48 SMOOTH HOUND. 



any eggs in reserve. The heads of the unborn young were 

 longer in proportion to their bodies than those of the young 

 Picked Dog. 



The food of the Smooth Hound usually consists of crustaceous 

 animals, which it crushes with its pavement of teeth; but it 

 takes a bait. 



It grows to about three feet in length: one of that size 

 measui-ed a foot in girth close behind the pectoral fins. The 

 head flat and wide; eyes two inches and a half from the 

 snout, three inches asunder, and oval; a longitudinal chink 

 below the eye; spiracle below the line of the posterior angle 

 of the eye. Mouth opposite the eyes; teeth blunt, covering 

 the jaws like a pavement; corners of the mouth lobed; nostrils 

 complex, not lobed. Body rising behind the head; a slight 

 ridge along the back; slender near the tail, the upper lobe of 

 which is broad and notched. The skin smooth and yielding; 

 lateral line straight. Pectoral fins wide, the first dorsal nearer 

 the head than in most Sharks; both dorsals fleshy, thick at 

 the base, and rounded above. Ventral fins opposite the space 

 between the dorsals, but posteriorly; the anal smaller than the 

 second dorsal, and nearer the tail. Back and sides ash-coloured, 

 white below, but in some instances pink or reddish; numerous 

 white spots on the back and sides, in some examples regularly 

 placed along the lateral line. These spots are not a constant 

 character in this species and some others of this family, but 

 are most numerous in the younger fishes, and perhaps disappear 

 in the old. 



