THE GKEENLAND SHARK. 25a 



with pure white, anteriorly with black on the central portion, and poste- 

 riorly whitish from the base upwards. 



V. whitish ; C. pearl grey, margined with white above and beneath, and 

 tipped with black. 



Eyes 4 lines long, 2^ high ; irides silver, pupil black. 



Of the 9 young, 5 are males and 4 females, the appendage to the ven- 

 tral fins marking the sex. The spines in all these are of as hard and 

 strong consistence as in the adult fish ; the spine on their 1st D. is 4 

 lines, that on their 2nd D. 6 lines in length. On opening one of the 

 young ones the liver was found to be cream-coloui-ed : in the parent it 

 was somewhat of a yellowish grey colour, closely reticulated with a darker 

 shade. The stomach of the parent was empty. 



Mr. Bernard Mccnan has seen the young ones swim ofi" from the body 

 of the parent after it was at least 3 hours dead (the fishermen have told 

 him they have swam off 6 hours after death of parent) ; they swam round 

 the body instead of going off: considered the most destructive of the dog- 

 fish by the fishermen ; taken all round the coast. 



" Frequent in the bay, where it is well known that a wound from one of its 

 spines is attended with great mflannnation and pain for 2 or 3 hours." — Rutty' s 

 Dicblin, vol. 1. p. 347. 



August 15th, 1851. — I saw one with the Rev. G. M. Black at Annalong, 

 where, he informs me, it is the common species of shark. It is called 

 Dog-Jish here, and a blue-coloured shark, the next most common species 

 to it (according to the Rev. G. M. B.), is called Shark. Mr. Black showed 

 me the jaws of one of the latter, taken from a fish 4^^ feet in length. They 

 were those of a GaJeus vulgaris. The dog-fish, properly called ScgUium 

 Canicula, is said to be very scarce here. Oct. V6th, 1851. — I looked over 

 about twenty sharks brought in by boats at Newcastle, and they were all 

 Spinax Acanthias. May not the reason of this shark being the most 

 common species here be owing to its frequenting sandy ground, like that 

 of Newcastle ? Scgllium Canicula, the common species of Belfast Bay, is 

 taken in muddy ground. Oct. 11 th. — I saw a man preparing several S. 

 Acanthias for di'essing, by cutting off" fins, tail, &c. The flesh looked 

 beautifully white undressed, and he said it was as good as that of any other 

 fish, though not marketable. The fishermen here use them as food.* 



The Greenland Shark, Scymmis borcaUs, Flem. 



I can only say of this species, that a shark sometimes taken by the 

 Youghal fishermen at the Nymph Bank, and described by them to Dr. 

 Ball, is considered by that gentleman to be the S. borealis. 



The Angel-fish, Angel Shark, or Monk-fish, 

 Squatina Angdus, Dum., 



Is of occasional but rare occurrence from North to South. 



I have notes of the capture of five examples of this species in Belfast 

 Bay, the largest measuring 5 feet 4 inches in length, and 2 feet 9 inches 

 in breadth : some of these are preserved in the Belfast Museum. One of 

 them (taken in July, 1850) had in its stomach the remains of several dabs 

 and plaice, five of which were nearly whole, and had been from 5^ to 8^ 



* Dr. Ball, in the Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 27th April, 

 1846, describes the apparatus by which the mother is defended from laceration 

 from the spines of her young, a highly interesting anatomical fact. 



