254 Prof. M'Intosli's Notes fi-om the 



breadtli (5| inches) given to tlie body by the taxidermist, as 

 shown by contrasting it with the section of an example from 

 Stoneliaven kindly presented by the late Sir John Struthers. 

 Moreover, the 10-15 long (occipital) rays of the dorsal fin 

 arc absent or represented by a haphazard series of short arti- 

 ficial rays, and those of the fin behind are also artificial and 

 placed bolt upright, besides being both too short and too flat. 

 They should, of course, slope backwards. Day gives the 



number of the dorsal fin-rays at 226~290' ^^'^^^^^^ ^" *'^® ' Scan- 

 dinavian Fishes'* the condition is ^-^' In the specimen 

 in the St, Andrews Museum the rays are 294 in number, the 

 last four being so strong and thick as to resemble offensive 

 weapons, a feature probably due to a misapprehension. 

 The pectoral fins have the correct number of rays (11). The 

 pelvic fins appear to be wiioUy artificial, and have a spatula- 

 like symmetrical tip at the end of a smooth ray, and thus 

 differ from the figure in the ' Scandinavian Fishes,' which 

 shows a triangular trilobate tip and a dermal flap on the 

 inner side of the ray about the commencement of the terminal 

 third. 



3. On Sharhs &)C. cajHured in Nets at St. Andrews. 



The use of gill-nets for the capture of cod and pleuronectids, 

 as well as the employment of trawls, has shown that many 

 an inhabitant of the sea — of whose presence we have hitherto 

 had slight acquaintance — approaches the inshore waters at 

 certain seasons, or is found at various times roaming in 

 the offshore, like the fox-shark {Alopias vuljyes) of 14 feet 

 caught in a trawl off the Forth, the stomach of which was 

 filled with half a bushel of another somewhat unconnnon form, 

 viz. Belone vulgaris. The gill-nets recently used in St. An- 

 drews Bay produced last winter at least five examples of the 

 Porbeagle shark {Isurus comuhicus) , of which only one was 

 a male, and ranging from 7 to 9 feet. This fish, therefore, is 

 by no means uncommon off the eastern coasts, as, indeed, its 

 capture by liners and by salmon stake-nets indicated formerly. 

 The contents of their stomachs usually consisted of the remains 

 of Gadoids, lenses especially being conspicuous in the pulp 

 after digestion. In one instance 11 hooks with the hair 

 " snood " attached occurred, the shark having passed along 

 the fisherman's line and removed the haddocks and other 

 fishes by biting the snood. The hooks appear to give no in- 

 convenience in the stomach, and are probably ejected by the 

 * 2nd edit, Smitt, 1893, i. p. 322. 



