THE SMALL SPOTTED DOG-FfSH. 407 



ORDER 11— PLAGIOSTOMI. 



Branchiae fixed, with five small external openings on each 

 side ; no opercule ; jaws represented by the palatine and 

 postmandibular bones, which alone are armed with teeth ; 

 pectorals and ventrals always present ; the latter (in the 

 viale) furnished on their internal margins with long ap- 

 pendages. 



Family SQUALID^. — Body more or less elongated; 

 tail thick and muscular ; branchial openings on each side 

 of the neck, never underneath. 



Genus SCYLLIUM. — First dorsal fin never in advance 

 of the ventrals ; temporal orifices as well as the anal fin al- 

 ways present ; teeth sharp and pointed, with small denticu- 

 lations on each side. 



SCYLI.IUM CANICULA.* ThE Sm ALL-SpOTTED DoG-FlSH. 



Specific Character. — Valves of the nostrils approximate, covering 

 the anterior part of the mouth. 



Description. — From a female specimen one foot eleven inches in 

 length. Anterior part of the body of a rounded form, tapering to- 

 wards the tail where it becomes compressed ; greatest thickness be- 

 tween the pectoral and ventral fins ; from the point of the snout to 

 the last gill-opening but one on the neck, exactly one-seventh of the 

 entire length, and one-fourth as far as the posterior extremity of the 

 base of the first dorsal fin ; second gill-opening is placed mid- way be- 

 tween the point of the snout and the end of the pectoral fin. Colour 

 of the head, back, and sides, reddish-grey, thickly spotted with dark 

 brown ; belly and under the throat dirty white without spots ; the 

 spots on the dorsal, caudal, and behind the pectoral and ventral fins, 

 large and few ; outer surface of the pectoral, ventral, and anal fins, 



" Scyllium canicula, Yarr. Squahis canieula. .Ten. Morgay., Robin Huss. 



