THE EGG-CAPSULE. 



35 





Fig. 16. — Chimaeroid egg-cap- 

 sule. Mid-Pacific. (Ventral 

 aspect.) After Carman. 

 About two-thirds natural size. 



Fig. 1 7. — Egg-capsule of Chi- 

 masra monstrosa. Norway. 

 (Ventral aspect.) Natural size. 



sule (fig. 1 6), differs widely from other 

 recent forms. It has thus a remark- 

 ably long tail-sheath; is provided with 

 a distinct type of lateral web, for its 

 rugae are few in number and restricted 

 to the region of the trunk-case, and 

 there are no conspicuous rugae arising 

 from the hinge of the opercular flap, 

 dividing a precardinal from a post- 

 cardinal lateral web, as in the other 

 forms. 



These differences are so striking that 

 I am quite convinced that this capsule 

 represents a new genus.* Garman 

 himself tells us nothing of its antece- 

 dents, and as he on one page refers 

 to it as belonging to Callorhynchns 

 antarctiais and on another to Callo- 

 rhynchtis callorhynchus, I infer that he 

 attributes it to the latter species and 

 that he regards these terms as synony- 

 mous. 

 Chimsera. 



Capsules somewhat tadpole-shaped, with 

 large trunk-sheath, short snout-, and long, 

 tapering tail-sheath; lateral web narrow, with 

 rug» faint, if present at all. Opercular flap 

 e.xtends forward to end of case; serrulae pres- 

 ent, beginning far forward, a part of the 

 complicated apparatus of opercular ridges 

 {cf. pi. Ill, fig. 17, A, B, c) ; caudal pores 

 many, opening on both dorsal and ventral 

 sides. A dorsal keel present. Capsules thin, 

 parchment-like, smooth or slightly ridged. 

 The species differ in well-marked details, e.g., 

 in width of lateral web, length of tail-sheath, 

 modeling of trunk- and snout-case, texture, 

 number of serrulae, etc. If arranged in a com- 

 parative series {cf. table, p. 30, and figs- 17, rS, 

 21, 22), C. co//iei stands closest to the type of 

 Carman's capsule, and C niilsukiirii is ob- 

 viously the most specialized. 



*This might be christened and specified by a systematist who does not hesitate 

 ultimately to complicate Chimaeroid literature in the matter of synonyms. It may be 

 long before a new Chimaeroid is fished from the mid- Pacific and it maybe a century 

 before this can be satisfactorily fitted to "Carman's capsule." Let us therefore pro- 

 visionally refer to such capsules according to the names associated with them — thus 

 under Callorhynchids we may refer to the " Martinez capsule, " " Peron capsule, "etc. 



