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Note on a Specimen of Echinorhinus spinosus. 



By 

 F. B. Stead, B.A. 



A SPECIMEN of tills somewhat uncommon shark was recently brought 

 to the Laboratory by some fishermen. The following notes on it may 

 be of interest. The fish was taken with a long line baited with 

 mackerel, for conger. It was captured forty miles south of the Mew- 

 stone, at a depth of about forty-five fathoms. The specimen was a 

 female, and measured 6 feet 6 inches from the end of the snout to the 

 tip of the tail. The following are the principal other measurements : 

 snout to anterior edge of first dorsal fin, 46 inches ; snout to anterior 

 edge of pectoral, 20 inches ; the interval between the anterior edge of 

 the pectoral and the pelvic fin was 26 inches. The first dorsal, which 

 was small, was thus situated immediately above the pelvic. The second 

 dorsal, which was smaller than the first, was situated as nearly as 

 possible midway between the first dorsal and the commencement of the 

 caudal fin. The measurements so far tally with Day's description of the 

 species. 



Attention may, however, be drawn to the measurements which 

 follow in connection with the following statement in Day : " Ventral 

 (fin) . . . commences mid-way between the front gill opening and the 

 end of the caudal fin in elongated forms : or anterior end of the snout 

 and middle of the caudal fin, as observed in the Plymouth and 

 Aberdeen stouter specimens." (Day's British Fishes, vol. ii. p. 323.) 



In my specimen the distance from the front gill opening to the 

 anterior edge of the ventral was 30 inches : thence to the end of the 

 caudal was 33 inches. On the other hand, the distance of the anterior 

 edge of the ventral to the middle of the caudal was 26 inches, and to 

 the end of the snout was 44 i inches. 



It will be seen that my specimen corresponds to one of the 

 " elongated forms," and not to the " stouter specimens," said to have been 

 observed in Plymouth. Considering the relatively small number of 

 specimens of this shark which have been captured and measured, the 



