254 PLAGIOSTOMI. 



Courtmasherry harbour, and towed to shore ; it was nearly 30 feet 

 long." 



Dr. Ball, in a lecture on the fishes of Ireland, INIay, 1839, states, — 

 " As to the propriety of encouraging the pursuit of sun-fish, from my own 

 inquiries on the coast of Galway I doubt the policy of doing so ; it cer- 

 tainly appears that the capture of one of these enormous fishes, measur- 

 ing from 30 to 40 feet in length, would produce some £.S0 worth of oil, 

 but then the appearance of the fish is so uncertain, and the number so few, 

 that the taking of one is quite a lottery. I believe the real fact to be that 

 the value of the sun-fish taken on the coast of Galway would by no means 

 remunerate the number of persons who have engaged at difi^erent times in 

 the fishery ; while some made money, many more lost time, which may 

 have been profitably employed in ordinary fishing. The pursuit of sun-fish, 

 if undertaken by gentlemen in their yachts, would add no contemptible 

 item to the list of wild sports of the West. Sun-fish are struck with 

 harpoons, and afterwards killed with lances ; and the capture, from its 

 gamboling, uncertainty, difficulty, and danger, possesses the excitement 

 which renders many sports attractive, but which excitement, applied to 

 industry, may urge on the current rapidly for a while, but only to divert 

 it from its proper channel, to run waste in riot when successful, or stag- 

 nate in the pool of despond when the reverse." 



" The western coast of Ireland abounds with the Sun-fish or Basking 

 Shark," — llardiman's Galway, publislied 1820. 



The Picked Dog-fish,* Sjnnax Acantkias, Cuv., 



Is taken around the coast. 



A specimen of this fish, containing young and eggs, was obtained at 

 Carrickfergus, on 28th Dec, 1838, and forwarded to Dr. M'Donnell of 

 Belfast, in whose possession I saw it. The following are my notes re- 

 specting it : — 



It is 3 feet 4 inches long ; colour of entire upper surface a dull slate 

 grey, becoming paler downwards, the under surface white ; on each side 

 the ridge of the back are about 6 obscure round white dots (as in the 

 fcetal specimens, and ride Donovan, pi. 82), but none lower down (as in 

 the specimens and figure just named) ; there are a few obscure round 

 dusky spots appearing indiscriminately over the body of the fi.sh ; eye 9i 

 lines in lemitli, 6 lines high, irides silver, pupil black. 



This fish contained 8 eggs of a roundish oval form, and from 1^ to If 

 inches long, and from this size numbers down to a mere speck. 



It contained 9 young in the oviduct, some of them so very slightly ad- 

 hering that in a very short time they would have been excluded ; these 

 are of similar size, the 9 (the fishermen say the number is always odd) 

 being each 9^^ inches in length, and are in every respect perfect, except- 

 ing that a portion of the egg adheres to each : they are much handsomer 

 in colour than their parent, being of a pearl grey above, with a row of 

 round white spots, but few in number, on each side the ridge of back, and 

 a series of white spots and elongate markings along the lateral line ; 

 the pearl grey shades away towards the under surface, which is pure 

 white. 



P. dull grey, tipped with white ; 1 st D. pearl grey tipped with black, an- 

 teriorly hinder portion white from base to tip ; 2nd D. pearl grey, tipped 



* Sometimes called " Piky Dogs " in the North. 



