16 
ROUGH HOUND. 
species, the Nurse Hound, nor in those of any of the Ray 
tribe. 
The motion of this species in the water appears to he slow 
and irregular, and little under the direction of intelligence; so 
that the prey might seem to be sought for at random rather 
than in pursuit. When high in the water, whither it some- 
times ascends, its progress is serpentine, with a motion of the 
head corresponding with that of the hinder part of the body. 
Fishermen remark that when in danger, both this species 
and the Nurse Hound shut their eyes; which is done by 
lifting the lower eyelid, as is the case with birds. 
The Rough Hiuid is in but little esteem with us as food; 
but it is not altogether rejected, for in the West of Cornwall 
it is used to make what is there valued as moi-ghi soup: the 
name of morghi being an Ancient British word that signifies a 
sea-dog. 
But in some foreign countries it is greatly valued. Wil- 
loughby found it for sale in the market at Rome; and Risso, 
who confounds the species, and supposes the Scyllium stellaris 
to be the same with the Catulus maximus of Willoughby and 
Ray, speaks favourably of it, and pronounces the liver especially 
to be delicious. It appears, however, that as food it is not 
always without danger; and Lacepede mentions an instance 
where a family after eating it had a narrow escape of their 
lives. It is scarcely necessary to caution English people against 
exposing themselves to the same danger. 
It is a general remark, applicable indeed to the whole family 
of Sharks, that the female exceeds the male in size ; but whether, 
as in their analogical races, the lion and eagle, they exceed 
also in ferocity, we have no opportunity of knowing. But the 
opinion of some naturalists — that some of the species continue 
to increase in bulk as long as they live, is certainly erroneous. 
Sharks generally are of quick growth; but they reach a de- 
finite magnitude in a very few years, and beyond this are 
not found to advance. 
In form it is more slender than the last species; it rarely 
reaches a yard in length: the specimen described measured two 
feet six inches. Head depressed, snout short and blunt, an inch 
and a quarter before the eye, which latter organ is of a slender 
oval shape; temporal orifice near its posterior angle; nostrils 
