252 PLAGIOSTOMI. 



Mr. Nimmo informed me, that this species is taken both on long-lines 

 and in nets on the Galway coast. 



The Common Tope,* Guleus viihjaris, Cuv., 



Is found around the coast. 



Several specimens, from 1 1 inches to 4^ feet in length, taken on the 

 North-East coast, at various seasons of the year, have come under my 

 examination, and I have notes of the existence of the species in various 

 other localities, North, East, South, and West. 



Mr. Templeton mentions the capture of a specimen 5 feet long, in Bel- 

 fast Bay. 



Mr. Yarrell describes the skin of this species as being " almost smooth," 

 but in a specimen 1 foot in length I found it decidedly rough when I 

 applied my hand from the direction of the tail towards the head ; perhaps 

 the roughness may be greater in the young than in the old examples. 



The Smooth Hound, Mustelus Icevis, Cuv., 



Is occasionally taken in the North and South. 



The following notes on this species were contributed by me to the 2nd 

 vol. of the Annals Nat. Hist. (p. 272) : — 



" Musfc/us Ifpvis and Hinnulus. — I embrace this opportunity of offering a few 

 remarks on the identity of the Squalus Mustelus, Linn. {Musfelus Icevis, Will.), 

 and Sq. Hinnulus, Blain.f {Must.stellatus, Risso). As some authors are agreed 

 on this subject, it may perhaps be considered ininecessary to treat further of it, 

 but I do so in reference to the place S. Hinnulus occupies in Mr. Jenyns's ex- 

 cellent Manual, p. 5U3. Here a short description is given of a fish taken at 

 Weymouth, of which it is said that it ' appears to be identical with the S. Hin- 

 nulus of Blahiville ;' afterwards the remark is made, ' that it is a great question 

 whether this last be anything more tlian a variety of S'. Mustelus.' 



" The following observations are on a specimen taken in Belfast Bay on the 

 16th of July last, and received by me before life was extinct. This individual 

 combined in colour Mr. Jenyns's descriptions of S. lavis and .S. Hinnulus, hav- 

 ing, as the former is described, the 'upper parts of a uniform pearl gray,' and 

 being ' paler or almost white beneath ; ' at the same time presenting with the 

 S. Hinnulus ~i 'a row of small whitish spots from the eye towards the first of 

 the branchial openings ; lateral line indistincth/ (?) spotted with white ; also a 

 moderate number of small scattered white spots between the lateral line and the 

 dorsal ridge.' The lateral line is ui my specimen closely spotted with white, of 

 a silvery Itistre, from its origin to the extremity of the second dorsal fin, where 

 this marking terminates ; but a row of similar spots appears throi:fghout the en- 

 tire tail, beginning at the origin of the caudal fm on the upper side, and placed 

 between its margin and the lateral line ; ' a moderate niunber ' of white spots, 

 as described above this line, as far as the extremity of the second dorsal fin ; 

 these are larger than those on the line, and have the same silvery lustre ; the 

 short space intervening between the end of the second dorsal and the origui of 

 the caudal fin is spotless. No spots on the body below the lateral line, nor on 

 any of the fins, which are pearl grey ; the pectorals varied with a whitish tinge 

 along the margin, and the tlrst dorsal with a dusky tip. Pupil of the eye black ; 

 irides silvery, with iridescent hues ; eye 10 lines in length, § oblong-oval in form. 



* Sometimes called " Blue Dog-fish." 



t Fanne Franc^aise, p. 83, pi. 20, f. 2. 



X " Bro\'vnish-ash" is given as the general colour by Mr. Jenyns ; Risso de- 

 scribes the M stellatus to be " d'un gris de perle en dessus." 



§ The Squalus Canicula is so difterent in this respect, as from the smallness 

 of its eyes to be commonly called blind (lo(i-fisJi in the North of Ireland. 



