FISHES 467 



Eev. R. Burn saw it soon after it had been landed, and with 

 admirable promptitude at once informed me of its arrival. I 

 went to Whitehaven by the next train and identified the animal, 

 which was examined by Dr. Welby I'Anson a little later. It 

 measured about 7 feet 9 inches in total length. Fortunately it 

 early became entangled in the net and did little damage to the 

 gear. While being hauled out of the water by the tail, this 

 Shark disgorged a quantity of Plaice and other flat fishes. 

 Wignall told me that he had caught a similar fish on the same 

 ground about five years earlier. 



Order G HON DROP TERY Gil. Fam. SGYLLIIDJE. 



SMALL-SPOTTED DOGFISH. 



Scy ilium canicula (L. ). 

 The Whitehaven fishermen complain of the destructiveness 

 of this fish, but it is not usually numerous enough in our open 

 waters to do any great harm to their industrj?-. It appears to 

 be almost unknown in the shallow waters of the estuaries. 



Order GHON DROP TERY Gil. Fam. SPINAGIDM. 



PICKED DOGFISH. 



A canthias vulgaris, Risso. 

 This Dogfish, sometimes called the [ Bastard Shark/ appears 

 to occur in sparing numbers on our coast ; of late years, at all 

 events, it has not been very numerous. An example which 

 Cradock sent to me in July 1891, caught off Whitehaven, 

 measured 2 feet 3 inches. Heysham mentions in one of his 

 letters to Yarrell that a Picked Dogfish had been caught in 

 the river Caldew, November 26, 1828. A local paper tells us 

 that the specimen in question was caught in Dentonholme 

 Caldew dam by a boy, who had observed the fish struggling in 

 a shallow pool. It measured 34 inches, and scaled 5 J- lbs. 1 

 It is curious that this marine fish should have wandered so far 

 from salt water as to reach Carlisle. 



1 Carlisle Patriot, Nov. 28, 1828. 



