484 CHIlkLERID.E. 



more properly to his second order of Chondropterygii, in 

 which the gills are fixed : for though there is only one appa- 

 rent gill-opening on each side, the gills in reality adhere by 

 a large part of their borders, and there are consequently five 

 holes communicating with the external gill-opening. They 

 have a rudimentary operculum concealed by the skin ; and 

 their jaws, still more reduced than those of the Sharks, are 

 furnished with hard plates, four above and two below, in 

 place of teeth. The males are distinguished by trifid bony 

 appendages to the ventral fins, and produce very large lea- 

 thery eggs, having flat velvety edges." The first figure here 

 given is that of a male ; the second that of a female. 



The Northern Chimsera is represented as a fish of singular 

 appearance and beauty, a native of the northern seas princi- 

 pally, where it seldom exceeds three feet in length, and is 

 generally taken when in pursuit of shoals of Herrings, or 

 other small roving fishes, upon which it principally subsists : 

 Bloch says it feeds also on medusfe and Crustacea. The flesh 

 is described as hard and coarse. According to some authors, 

 the Norwegians extract an oil from the liver which they con- 

 sider of singular efficacy in disorders of the eyes. 



Pennant received from a gentleman a drawing and particu- 

 lars of one that had been taken among the Shetland Islands : 

 this species was also known to Dr. Walker as an occasional 

 visitor in that locality. Never having seen this fish, I avail 

 myself of Dr. Fleming's description, taken from a specimen 

 sent by L. Edmonston, Esq. from Unst, where it is termed 

 the Rabbit-fish. A specimen taken from the same locality 

 has lately been received by Mr. W. C. Hewitson of New- 

 castle, the author of a valuable work on the eggs of British 

 Birds. 



" Length nearly three feet. Body compressed. Head 

 blunt ; the snout sub-ascending, blunt. A narrow crenulated 

 grinder on each side in the lower jaw, and a broad tubercular 



