28 SCYMNI1XE. 



PLAGIOSTOMI. SCYMNID^. 



SQUALL 



VALENTIN'S SEA-HOUND. 



Scymnus lichia, MULLER und HENLE, Plagiost. 92. 



SCYMNID.E. Family Characters. Sharks having spout-holes and two 

 dorsals without spines : no anal fin, and no nictitating membrane. Five 

 stigmata, all of them before the pectorals. A spiral intestinal valve. 



SCYMNUS. Generic Characters. Head flat or laterally compressed. Spout- 

 holes far behind and rather above the eyes. All the teeth of the upper jaw 

 straight or vertical to the jaw, slender, hooked : the under teeth broader, 

 with an upright or horizontal cutting edge. Stigmata small, the last two 

 moderately approximated. No caudal pit. 



In the sub-genus Scymnus the teeth are lancet-shaped on the mandible, 

 sharp on the sides, tumid on the front surface, and have their lancet-shaped 

 tips raised on an elevated base : the mesial mandibular tooth is not smaller 

 than its neighbours, and has the basis alike on both sides, with a notch at 

 the origin of the root. The rest of the mandibular teeth have an impress 

 on the inner side formed by the overlying root of the next tooth. Their 

 roots are bilobate, with a furrow. There is no prickle in the claspers. 



THIS Shark occurs in Mr. Yarrell's list of new British 

 Fishes intended for his third edition, but without any 

 intimation of the time or place of its capture. As it 

 is a species which inhabits the Mediterranean and the 

 Bay of Biscay, and may be expected to enter the British 

 Channel occasionally at least, a notice of it is given for 

 the benefit of practical ichthyologists. The following 

 description is quoted from Miiller and Henle : 



" The nostrils are near the end of the snout, and have 

 a small three-sided lappet on their inner border, and the 

 hinder angle of the eye is over the corner of the mouth. 

 Mandibular teeth serrated, fifteen in number, with two 

 rows erected. The pectorals are round, without a hinder 

 corner ; the ventrals four-cornered and broader than the 

 pectorals. Between the pectorals and ventrals, and 

 rather nearer the pectorals, stands the small first dorsal, 



