16 ROUGH HOUND. 



species, the Nurse Hound, nor in those of any of the Ray- 

 tribe. 



The motion of this species in the water appears to be slow 

 and irregular, and little under the direction of intelligence; so 

 that the prey might seem to be sought for at random rather 

 than in pursuit. When high in the water, whither it some- 

 times ascends, its progress is serpentine, with a motion of the 

 head corresponding with that of the hinder part of the body. 



Fishermen remark that when in danger, both this species 

 and the Nurse Hound shut their eyes; which is done by 

 lifting the lower eyelid, as is the case with birds. 



The Rough Hound is in but little esteem with us as food; 

 but it is not altogether rejected, for in the West of Cornwall 

 it is used to make what is there valued as morghi soup: the 

 name of morghi being an Ancient British word that signifies a 

 sea-dog. 



But in some foreign countries it is greatly valued. Wil- 

 loughby found it for sale in the market at Rome; and Risso, 

 who confounds the species, and supposes the Scyllium stellaris 

 to be the same with the Catulus tnaximus of Willoughby and 

 Ray, speaks favourably of it, and pronounces the liver especially 

 to be delicious. It appears, however, that as food it is not 

 always without danger; and Lacepede mentions an instance 

 where a family, after eating it, had a narrow escape of their 

 lives. It is scarcely necessary to caution English people against 

 exposing themselves to the same danger. 



It is a general remark, applicable indeed to the whole family 

 of Sharks, that the female exceeds the male in size; but whether, 

 as in their analogical races, the lion and eagle, they exceed 

 • also in ferocity, we have no opportunity of knowing. But the 

 opinion of some naturalists — that some of the species continue 

 to increase in bulk as long as they live, is certainly erroneous. 

 Sharks generally are of quick growth; but they reach a 

 definite magnitude in a very few years, and beyond this are 

 not found to advance. 



In form it is more slender than the last species; it rarely 

 reaches a yard in length: the specimen described measured two 

 feet six inches. Head depressed, snout short and blunt, an inch 

 and quarter before the eye, which latter organ is of a slender 

 oval shape; temporal orifice near its posterior angle; nostrils 



