550 THE PORBEAGLE SHARK AND THE COMMON TOPE. 



feet in length, its weight being about five hundred pounds 

 Danish, which is somewhat more than English. 



"This fish," whose English name is derived from its 

 supposed habit of hunting in company, " emits," Professor 

 Sundevall informs us, " even in a still greater degree than 

 any other of the family, a most disagreeable and some- 

 what peculiar odour, more especially from its openings ; 

 and this uncleanness, wlucli is common to all the sharks, 

 is the origin of the name Squalus (from Squalor, Lat.*). 

 Of its breeding habits," he goes on to say, " little is 

 known beyond the fact that — as is the case with all the 

 sharks, excepting those on w^iich both dorsal fins are 

 placed behind the ventrals {Sci/llium, Cuv.), Avhich are 

 oviparous — it brings forth its progeny alive. The young 

 one described by Strom was taken out of the mother 

 ' during the summer,' which makes it probable that this 

 fish pairs in the spring." 



The Porbeagle is seldom captured on the Swedish coast 

 otherwise than in the herring or other net, which it often 

 very seriously damages. The fishermen all aijrree in 

 saying that this shark, when taken by the hook, is less 

 lively than any other of the family, and " hangs sleepy 

 and dead on the line." When hauled on board the boat, 

 it is generally laid across the gunwale ; and after the 

 liver, the only valuable part, has been extracted, the 

 fish is usually cast back into the sea. 



The Common Tope {lla-Std)-je,\ Gru-Haj, or grey- 



* Couch, I observe, says it is derived from the Greek word aKvWio, to 

 skin or flay ; perhaps because the prickly covering of the skin rendering 

 this fish difficult to handle ; but it must be observed, that the word Squalus 

 was applied by Pliny to the Skate or Eay, and certainly not to the sharks. 



t " The name of Ha," says Professor Sundevall, " which in Scania, 

 Bohus-Liin, the whole of Norway (Haa), Iceland (Hd), as also, according to 

 Yarrell, in the Orkney Islands (Hoe), is applied to the Picked Dog-Fish — 



