240 



THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



southward into the North Sea beyond the parallel of 58 N., 

 so far as our observations go ; and their proximity to the 

 100-fathom line would suggest that the fish are to be looked 

 on as more or less periodic immigrants to our shallower seas 

 from deeper water (very likely just beyond the line), where 

 we fail to catch or follow them. Within the belt throughout 

 which we do find them, there is little or no evidence of their 

 being more abundant in one part than another. We have 

 had, doubtless, a few more individuals from one square than 

 another, but bearing in mind the great local inequalities in 



Fig. 2. Distribution of Chimera according to the Aberdeen Records. 

 # October to April. O May to September. 



the amount of fishing, such statistical evidence goes for little, 

 and the actual discrepancies are not great enough to be 

 significant. 



But we reach firmer ground when we begin to consider 

 the times of year when the various specimens were captured. 

 On Fig. 2 I have distinguished between the captures from 

 May to September, and those from October to April. It 

 will be seen that these two seasons correspond, all but 

 precisely, to a definite geographical distribution ; the winter 

 captures were all (or practically all) to the east, and the 

 summer captures are in like manner to the west, of the 

 Shetland Isles. Mr Holt's Fisher Bank specimens form an 



