NATURAL HISTORY. 21 
they sucked every bait off the hooks intended for 
pollack. The curious backward jerk, caused by 
the expulsion of water from the mouth, is unmis- 
takable ; but these animals never by any chance get 
hooked, unless on a triangle. The best way of get- 
ting cuttle is usually from the trawlers ; it is nearly 
always possible, for instance, to pick up a couple 
from the boats anchored each morning in summer 
off the Hastings fish-market. 
There are at least two kinds of dab ; one, the long 
rough dab, related to the great halibut, the 
other of the same genus as the plaice. It 
is this latter, the sand-dab, that the angler is most 
likely to catch; indeed, it is one of our commonest 
resident fish. The popular idea that a dab is 
only a young plaice is of course quite incorrect, 
the plaice being always easy of distinction by 
reason of its red spots. Always, like most of the 
flat-fish, a dweller in the sand, the dab usually 
feeds on or near the ground, though I have known 
of isolated cases in which it took a spinner near 
the surface. Both this and the larger dab have 
very rough skin, and the sand-dab is also found 
in brackish water. 
Dab 
The dog-fish of the Channel are five or six in 
number, but it will suffice for the purpose 
of the present notes to distinguish the spur- 
dog and rowhound (or rough hound), the nurse 
being mentioned below. The spur-dog is a black 
and white fish, which, growing to a length of over 
3 feet, is particularly objectionable on account of 
the sharp spike—hence its name of piked, or 
picked, dog—in front of each back fin. Like all 
Dog-fish 
