48 
SMOOTH HOUND. 
any eggs in reserve. The heads of the unborn young •were 
longer in proportion to their bodies than those of the young 
Picked Dog. 
The food of the Smooth Hound usually consists of crustaceous 
animals, -which it crushes -with its pavement of teeth; but it 
takes a bait 
It gro-ws to about three feet in length: one of that size 
measured a foot in girth close behind the pectoral fins. The 
head flat and wide; eyes two inches and a half from the 
snout, three inches asunder, and oval; a longitudinal chink 
belo-w the eye; spiracle below the line of the posterior angle 
of the eye. Mouth opposite the eyes; teeth blunt, covering 
the jaws like a pavement; corners of the mouth lobed; nostrils 
complex, not lobed. Body rising behind the head; a slight 
ridge along the back; slender near the tail, the upper lobe of 
which is broad and notched. The skin smooth and yielding; 
lateral line straight. Pectoral fins wide, the first dorsal nearer 
the head than in most Sharks; both dorsals fleshy, thick at 
the base, and rounded above. Ventral fins opposite the space 
between the dorsals, but posteriorly ; the anal smaller than the 
second dorsal, and nearer the tail. Back and sides ash-coloured, 
white below, but in some instances pink or reddish; numerous 
white spots on the back and sides, in some examples regularly 
placed along the lateral line. These spots are not a constant 
character in this species and some others of this family, but 
are most numerous in the younger fishes, and perhaps disappear 
in the old. 
