AN OUTLINE OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF A 



CHIM/EROID. 



BASHFORD DEAN. 



The common chimaeroid of the west coast of the United 

 States, Chimara collici Jenyns, was taken in deeper water (50 

 150 fathoms, sp. gr. 1.027, 55 F.) off the California:! coast 

 and in shallower (520 fathoms) in Puget Sound. Near Mon- 

 terey, in water of about 100 fathoms, eggs about to be deposited 

 were taken from females and incubated in sunken cases ; by this 

 means a fairly representative series of embryonic stages was 

 secured. 1 In addition one embryo was obtained from an egg- 

 case taken accidentally on the hook of a trawl line, and a series 

 of hatched young were kindly placed at the writer's disposal by 

 the U. S. National Museum. 



Spawning occurs at Monterey throughout spring, summer 

 and fall, and a few eggs were obtained by the Chinese fisher- 

 man Ah Tack Lee during the winter. The period of maximum 

 spawning is during August. Two eggs are deposited at the same 

 time. And for several hours at least, at the time of protrusion, 

 they hang freely in the water, the small end of each egg-case 

 attached close to the genital opening. The case here terminates 

 in a single string-like process which passes up the oviduct as far 

 as the capsular gland, and here it is so firmly attached at this 

 stage that it can be lengthened to the degree of several inches 

 and shortened like a strand of gutta-percha. Exactly how 

 the egg is deposited is unknown ; in any event it appears to be 



1 The writer is greatly indebted to President Jordan and to the directors of the 

 Hopkins Seaside Laboratory, at Pacific Grove, for many courtesies extended him dur- 

 ing two summers at the laboratory ; and to Dr. Ray L. Wilbur for much generous and 

 skilful cooperation in securing material from the Chinese fisher-people during the years 

 1897, 1898 and 1899. Dr. Wilbur made numerous trips from San Francisco to Mon- 

 terey during this time, and to his interest in my work and to his boundless energy I 

 am indebted for many of the later and rarer stages of this interesting fish. To Ah 

 Tack Lee, most skilful and intelligent of local fishermen, I owe my best thanks for 

 his services as a collector. To Mr. Naohide Yatsu, finally, for much valuable assist- 

 ance in connection with the preparation of the present paper. His are the drawings 

 from which Figs. 8-12, 17-19 are reproduced. 



270 



