DISCUSSION OF SPECIES AM) Til KIR DISTRIBUTION. 31 



CHI M.I. I. • \ MONSTROSA, I.inn.i i s. (Figure 81.) 



Chimcera monstrosa, l.ixs i i s. Mus. Ad. Frid., i, 53, pi. \\\ ; Syst. Nat., ed. x. L758, i. 236; od. sii, 101. — 

 GOnther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., vm, 349. 



Tail terminating in ;i very long finless filament, aboul as long as the body and head. 

 The first dorsal fin dusc to and subeontinuous with the second «low dorsal fin, the upper 



margin of which is even, not notched, except just in front of the caudal fin, which is also 

 low. Each clasper of the male is divided into two long, slender branches, which are rather 

 longer than the snout, and the inner branch is again longitudinally divided into a simply 

 cartilaginous sty liform part and another coated with the spiny membrane. Brown, marbled 

 with lighter; dorsal tins with a broad black margin. [Gimther.) 



This species has been found along the coast of Europe from Norway to Portugal, and 

 also oft' Soudan and at the Azores, but never as yet in North American waters. Individ- 

 uals have also been taken at the Cape of Good Hope and in the seas of Japan. The Knight 

 Errant and the Triton, in their exploration of the Faroe channel, obtained young individ- 

 uals with their bodies from 1 A to 5 inches in length. These were from a depth of 505 to 555 

 fathoms. The Travailleur, in L882, obtained in the Gulf of Gascony some very small indi- 

 viduals, the least one only 130 millimeters in length, and still carrying the yolk bag. This, 

 according to Vaillant. was probably in the horny egg case when it was inclosed by the 

 dredge net, and fragments of the horny envelope were attached to it, which proved to be 

 very similar to those figured by M idler and Dumeril as the egg case of Chimmra. 



This discovery is particularly instructive, since, even so late as 1**7, Dr. Gunther has 

 expressed the opinion that the ova which had been described as Chimaeroid probably 

 belonged to Callorhynchus. Dr. Gunther was of the opinion, in L889, that there was no well- 

 authenticated egg of Chimmra in any collection : but the adult Callorhynchus has never been 

 found so far north as the Gulf of Gascony, and Vaillant is probably justified in his conclu- 

 sion that the familiar form of egg is that of Ghimcera monstrosa or the closely allied Chi- 

 nuvra affinis. 



As Dr. Gunther has already said, these discoveries show that Chi mmra is a deep-sea 

 fish, and one which propagates its species in deep water, a circumstance which accounts for 

 the previous scarcity of young individuals in collections. 



CHIM.EKA AFFINIS, Capello. (Figures 32-35.) 



Chimnni affinis, Capello, .Torn. Math., I 'li vs. e Nat. Lisb., i.v. 1868, Mil. pi. in, figs. 1, In. 

 I'hiiiiiirn pi u in htm, Gill, Bull. Phil. Soc. Washington, Deo. 22, L877. 

 Ckimara abbreviate, Gill, Proc. U. s. Nat. Mus., \ i. 1884, 254. 



A Ghimcera with the snout acutely produced, the ante-orbital flexure of the suborbital 

 line extending little above the level of the inferior margin of the orbit; body more elongate 

 than in 0. monstrosa; second dorsal removed from the first by interval equal to the length of 

 the base of the latter. Second dorsal much lower than in the other species, and with the 

 free border straight, without undulations. The dorsal spine with its anterior surface rounded ; 

 the ventrals triangular and pointed; the pectorals extending to the outer axil of the ven- 

 trals. Space between first dorsal and the ventral wide, the pectoral terminating much in 

 advance of the ventral. Caudal fin very small, terminating in a minute filament. Cephalic 

 appendages with five spines on inner surface. Posterior appendages tripartite, but the 

 division of the three portions takes place at two-thirds of the distance from the base; the 

 cylindrical portion is larger and presents a form different from that in the others. Color 

 uniformly plumbeous. 



This form is closely allied to Chimmra monstrosa. It was first described by Capello 

 from the coast of Portugal, and later by Gill from the North American side of the Atlantic, 

 at depths varying from 2(»() to 1,200 fathoms. It is very common in the deep water on the 

 outer edges of banks north of Georges Hanks, and was formerly often brought in by the 

 Gloucester halibut schooners. 



