68 REPORT OF NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM. 
a little nearer second dorsal than first. Dorsal spines at least 
two-fifths height of fin, posterior higher. Slaty-gray above, paler 
below. Length of a male 31 inches. Cape May. 
Color in life of the above described individual was mouse-gray 
slightly glistening with dull heliotrope-purple reflections, espe- 
cially on each myomere above. Back also marked sparsely with 
an irregular series of small whitish spots on each side. Several 
dull dusky or blackish spots, some nearly as large as pupil, on 
back. One on nape and caudal peduncle largest and most distinct. 
Dorsals and caudal a little more grayish than back, also a little 
paler. Pectorals colored like back above, also with several dusky 
spots, but below a dirty sandy-white like lower surface of body. 
Ventrals like lower surface, though only slightly darker above. 
' Lower surface of caudal peduncle white like that of abdomen. 
Iris beautiful silvery shading into deep slaty above and below, 
and also with iridescent reflections. Peritoneum white. 
An abundant winter visitant about Cape May and not yet ob- 
served in Delaware Bay. ‘They generally arrive at Cape May 
late in October or early in November. Sometimes more are 
taken on set-lines with fish-bait than cod, which they follow. 
Most examples run about 30 inches in length. -They were very 
abundant at Sea Isle City during the winter of 1904-5. Those 
taken early in the fall were all males, the females apparently 
coming later. Dr. Dahlgren reports it from off Asbury Park. 
Squalus acanthias Bean, Bull. Am. Mus. N. H., IX, 1897, 
P. 330. | 
Squalus americanus Abbott, Geol. N. J., 1868, p. 829. 
Family PRISTIDA. 
The Saw Fishes. 
Body elongate, depressed. No nictitating membrane. Teeth 
in jaws minute, obtuse. Nostrils inferior, no tentacles. Dorsals 
large, first nearly opposite ventrals. Caudal well developed, bent 
upward, and a fold of skin along each side of tail. Pectorals 
moderate, front margin quite free, not extending to head. 
Found in warm seas on sandy shores and sometimes ascending 
rivers. A single genus and species on our coast. 
