Page:The Zoologist, 1st series, vol 4 (1846).djvu/172

1338 men of a fish, which I recognized as the Six-branchial, or Gray Shark: a species new to the Fauna of Cornwall, and until lately, to Britain. Beside the advantage of making a record of the occurrence of every novelty in Natural History, as neither any precise description of this species, nor a figure, is to be found in any work that is easily acces- sible, I have much pleasure in communicating the particulars derived from this capture, together with a drawing, to the Natural History Society of Penzance. The length of this specimen was 2 feet, 2½ inches ; the head wide, and level over the summit ; the breadth, from eye to eye, 2¾ inches; the snout rounded in front, and somewhat thick; eye large, staring, and slightly oval; without an angle on the anterior portion, or inner canthus, and destitute of a nictitant mem- brane. This portion of the eye is immediately over the symphysis of the lower jaw. The larger nostril is half way between the eye and snout, enclosed by a prominent margin, the orifice directed forward. Temporal orifice small, 1½ inch from the posterior angle of the eye. The gape very large ; tongue bound down, and not apparent ; teeth, in the upper-jaw eight on each side, thin at the base, the points slen- der and sharp, not serrated, their direction towards the angle of the mouth. A small vacancy at the symphysis of this jaw ; and a little in advance of this are four teeth, the two middle ones being very slender and parallel, the points directed towards the mouth ; the other two more remote, and their points diverging. A little in advance of these are other two, that might easily escape observation, slender, smaller, and more loosely attached. As in the upper jaw, so in the lower, there is a single row of teeth, but they differ greatly in form, being thin and broad, their anterior margin higher, the sloping edge finely serrated ; they are six in number on each side of the symphysis, with what appears like a small bifid intermediate one. Orifices of the gills six, closely approximate ; the apertures long and encircling the throat. The pectoral fins wide, triangular. Body with the general propor- tions of the Picked Dog-fish ; the head wider and larger. Dorsal fin single, its anterior edge 14 inches from the snout, and opposite the space between the ventrals and anal, it is larger than the latter. Cau- dal fin 6½ inches long, and consequently more than one-fourth of the length of the fish, and longer as well as more slender than that of any other British shark, except Squalus Vulpes. The inferior lobe of this fin is falcate, and becoming attenuated as it proceeds; being narrowest opposite the notch. Along the posterior two-thirds of the upper mar- gin of the tail, is a row of spines, of three series, closely pressed to- gether at the roots, and the two outmost regularly diverging. Tex-