360 NEW-YORK FAUNA. 



Color. Slate above ; rather darker on the summit of the head ; lighter beneath the lateral 

 line. (" Under the lateral line, a series of white circular spots." Storer.) Abdomen white 

 with a pinkish hue, and passing into bluish grey towards the tail. In several specimens the 

 ventrals were reddish, which may be attributed to infiltration. 



This species, which is exceedingly common on our coast, does not occur in Dr. Mitchill's 

 enumeration of the Fishes of New- York, nor in his Supplement to this Memoir. He was 

 acquainted, however, with the species ; for I find a notice of it in one of the ephemeral papers 

 a few years afterwards. In this paper, he states that the greater part of those taken in De- 

 cember were females in a gravid state. They are so numerous about Cape Cod, according 

 to Dr. Storer, that they form in the spring and autumn an important fishery for the oil which 

 they furnish. In Scotland, they are eaten by the poorer classes. They are very voracious. 

 The oesophagus and anterior third of the stomach is furnished with long white papillae, the 

 remainder with brown longitudinal folds. In the stomach of several, I found remains of the 

 Mya arenaria, and scales of fishes. They are true scavengers of the sea. I am almost 

 inclined to suspect our species distinct from that of Europe, but I have not any opportunity 

 of making a direct comparison. An English naturalist, Couch, asserts of this species, that it 

 bends itself into a bow, for the purpose of using its spines ; and by a sudden motion, causes 

 them to spring asunder in opposite directions ; and so accurately is this intention effected, that 

 if a finger be placed on its head, it will strike it without piercing its own skin. 



The Spinous Dog-fish does not extend, as far as I have been able to ascertain, very far south 

 of the coast of New- York. Northwardly it extends beyond the coast of Labrador. 



