THE GREENLAND SHARK. 
255 
with pure white, anteriorly with black on the central portion, and poste- 
riorly whitish from the base upwards. 
V. whitish ; C. pearl grey, margined with white above and beneath, and 
tipped with black. 
Eyes 4 lines long, 2£ high ; irides silver, pupil black. 
Of the 9 young, 5 are males and 4 females, the appendage to the ven- 
tral fins marking the sex. The spines in all these are of as hard and 
strong consistence as in the adult fish ; the spine on their 1st D. is 4 
lines, that on their 2nd D. 6 lines in length. On opening one of the 
young ones the liver was found to be cream-coloured : in the parent it 
was somewhat of a yellowish grey colour, closely reticulated with a darker 
shade. The stomach of the parent was empty. 
Mr. Bernard Meenan has seen the young ones swim off* from the body 
of the parent after it was at least 3 hours dead (the fishermen have told 
him they have swam off 6 hours after death of parent) ; they swam round 
the body instead of going off: considered the most destructive of the dog- 
fish by the fishermen ; taken all round the coast. 
“ Frequent in the bay, where it is well known that a wound from one of its 
spines is attended with great inflammation and pain for 2 or 3 hours. 5 ’ — Rutty’s 
Dublin , vol. i. p. 347. 
August 15 th, 1851. — I saw one with the Rev. G. M. Black at Annalong, 
where, he informs me, it is the common species of shark. It is called 
Dog-fish here, and a blue-coloured shark, the next most common species 
to it (according to the Rev. G. M. B.), is called Shark. Mr. Black showed 
me the jaws of one of the latter, taken from a fish feet in length. They 
were those of a Galeus vulgaris. The dog-fish, properly called Scyllium 
Canicula, is said to be very scarce here. Oct. 13 th, 1851. — I looked over 
about twenty sharks brought in by boats at Newcastle, and they were all 
Spinax Acanthias. May not the reason of this shark being the most 
common species here be owing to its frequenting sandy ground, like that 
of Newcastle ? Scyllium Canicula, the common species of Belfast Bay, is 
taken in muddy ground. Oct. 1*1 th. — I saw a man preparing several S. 
Acanthias for dressing, by cutting off fins, tail, &c. The flesh looked 
beautifully white undressed, and he said it was as good as that of any other 
fish, though not marketable. The fishermen here use them as food.* 
The Greenland Shark, Scymnus borealis, Elem. 
I can only say of this species, that a shark sometimes taken by the 
Youghal fishermen at the Nymph Bank, and described by them to Dr. 
Ball, is considered by that gentleman to be the S. borealis. 
The Angel-fish, Angel Shark, or Monk-fish, 
Squatina Angelus, Dum., 
Is of occasional but rare occurrence from North to South. 
I have notes of the capture of five examples of this species in Belfast 
Bay, the largest measuring 5 feet 4 inches in length, and 2 feet 9 inches 
in breadth : some of these are preserved in the Belfast Museum. One of 
them (taken in July, 1850) had in its stomach the remains of several dabs 
and plaice, five of which were nearly whole, and had been from to 8^ 
* Dr. Ball, in the Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 27 th April , 
1846, describes the apparatus by which the mother is defended from laceration 
from the spines of her young, a highly interesting anatomical fact. 
