ARCTIC CHIMJERA. 147 



first view appear unnatural, and bear little likeness to any- 

 thing found in the generality of fishes. 



In its body, although not more than three feet long, it has 

 much resemblance to a Shark. It is compressed in a slight 

 degree at the sides, and lengthened, and rapidly diminishes 

 from the pectoral fins to the end of the tail. The skin is 

 pliant, smooth, and covered with scales so small as not to be 

 sensible to the touch, but they are so bright and silvery as 

 to cause the whole surface to shine. In some cases there are 

 brown patches scattered over this surface, by which the 

 brightness is rendered more conspicuous. The large head is 

 of a pyramidal shape, ending in a point at the muzzle, the 

 top of which is about the same height as the eyes, which are 

 large; and near them is the lateral line, which is white, 

 sometimes edged with brown, and on each side reaching to 

 the middle of the tail, where it descends below the lower 

 portion of the body, to be joined with the corresponding line 

 on the other side. Near the head the lateral line divides into 

 several waved branches, one of which j^asses over the back to 

 meet a branch of the line from the other side. Two other 

 branches pass round the eye and meet at the snout. A fourth 

 proceeds to the corner of the mouth, and a fifth passes in a 

 crooked direction under the last-named along the lower surface 

 of the snout, and becomes mixed with its fellow on the other 

 side. The surface of the body is soft and flexible, folded on 

 the lower portion, and furnished with numerous openings for 

 the sujDply of mucus. 



The pectoral fins are large, falciform, having at their root 

 a fleshy base. The dorsal fin rises by a long, firm, three- 

 cornered sj)ine, which is notched along its hinder edge. This 

 fin becomes suddenly lower and then again wide, to the space 

 ojjposite the vent. There is a very small s]3ace between it 

 and the second dorsal, the rays of which are about the same 

 length as those which end the first, but which become lower 

 gradually to the tail, where they end. In some instances, 

 however, this interval between the fins does not exist, so that 

 some naturalists reckon three fins in the space along the back 

 where others mention only one. The tail ends in a long and 

 very slender filament. The anal fins are two, of which the 

 first is very short and slightly falciform, beginning below the 



