262 WAITE 
dogfish he had packed. I passed them around to my friends, 
who prepared the contents in different ways (fried, scalloped, 
creamed, etc.). In these forms the canned article was highly 
praised in flavour and palatability. Samples were also sent to 
several hotels, where the fish was served to the guests as 
‘Japanese halibut,’ and was pronounced most acceptable. An 
establishment at Halifax has been canning large quantities and 
putting them on the market labelled ‘ocean whitefish.’ A firm 
at Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, has been successful in 
selling the canned articles as ‘sea bass.’ 
‘““The smooth dogfish found south of Cape Cod is preserved 
best by salting and drying according to the same method 
employed for preparing dry salt cod. The product very much 
resembles cod, but has the advantage of being boneless. I have 
had creamed salt dogfish served in the mess hall of the Marine 
Biological Laboratory to a score or more of persons. They all 
reported that they could detect little or no difference between it 
and the ordinary salt codfish. 
‘‘The flesh of the dogfish is apparently just as digestible as 
that of other fishes, is palatable, nutritious, and easily preserved. 
The fish are so abundant and easily obtained that they are 
ridiculously cheap. But prejudice is barring this wholesome 
food from our menus. People seem more willing to starve than 
to eat this fish, just because it bears the name ‘dog.’ The 
problem now is how to put the fish on the market without an 
offensive label and at the same time meet the spirit and letter of 
our pure-food law.”’ 
I have heard it alleged that we rightly don’t eat dogfishes 
because they are flesh feeders, as are lions, tigers, dogs and cats, 
and that man feeds only upon vegetable fed flesh as that of 
cattle and sheep. The speaker was unaware that nearly all the 
fishes we most prize for the table are carnivorous, and that the 
comparatively few kinds which feed upon algae, or seaweed, are 
not as a whole, in great demand, and require to be eaten quite 
fresh in consequence of the poor keeping qualities of the flesh. 
The habits and food of our two dogfishes differ considerably : 
the smooth hound (see page 140, plate xiv., fig. 2) is a ground 
feeder, preying upon various kinds of crabs, and it may possibly 
become an enemy of the English lobsters which were imported 
and have thriven well and bred in the enclosures prepared for 
them at the Portobello Marine Fish Hatchery. If the lobsters 
multiply to such an extent as to warrant a number being turned 
adrift into the sea it would be well to choose the site very 
carefully to ensure all the necessary conditions being present. 
and if suitable shelters are absent to supply such under which 
the lobsters can retreat. 
