THE SCARCER FISHES IN ABERDEEN MARKET 247 



have no evidence whatsoever that off the W. of Scotland or 

 of Ireland they do anything of the kind, save only that it is 

 possible (and even perhaps indicated) that they go in the 

 course of the season from one considerable depth to a yet 

 greater depth. If they at any time or season frequented 

 waters off our own coast as shallow, or nearly as shallow, as 

 those they resort to in Norway, the fact would certainly have 

 been discovered long ago. 



Considering the long-protracted period of spawning, we 

 cannot say that their migration is directly (or at least 

 obviously) connected with this process : nor have we any 

 evidence whatsoever by which to correlate their migrations 

 (as has been sometimes done) with those of the Herring, or 

 to draw the conclusion that they are following the shoals. I 

 am somewhat disposed to think that they are influenced by 

 temperature ; that they show a partiality for cold or cool 

 water ; and that while, in general, they find it in the deeper 

 waters outside the continental shelf, so also they find it 

 in winter, but then only, in the shallow coastal waters 

 of Norway. 



Professor Meek tells us, in his recent book on the Migra- 

 tion of Fishes, that "during the winter Chimcera [monstrosa] 

 leads a bathypelagic life, at a depth of some 500 fathoms in 

 the North Atlantic," and that " in the spring and early 

 summer a general migration takes place to continental 

 waters." These, and also certain other parts of Professor 

 Meek's account, are by no means in accord with the con- 

 clusions to which we have been led, which conclusions we 

 may now attempt to summarise : 



(1). Chimaera is found in Norway in shallow water in 

 winter-time, when it spawns, or at least commences to spawn. 

 It is likewise found in winter and spring in the north- 

 easterly parts of the North Sea, and though it is not 

 known to spawn there, that negative evidence is of little or 

 no value, for its eggs are not likely to attract the notice 

 of our fishermen. 



(2). In Norway it migrates slowly into deeper water in the 

 spring and summer ; and in like manner its captures in the 

 North Sea indicate a movement westwards, so that it is 

 70 2 E 



