1166 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
men under the above name. It is certainly not very 
rare in the Mediterranean, for in 1879 Giglioli took 
40 specimens on one occasion from depths of 800 — 
1,000 m. The stated occurrence of the Sagre on the 
coast of Portugal is doubted by Barboza and Capello; 
but in the Bay of Biscay it is found, though seldom, 
according to Lafont (in Moreau). On the coasts of the 
United Kingdom and in the North Sea it has not yet 
been met with ; but on the Norwegian coast it is com- 
mon, occurring northwards at least to the 70th degree 
of latitude. In Trondhjem Fjord, according to Storm, 
is is one of the most usual catches on deep-sea lines. 
But it also ascends into comparatively shallow water, 
and the original of our figure, a male, was taken in 
November, 1881, on a Cod-line, at a depth of 40 — 50 
fthms. in Stromstad Fjord. In Christiania Fjord, ac- 
cording to Collett, it is common. As mentioned above, 
it can hardly be distinct in species from Acantliidium 
pusillum , a Madeiran fish described by Lowe, which also 
lives, according to Gunther, in Cuban waters; and re- 
membering the wide distribution of the preceding spe- 
cies, we do not consider it impossible that with the 
Sagre should be also identified in species Gunther’s 
Spinax granulosus from Chili. 
The Sagre swims in shoals and, despite its insigni- 
ficant size, pesters the fisherman after the same fashion, 
if not in the same degree, as the Picked Dog-fish. It 
often bites on the long-line, and is a disappointing sub- 
stitute for the expected catch. Its diet is similar to 
that of the Picked Dog-fish, though it must, of course, 
confine itself more exclusively to small creatures. In 
a female 43 cm. long, from Bohusl&n, the contents of 
the stomach comprised fish-scales (some Scopeloid spe- 
cies), a small cuttle-fish (? Octopus ), almost digested, 
feet of crustaceans (some shrimp or Pandalus), several 
specimens of an indeterminable Annelid, fragments of 
worm-tubes, and a quantity of clayey sediment. The 
same female contained in the left ovary 8 eggs, in the 
right 5, about 14—17 mm. in diameter; but no eggs 
had passed into the oviducts. During April Storm 
found in Trondhjem Fjord a female with 14 young in 
the oviducts, and at the middle of July Collett ob- 
tained off Namdalen females with 7 or 8 fully deve- 
loped foetuses. In the Mediterranean, according to 
Risso, the Sagre breeds all the year round, giving 
birth to 15 — 20 young about 1 dm. long. 
The flesh of the Sagre is not used for food; but 
the liver yields a good oil. 
Frequently the Sagre is infested with an ectoparasite, 
a Cirrhiped, Anelasma ( Alepas ) squaticola , Loven, which 
forms at the dorsal fins and on the under surface of the 
head tumours, first described and figured by Gunnerus. 
Fam. SCYMNIDiE. 
Skin uniformly shagreened with tubercular or conical spinulce. First dorsal fin situated half-way betiveen the 
perpendiculars from the pectorals and ventrals or further forward. No externally protruding dorsal fin-spines. 
Teeth of the upper and lower jaivs different from each other , but all smooth-margined and without lateral cusps. 
The two genera that compose this family, Scymnus 
and Acanthorhinus, come nearest both in the dentition 
and the coloration to Etmopterus. Hasse has suggested" 
that the obscure pelagic forms Isistius brasiliensis and 
Euprotomicrus Labordii should also be ranged within 
this family, in which case the above character for the 
position of the first dorsal fin must be altered, this 
fin being removed rather far back in the two last- 
o 
mentioned genera, more as in the family Echinorhi- 
nidce. In either case we are apparently confronted 
here with one or more series of reduction-forms, which 
have originated from the Picked Dog-fish type, and 
vdiose genealogical relations to one another and to the 
primordial forms still require elucidation. The Scan- 
dinavian fauna possesses only one genus. 
Nat . Syst . Elasmobr ., Allgem. Th., p. 43. 
