1152 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
in pairs, at certain intervals. In the course of a month 
a female Nurse Hound has been seen to lay 18 eggs. 
The eggs deposited early in April were hatched at the 
beginning of December (Coste, Coinptes Rendus, Ja- 
nuary 21, 1867). 
The systematic name of the genus, Scylliorhinus, 
was coined by Blainville in 1816 and must be re- 
cognised, as Jordan and Gilbert 3 have proposed, in 
deference to the accepted laws of nomenclature, although 
the Cuvierian name of Scyllium has hitherto been in 
general use. The Swedish name of Rodliajar (Red 
Sharks) is originally a Danish rendering, introduced 
by Kroner, of the French Roussettes, an allusion to 
the red coloration prevalent in the family, which cha- 
racteristic is further distinguished by its maculation 
from the plainer dress of other Sharks. Nilsson call- 
ed these Sharks doggfiskar, an adaptation of the Eng- 
lish word. 
Of the genus 8 or 9 species are known from tro- 
pical and temperate seas. 
THE NURSE HOUND. 
SCYLLIORHINUS STELLARIS. 
Fig. 336. 
Nasal valvules separated exactly in front of the mouth by a space equal in width to the height of the hindmost 
gill-opening. Length of the head about 19 — 17 % of that of the body and greater than the distance betiveen the 
anterior margins of the two dorsal fins. Distance betiveen the pectoral fins and the tip of the snout at least 2 / 5 
of that between the first dorsal and the same point. Distance between the ventral fins and the tip of the snout 
somewhat greater than that between the first dorsal and the eyes; their inner posterior corners obtuse, scarcely 
elongated behind. Length of the base of the anal fin greater than or at least equal to the distance between the 
two dorsal fins. Length of the caudal fin from the beginning of the inferior lobe more than 1 / i of the length 
of the body. Greatest depth of the body about 10 — 12 % b ', least depth , in front of the caudal fin, about — 5 %, 
of the length of the body. Coloration above grayish brown, sometimes shading into yellow or red, below white. 
Back, sides, and fins, the paired ones even underneath, strewn with comparatively large roundish spots — some 
( more constant) blue-black, others {sometimes indistinct or wanting) whitish — about equal in size to the gill- 
openings, smaller on the head and the forepart of the back. 
Syn. Galeus stellaris minor , Belon., Nat., Divers. Poiss., p. 65. 
Canicula saxatilis, Rondel., De Pise., “p. 383. Catulus 
maximus, Willughb.. Hist. Pise., p. 63; Ray, Synops. 
Method. Pise., p. 22. Squalus cinereus, pinnis ventralibus 
discretis, Art., Ichthyol., Gen. Pise., p. 69; Syn. Pise., 
p. 97. 
Squalus stellaris, Lin., Syst. Nat., ed. X, tom. I, p. 235; 
Flmng (Scyllium), Brit. Anim ,, p. 165; Bonap., Iconogr. 
Fna Ital., Pesci, tab. 131, fig. 2; Thomps., Nat. Hist. Irel., 
vol. IV, p. 247; Gthr, Cat. Brit. Mus., Fish., vol. VIII, 
p. 402; Malm., Ofvers. Vet. Akad. Fork. 1875, No. 10, 
p. 33; Gbgs , Boh. Fna, p. 622; Lillj., So., Norg. Fna, 
Fisk., vol. Ill, p. 652; Car., Prodr. Fnce Medit., vol. II, 
p. 508. 
Squalus canicula, Brunn. (nee Lin.), Ichthyol. Massil., p. 4; 
Bl. (p. p.), Naturg. Ausl. Fisch., part. I, p. 16, tab. CXII. 
Squalus' ( Scyllium ) catulus ( + Sq. stellaris ), Cov., Regn. Anim., 
ed. 1, tom. II, p. 124; Yarr. ( Scyllium catulus, nec Lin.), 
Brit. Fish., ed. 1, vol. II, p. 373; ed. 2, vol. II, p. 
493; Mull., Hle, Plagiost., p. 9, tab. 7; Dumer., Hist. 
Nat. Poiss. (su. a Buff.), tom. I, p. 316; Barb. Boc., 
Cap., Peix. Plagiost. Portug., p. 11; Mor., Hist. Nat. 
Poiss. Fr., tom. I, p. 280; Day, Fish. Gt. Brit., Irel., 
vol. II, p. 312. 
Nurse Hound, Couch, Fish. Brit. Isl., vol. I, p. 11, tab. I. 
The Nurse Hound attains a length of at least 
12 (A dm. (Bocage and Capello; according to Day 
15 dm.); but so large specimens appear to be rare. 
As a rule the length varies between about 5 and 7 
dm. It is strictly a Mediterranean fish, dispersed in 
the Atlantic to Ireland and England. Sometimes it 
strays north to the Orkney and Shetland Islands; and 
a Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 16, p. 869. 
6 Sometimes, according to DoDerlein (Man. Ittiol. Medit., fasc. II, p. 23), about 14 °/. 
