FOUND IN THE FRITH OF FORTH. 55 t 



the names of sail-fish and cairban ; in the north of 

 Scotland it is called pricker, and brigdie. 



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S. Acanthias. Piked Dog-fish ; Sea-dog. 



Great numbers of sea-dogs generally attend the 

 shoals of herrings that enter the Frith. They of- 

 ten gnaw through the nets, and devour the her- 

 rings inclosed. — Here, the dog-fish is commonly 

 neglected as food, and cast to the dunghil. In 

 the north of Scotland it is often eaten. The flesh 

 of the male has a rank and offensive smell compa- 

 red with that of the female : the latter is therefore 

 preferable for food. In the Pentland Frith, and 

 among the Orkney Islands, vast numbers are year- 

 ly caught, for the sake, chiefly, of the oil which 

 they afford. The fish is there named the hoe. 



S. Squat in a. Angel-fish, or Monk-fish. 



This ugly animal, for its common name must 

 be understood ironically, is unlike the other 

 sharks, and approaches, in general structure, to 

 some of the ray-tribe. A specimen, rather more 

 than four feet long, was taken in the Frith, in a 

 skate-net, sunk off Kinghorn, about thirty years 

 ago, and carried to Dr Monro by the Newhaven 

 fishermen. It is still preserved in the Doctor's 

 museum. A larger specimen, taken also in the 

 Frith, was in the collection of the late Dr Wal- 

 ker. This is the Mermaid-fish of Artedi, and has 

 probably given rise to some of the many stories 

 which we read and hear concerning mermaids, 



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