The Zoologist — March, 1866. 113 



Additional Notes on the Spinous Shark taken in Mount's Bay (S. S. 102). — I have 

 since 1 wrote you exiiniined the skin of my spinous shark, whilst in pickle preparatory 

 to hein}3^ stuffed. I find /rem it that tlie fish has four rows of teeth, all shaped as those 

 of the front row, of irregular size, varying from half an inch to a quarter of an inch in 

 width, and about half as lonjj as they are wide. There is a serration marked, rather 

 than developed, along the edge of each tooth. These four rows are erectile, and lie 

 overlapping each other very close together, and much more perpendicularly in the jaws 

 than is usual in sharks, so that the outer row being erect, and the lower ones all 

 covered by the semidetached membrane of which I spoke, the mistake which I made 

 of noting only one perfect row is one which would be likely to occur to any one 

 examining the fish only whilst in its original form. Indeed so closely packed are the 

 rows that it was not until I was in the act of extracting one of the front teeth that I 

 observed the others. I send herewith ihe largest and the smallest tooth which I ob- 

 served. In each the points are worn; they were sharper in most of the others. The 

 large tooth is from the front row of the hiwer jaw; the small one is from one of the in- 

 terior rows of the same jaw. The teeth lie in the jaws with the large end directed back- 

 wards. Besides the larfjer spines over the body, there are innumerable very small 

 tubercles in every part of the skin, making it (being in itself soft and leathery) feel as 

 if it were full of small pins' heads. Of the larger spines most stand alone, but many 

 stand in groups of two, three, four, and even five and six, together. The bases of 

 these groups are of irregular shape, and consist of the bases of the individual spines 

 welded (if I may use the word) together. The large callous of which I spoke to you 

 turned out, under this close examination of the skin, to be one of these groups, in which 

 I could count no less than twenty-ihree distinct spines. Tliere were most certainly 

 spines, but small ones only, on all the fins. This examination also enabled me to 

 ascertain the form and position of the gill-openings, which, as I told you, were too 

 much torn on the outside to permit of accurate observation. They were five in 

 number, all placed before the pectorals, and long and narrow. The nostrils were large 

 and lobed, and there was not the opening behind the eyes which is usual in ground- 

 sharks. I believe I have exhausted all my observations, and I have certainly troubled 

 you at a length which only the rarity of the specimen can justify. — Thomas Cornish ; 

 Penzance, January 30, \8ti6. 



Description of a Nereis new to Science. — The remarkable and heautiful animal 

 described below I have raised to the rank of a new genus, based upon Col. Montagu's 

 description and excellent figure, which I showed to Dr. Baird, and that gentleman 

 pronounced it new to him, and I cannot find anything at all like it in any works 

 I have referred to. The form and the remarkable curved lobes of the head, with other 

 peculiarities described, will distinguish this from the rest of the Nereidte. 



DORVILLEA, n. g. 



Nereis pennata, Montagu's MSS. p. 92, t. 47, f. 1, a, t. 

 Dorvillea lobata, Parjitt. 



Head nearly round, convex ahove, the sides a little depressed ; the antennae are 

 developed into two small elliptical and two large curved lobes. Eyes four, two placed 

 in front and two far behind. Body gradually, but very distinctly tapers Irom the head 

 SECOND SEEIES — VOL. I. Q 



