162 Sharks, Various. 



to the Queen's Channel or tracks around. Some days the trawl 

 would bring up a few, others without any, or again an odd one 

 at intervals. The Harwich local line-fishers, equally with the 

 Leigh men, would occasionally be sorely troubled with them on 

 their hooks. 



They seemed to feed chiefly on the Pink Shrimps (Pandalus 

 annulicornis), though fish and worms found a plac,e in their 

 dietary. The sizes of these large and small Spotted Dog-fishes 

 most often met with varied from (3 to 18 inches, seldom more, 

 though these fish grow to twice that size. These last three 

 Dog-fish are oviparous (egg layers), and do not produce live 

 young. About midsummer the horny egg cases, or " pixy- 

 purses " have been observed floating about, and ofttimes are 

 carried by the currents or driven ashore at Herne Bay and 

 other parts of the Kent shores. 



There are two large species of Sharks which we mention 

 with considerable reserve as visitants of the Kent coast. First, 

 the Basking Shark (Selache maxima), which Boys names in 

 his " Sandwich Fishes, 1792 ; " but as he omits the Porbeagle, 

 which makes its appearance yearly, we doubt his identifica- 

 tion in this instance. The same may be said of a supposed 

 White Shark (Carcharias lamia), taken August, 1867, near 

 the Reculvers. What this last may have been we cannot say. 



(9) The last to mention of the Shark group is the ANGEL- 

 PISH (Rhina squatina), which only is known at Leigh as the 

 " Fiddler," though in S. Kent (and Maldon*) it goes by 

 the name of " Kingston," elsewhere as the " Monk-fish," &c. 

 While combining attributes belonging to the Shark tribe, 

 its squat, broad form and various other characters resemble 

 much those of the flat skates and rays, hence it may be 

 regarded as a bridge joining the latter with the former. 



The " Fiddlers " are got all round the Kent coast in moderate 

 quantity, but Webb regards it as somewhat of a rarity just at 



* " Kingston Fish " is an old Maldon name, see Salmon's Hist, of Essex, 1740, 

 p. 426. "Kingston" also appears to be a local Sussex name, cf. Day, Brit. Fish, 



