CHIM.^iRA AND ITS CHARACTERISTICS. 



15 



abundant, were more apt to yield eggs, and that in water of less than 40 fathoms 

 females were usually cggless. Collecting notes show that of 48 females taken in water 

 shallower than 40 fathoms there was but a single specimen that yielded eggs, and 

 in this instance the egg-capsules were quite immature. One concludes, accordingly, 

 that near Monterey this Chimseroid occurs generally and at various depths, but that 

 it is usually found at the time of spawning at a depth of somewhat over 60 fathoms. 

 This conclusion is interestingly confirmed b}' the accidental taking of a naturally 

 deposited egg-capsule on a hook of a trawl-line in water of 65 fathoms. 



The best collecting-ground known to the writer is about 3 miles nne. of Pinos 

 buoy, as indicated on the map (fig. 3). Here about 500 were taken, and it is to 

 this region that the following notes apply. A trawl-line,* baited with squid or 

 herring, can be laid in any direction with a reasonable prospect of securing fish; in 

 fact, rarely less than 6 Chimaera are taken in a day's catch; on one memorable 

 occasion 71 were taken. Tabulation of results shows that males are taken over five 

 times as often as females, f and that of the latter (taken during the summer months) 

 but I in 13 bears eggs which can be incubated. It is an interesting fact that in 

 trawling the fish are often caught close together. The writer has seen as many as 

 ten drawn into the boat attached to adjoining hooks. One infers from this that the 

 line has fallen over a restricted feeding-ground, where the fish occur in great number. 

 And it is found, furthermore, that if a fresh line is set over the same course more 

 fish are usually forthcoming, and at the same stretch of the line. If, however, a 

 line is set parallel to the first, and but about 200 feet distant, one is apt to find that 

 no fish are taken. From the above observations one may naturally conclude that 

 the especial feeding-grounds of Chimaera are sometimes small in size. Material 

 brought up by the trawl-line indicates, further, that such a favorable feeding-ground 

 is closely strewn with very small rock fragments. Where large rocks occur Chim?era 

 is less common, and it is relatively rare on a sandy bottom. There is also evidence 

 for the belief that Chimsera occurs in schools; and this view, it may be remarked, is 

 prevalent among fisher-people in widely separate localities, as in Lisbon, Messina, 

 Bergen, Monterey, and Misaki. 



Chimsera is plentiful near Monterey. According to Ah Tack, however, an even 

 more favorable fishing-ground occurs about 10 miles to the southward, near Point 

 Lobos, and it is said to be well known to the Chinese fishermen of the neighboring 

 Pescaderos. From this neighborhood eggs were collected during the winter season. 



In the region of Monterey the temperature of the water during the summer 

 months ranges between 50° and 60° F. , and the specific gravity is about 1.028. 



*Six or seven baskets (/. c, lines) were usually set, having altogether about 5,000 hooks. The boat employed was 

 a Chinese fishing skiff. 



fThis result agrees with the observations of Grieg and Olsson for C/ii»iicra moiistrosci. Costa, on the other 

 hand, states that in the Gulf of Naples no less than 14 were females out of 16 specimens examined (between 1830 and 

 1851), and in Norwegian waters Malm notes that 26 out of 33 specimens were females. 



