CATALOG UK OF FISHES. 333 



North Sea. The Greenland, or, as it is called, the Ground- 

 Shark, seems to be a resident, and has been captured of a large 

 size, sometimes in the trawl-net sometimes on the fishermen's 

 lines, having either taken the bait or the fish caught on the 

 lines. The Common Shark on this coast is the Porbeagle, which 

 is always present during the herring season ; and of the smaller 

 species the Spiny Dogfish is the most abundant and most in- 

 jurious to fishermen. 



The Skates do not appear to be so numerous in species as in 

 the Channel, but it may be that so much attention has not been 

 paid to this group here as it deserves, and probably many species 

 are still unrecorded. The prettily-ornamented Starry Ray, the 

 Eagle Ray, and the Electric Ray are apparently the rarest forms. 

 In late years, judging from wholesale prices, the Common Skate 

 appears to be more in demand now as an article of food than 

 formerly. 



The class Cyclostohata contains but one order, including the 

 Lampreys and the Myxine or Hag-fish. Most of the British 

 species appear to be present in our rivers, but in not so great 

 abundance as in the Trent and in the rivers further south, and 

 generally they pass among the uninitiated as eels. Formerly 

 much esteemed as an article of food they are now chiefly caught 

 in rivers further South to be used by Dutch fishermen for bait. 



There is another little fish-like creature found sometimes 

 plentifully on the South Coast, and whose residence on the East 

 Coast requires further verification, which should, from its singu- 

 larity and the chance of its discovery on our own shores, be 

 mentioned here, the little Lancelet, Branchiostoma lanceolatum, 

 or, as it is named by some, Amphioxus. It represents almost by 

 itself an entire sub-class of fishes, Leptocaedii, only another 

 allied form, and that occurs at the Antipodes, being at present 

 known. 



