and ventrals lie flat out from it, and between them on each side there is a strong cartilaginous ridge, forming—with a similar one across between the pectorals—a flat space resembling the belly of the Monk (or Angel-fish), but harder.
The ventrals are distinct, and on the inner side of each is a rudimentary clasper. There are no anals, and the caudal is single-lobed, except that just where the fleshy part ends there is a slight indentation. The nostrils are large, underneath the snout, in advance of the mouth, and divided into two lobes each by two cutaneous flaps overlapping each other. Within is visible a very delicate membrane, something of the shape of a fern-leaf or the back-bone of a sole. The lateral line starts from the extremity of the nozzle, passes over the orbit of the eyes in a pale broad line down the side with a slight curve, and is entirely lost just behind the second dorsal.
The colour is dark cinereous in blotches over the back, and light cinereous on the belly, and the skin is the roughest I ever saw on any shark. The dorsals are very long and high. The first dorsal in my specimen is four inches and a half long at the base, three inches and four-eighths high at its extreme rear (where it is highest), and the spine is two inches and seven-eighths long; and the second dorsal, just five inches to the rear of the first, is nearly about the same size. As I have said, these large standing dorsals at once distinguish the fish, and if it ever gets common enough to require an English name it should be called the Spritsail Shark. Bloch mentions it as a Mediterranean species, and also as occurring in France, in the Northern Ocean, but I do not understand whether, by the Northern Ocean, he refers to the English Channel or the North Sea. My specimen is in the hands of Mr. Vingoe for preservation.
[The occurrence of Squalis centrina on the British coast is a new and highly interesting fact. This shark is an inhabitant of considerable depths, and is not uncommon in the Mediterranean, but we believe has not hitherto been found further north than the latitude of Lisbon. It is to be hoped that this important specimen will be well preserved and deposited in some public Museum.—Ed.]
