THE SCARCER FISHES IN ABERDEEN MARKET 237 



records are restricted (1) by the fact that our trawlers fish 

 on limited areas, more or less closely defined by conditions 

 of depth ; (2) by the fact that experience has taught them 

 to resort to certain particular grounds, mainly or sometimes 

 exclusively, at particular seasons of the year ; and (3) by the 

 broad fact that the fishing fleets tend to be concentrated on 

 certain areas, and to fish but sparsely on others. Our 

 trawlers seldom fish, as yet, very much beyond the 100- 

 fathoms line ; the liners fish at times in deeper water, but 

 their records of rare fish are few. In short, our market 

 observations teach us little or nothing of the fish-life beyond 

 the comparatively narrow limit of 100 fathoms. We have 

 thus to guard, in general, against the use of negative evidence ; 

 but let us try, in a particular case, to see how far the avail- 

 able and positive evidence may serve to carry us. 



That curious and ancient fish the Northern Chimaera, or 

 King of the Herrings, has been known since Pennant's day, 

 and Dr Fleming's, as an inhabitant of the Shetland seas ; and 

 also, as a Norwegian fish, since the days of Gesner and of 

 Pontoppidan. From its great cutting teeth, the Shetland 

 fishermen call it the Rabbit-fish ; and others, taking into 

 account its long tapering tail, call it (still better) the Rat- 

 fish, under which name Pontoppidan records it, and which 

 name the allied species, C. Colliei, goes by on the Pacific 

 coast. 



Our Chimaera does not appear to cross the Atlantic, 

 though it is common in Iceland : it is said to range as far 

 south as the Cape of Good Hope ; and it was formerly 

 believed to go as far as Japan, but the Japanese fish is now 

 held to be distinct [C. phantas7ua, Jordan and Snyder). Over 

 a dozen species of the genus are known, some six of them 

 from Japan, and all but three of them from the Pacific region. 

 The three Atlantic species include, besides the old and well- 

 known C. monstrosa, the two following, viz. : (1) C. affinis, 

 Capelle, which is known from both sides of the Atlantic ; and 

 (2) C. mirabilis, Collett, a species first discovered in very deep 

 water between the Faeroes and the Hebrides, again by 

 the Goldseeker S.W. of the Faeroes, and again found 

 repeatedly by Holt and Byrne off the W. and S.W. of Ireland. 



