1166 



SC^\NDINAVIAN FISHES. 



men under the above name. It is certainly not very 

 rare in the Mediterranean, for in 1879 Giglioli took 

 40 specimens on one occasion from depths of 800 — 

 1,000 m. The stated occurrence of the Sagre on the 

 coast of Portugal is doubted by Bauboza and Capello; 

 but in the Bay of Biscay it is found, though seldom, 

 accoi'ding to Lafont (in Moreau). On the coasts of the 

 United Kingdom and in the North Sea it has not yet 

 been met with ; l)ut on the Norwegian coast it is com- 

 mon, occurring northwards at least to the 70th degree 

 of latitude. In Trondhjem Fjord, according to Storm, 

 is is one of tlie most usual catches on deep-sea lines. 

 But it also ascends into comi)aratively shallow water, 

 and the original of our figure, a male, was taken in 

 November, 1881, on a Cod-line, at a depth of 40 — oO 

 fthms. in Stromstad Fjord. In Christiania Fjord, ac- 

 cording to CoLLETT, it is common. As mentioned above, 

 it can hardly be distinct in species from Acnuthidiiim 

 pusillum, a Madeiran fish described by Lowe, which also 

 lives, according to Gunther, in Cuban waters; and re- 

 membering the wide distribution of the preceding spe- 

 cies, we do not consider it impossible that with the 

 Sagre should be also identified in species Gunther's 

 Spinax granulosus from Chili. 



The Sagre swims in shoals and, despite its insigni- 

 ficant size, pestei's the fisherman after the same fashion. 



if not in the same degree, as the Picked Dog-fish. It 

 often bites on the long-line, and is a disappointing sub- 

 stitute for the expected catch. Its diet is similar to 

 that of the Picked Dog-fish, though it must, of course, 

 confine itself more exclusively to small creatures. In 

 a female 43 cm. long, from Bohnsliln, the contents of 

 the stomach comprised fish-scales (some Scopeloid spe- 

 cies), a small cuttle-fish (? Odojnis), almost digested, 

 feet of crustaceans (some shrimp or Pandalus), several 

 specimens of an indeterminable Annelid, fragments of 

 worm-tubes, and a quantitj^ of clayey sediment. The 

 same female contained in the left ovai'y 8 eggs, in the 

 right 5, about 14 — 17 mm. in diameter; but no eggs 

 had passed into the oviducts. During April Storji 

 found in Trondhjem Fjord a female with 14 young in 

 the oviducts, and at the middle of July Collett ob- 

 tained off Naradalen females with 7 or 8 fully deve- 

 loped foetuses. In the Mediterranean, according to 

 Risso, the Sagre breeds all the year round, giving 

 birth to 15 — 20 young about 1 dm. long. 



The flesh of the Sagre is not used for food; but 

 the liver yields a good oil. 



Frequently the Sagre is infested with an ectoparasite, 

 a Cirrhiped, Anelasma (Alepas) squaticola, Loven, which 

 forms at the dorsal fins and on the under surface of the 

 head tumours, first described and figured by Guxxerus. 



Fam. SCTMNIDiE. 



Skilt iDiiformlji shagn'oiecl irith tuhcrcular or ((ntkaJ spimilic. First dorsal fin situated lialf-u-atj between the 

 perpendiculars from the pi-ctorals and ventrals or further forward. No externally protruding dorsal fin-spines. 

 Teeth of the upper and lower jaws different from each other, hut all smooth-margined and without lateral cusps. 



The two genera that compose this family, Scymnus 

 and Acantliorhinus, come nearest both in the dentition 

 and tlie coloration to Etmopterus. Hasse has suggested" 

 that the obscure pelagic forms Isistius hrasiliensis and 

 Euprotoniicrus Labor dii should also be ranged within 

 this family, in which case the above character for the 

 position of the first dorsal fin must be altered, this 

 fin l)oing removed rather far back in the two last- 



mentioned genera, more as in the family Echinorhi- 

 nidce. In either case we are apparently confronted 

 here with one or more series of reduction-forms, which 

 have originated from the Picked Dog-fish ty))e, and 

 whose genealogical relations to one another and to the 

 primordial forms still require elucidation. The Scan- 

 dinavian fauna possesses only one genus. 



" Nat. Syst. Elaswobi:, AUgciu. Tli., p. 43. 



