. Day, Fish. India, p. 713, pi. clxxxvi, fig. 1. 



Bimdanee, Sind. 



This fish was formerly placed as a Carcharias, owing to the presence of a pit at the root 

 of the caudal fin as observed at page 722. 



Genus 3. — Alopias, Eafinesque. 



Mouth crescentic. No membrana nictitans to the eye. Spiracles minute, close behind the 

 orbit. Teeth of rather small size, flattened and triangular, having smooth edges. Gill- 

 openings of medium size. The first dorsal fin spineless, inserted above the interspace betiveen 

 the pectoral and ventral fins : the second dorsal above the interspace betiveen the ventral and 

 anal, the latter being small. Caudal very long, with a pit at its commencement. No keel 

 on the side of the tail. 



1. Alopias vulpes. 



Squalus vulpes, Gmel. Linn. p. 1496 ; Lacepede, i, p. 267 ; Bl. Schn. p. 127. 



Carcharias vulpes, Cuv. Regne Anim. 



Alopias vulpes, Bonap. Fauna Ital. Pesc. iii, p. 66, c. fig. ; Miiller and Henle, p. 74, pi. xxxv, 



f. 1 {teeth) ; Gray, Catal. Chond. p. 64 ; Day, Fish. Great Britain and Ireland, ii, p. 30O 



{see synon.). 

 Alopiecias vulpes, Tarrell, Brit. Fish. (ed. 3), ii, p. 512, c. fig. ; Giinther, Catal. viii, p. 393. 



Body fusiform, gradually decreasing in size to the caudal fin, the great length of 

 which is about half of the total. Eyes — rather large. Nosti-ils beneath and nearer the 

 anterior border of the mouth than the end of the snout. Gill-opening of median size, 

 the last two being over the pectoral fin. Teeth — about '{^ ^ \l , the third or fourth tooth 

 on either side of the centre of the upper jaw smaller than the others. 



Habitat. — Atlantic Ocean on both shores. One from the Cape of Good Hope is in the 

 Paris Museum, and Mr. Haly in the Tabrobanian, 1886, i, p. 167, records one 8 ft. 8 in. 

 in length from Ceylon, having been procured from the Colombo market, February, 1884, 

 where it was quite unknown to the fishermen. It is also found in the Mediterranean, and 

 has been obtained from San Francisco Bay, California, and New Zealand. 



