OUTCOME 261 
board one could not blame the men who could not, of course, 
be expected to treat their dinners experimentally, but the act was 
one of sentimental prejudice only. The flesh of the Elephant 
Fish is really good, and would be welcomed in a country poorer 
than New Zealand. JI may add that in Canterbury Bight and 
Pegasus Bay this species formed quite a substantial percentage 
of the total takings of the net. 
Few native born New Zealanders will eat Skate (Raja nasuta), 
yet in Britain where there are nine or ten species of the genus 
Raja, skate is an important food fish, and the New Zealand 
representative has a food value possibly equal to the best of them. 
It has the further recommendation of being very common and 
easily captured, for it is one of those ground forms which can 
scarcely escape the trawl. 
The prejudice against eating the flesh of Dogfishes is not 
confined to New Zealand, but is fairly general, and may be 
traced to several sources. The Dogfishes are, of course, small 
sharks, and the general odium attached to the name shark is in ° 
itself caleulated to arouse a certain amount of abhorrence. Then 
the names applied to the several kinds individually, suggest 
unpleasant associations. Our two common species are respec- 
tively known as Smooth Hound and Spiny Dogfish, while Dog 
Shark, Spotted Dog, Catshark, ete., are names by which other 
species are known, in contradistinction to Leopard Shark, Tiger 
Shark and other names applied to larger species. 
The small Dogfishes are freely eaten by the poorer people in 
Britain, while there is reason to believe that American species 
are exported to England and sold freely, probably under 
disguised names. Possibly owing to the proximity of the famed 
fishery investigation establishment, it is said that the Plymouth 
Borough Council engaged the services of an expert chef to 
prepare dogfish for the aldermanic table. The flesh was tried 
both with and without sauce, and those who partook of the food 
pronounced it to be excellent in regard to colour, flavour and 
the firmness of the flesh. For this information I am indebted to 
an article published by Dr. Irving A. Field,°? from which I 
make the following additional quotations :— 
‘‘The Dogfishes are not only palatable in the fresh condition, 
but are as good as many other fishes when preserved by the 
standard methods. The horned dogfish being in composition 
most like the salmon is best adapted for canning, and is con- 
sidered as good as the medium grades of salmon. A packer in 
Petit de Grat, Cape Breton, in 1904 sent me a dozen cans of 
(57) Field, Bull. U.S. Fish. Bureau, xxviii. 1908, p. 243. 
