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, " omits," 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, which is common to all the sharks, 

 is the origin of the name SfjiK'lu* (from SijiH't<; Lat.*). 

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

 known bevond the fact that as is the case with all the 



w 



sharks, excepting those on which both dorsal fins are 

 placed behind the vcntrals (Scyllium, Cuv.), which are 

 oviparous it brings forth its progeny alive. The younij 

 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 agree 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 (7/-.SW/;//',t (Irn-Ilaj, or grey- 



* Couch, I observe, says it is derived from (lie Creek word aKv\\u, to 

 nkin or flay ; pcrlmpn because the prickly covi-rin^ of tin- .-kin rendering 



this fish difficult to handle; but it nniM 1 l>-cr\cd. that the word ^i/miliix 



was applied by I'liny to tin- Skate or Kay, and certainly not to the >harks. 



t " The name of 7/<i," says Professor Sundevall, " which in Scania, 

 Boh us I Jin, the whole of Norway (Una), Iceland (//</). as al-o, according to 

 Yarrell, ill the Orkney Island- (//. i. i- applied to the I'icked \> Kish 



