THE PICKED DOG-FISH. 421 



thousand are said to have been taken in a net at one time. 

 In the Firth of Forth they are captured principally in the 

 salmon nets, in the months of July and August, when they 

 are seen, after the recess of the tide, hanging in dozens, 

 with their heads in the meshes of the net. In the neigh- 

 bourhood of Edinburgh they are never made use of except 

 occasionally as bait for other fishes, although in some parts of 

 Scotland the flesh is salted, and dried and eaten by the 

 poorer classes of the people. The Dog-fish is ovovivipar- 

 ous, producing many young at a time. It is very voraci- 

 ous, feeds on small fishes, and pursues its prey in companies, 

 when it proves of great annoyance to the fishermen. This 

 fish is readily distinguished from the rest of the British 

 sharks, in having a sharp conspicuous spine in front of 

 each dorsal fin, a character which none of the others possess, 

 and which, in this species, is always found constant. 



Genus SQUATINA. — Body broad, flattened horizon- 

 tally, pectorals large, separated from the neck by a cleft, 

 in which are the branchial openings ; mouth at the extre- 

 mity of the snout ; eyes above not lateral ; temporal orifices 

 present ; no anal fin ; both dorsals behind the ventrals. 



Squatina akgelus.* — The Angel-Fish. 



Description. — From a specimen twenty-one inches in length ; it 

 is said sometimes to grow to the length of eight feet. Form, more 

 resembling the raj' than that of the shark ; body broad and depressed 

 anteriorly, somewhat of a triangular form from the snout to the end 

 of the pectorals, elongated and tapering behind the ventrals; the 

 upper part of the body rather convex ; the under part flat ; the 

 greatest breadth across the pectorals ; head in front of a rounded 

 form, wider than the body, not including the pectorals ; mouth 

 rather large, situated at the extremity, somewhat protractile ; under 

 jaw a little the shortest ; teeth very sharp, broad at the base, placed 



* Squatina anffelus,Cu\.,Y an-. Squatina vulgaris, ¥\tii\\. Sqtialis squa- 

 tina, Linn., Blocli, Penn. Monk-Fish, Fiddle-Fish, Shark-rat/, Kingston. 



