300 CHONDROPTERYGII. SHARK FAMILY. 



pointed, with small denticulations on each side, 

 which give them the appearance of being tricuspidate. 

 The species are of small size, considering the family 

 to which they belong, and all of them are prettily 

 spotted. They are called Dog-fish, and sometimes 

 hy the older writers Cat-fish, in neither case for very 

 obvious reasons, but probably their habit of follow- 

 ing their prey to a great distance, and, as it Avere, 

 hunting it down, has suggested the former name. 



Sp. (217.) S. canicula. Small-spotted Dog-fish, 

 Morgay, or Bounce. This is considered the most 

 common of the three British species, but it is not so 

 plentiful in Scotland as along the southern shores of 

 England. It is widely distributed, but apparently 

 becomes scarce as we advance northwards, as it is 

 not included in the Greeatind Fauna. Its voracity is 

 represented as very great, and it frequently follows 

 ships like the larger sharks, for the purpose of feed- 

 ing on any thing that may be thrown overboard. 

 Fish and Crustacea, however, form its ordinary food, 

 although it rejects no kind of animal substance that 

 falls in its way. Its ordinary length is between 

 two and three feet, and it very seldom reaches four 

 feet. The spots are s^mall and numerous, of a dark 

 reddish brown colour on a pale reddish ground on all 

 the upper parts of the body, the under side yellowish 

 white. The female, as is usual in this family, is 

 larger than the male, and according to Pennant, 

 produces about nineteen young at a time. 



(Sp. 218.) S. cat this. Large-spotted Dog-fish, 

 ^or Bounce Less than the preceding, and much 



