PRIME AND OFFAL 109 



fighting. He can do incalculable mischief to drift-nets 

 and make vast numbers of herring and small fry utterly 

 unfit for market, because he seems to kill and mangle 

 for the mere joy of murder and the lust of maul. He 

 is voracious and ferocious, and when he is hauled in the 

 trawl at midnight it is needful to turn aside for settlement 

 with him, for he will bite through any limb to the bone, 

 and will not let go. If he is a big fellow of, say, 6 ft., 

 he cannot be very easily or readily dispatched. I have 

 seen them, when on deck, leap and writhe even after 

 many heavy blows have been struck on the head. If a 

 piece of wood, a handspike, or a plank from a fish-trunk 

 is held near the fierce animal he will grip it with his 

 teeth and hold so firmly that he may be dragged about 

 the deck for a long time until he is finally settled. 

 When he is dead he is thrown overboard, where he 

 makes a welcome meal for his brothers. Occasionally 

 the fish are eaten by fishermen, and they are regularly 

 dried in the Orkneys for winter food. 



"We catch lots of dogfish in the trawl," an old 

 Yarmouthman stated. " They are very tiresome. They 

 prick our fingers in the dark, and we can't afford to pay 

 boys to hold lanterns. It's the piped dog, with two 

 scales on the back. We get the spotted dog in the 



summer." 



The sinister reputation of the dogfish is not confined 

 to the North Sea. The pilchard and the southern 

 herring-fishing suffer heavily owing to the raids of dog- 

 fish, yet the conservative toilers of the Channel, who 

 might turn the enemy to profitable advantage, insist 

 upon calling him "dogfish," instead of "flake." " Dog- 

 fish," as Mr. H. G. Murdoch pointed out at a meeting 



