282 Bashford Dean Memorial Volume 



(1897.1) 1910'mm. specimen (Figure 3, plate I), the body from last gill-slit to vent measures 

 about 975 mm. (38.4 inches), as nearly as we can determine from his data. Carlos de 

 Braganca's specimen (1904) was 920 mm. long (36.25 in.), and from the hinder edge of the 

 pectorals to the front edge of the pelvics measured 265 mm. (10.4 in.). Lastly, Maurer's 

 fish (1912) was 1330 mm. (32.4 in.) in length, of which 500 mm. (19-7 in.) was the distance 

 from the shoulder-girdle to the anus. 



The measurements of the unobstructed portion of the bodies of our three long-pre- 

 served specimens (from the hinder edge of the base of the pectoral to the front edge of the 

 base of the pelvic) are: No. I (1350 mm. or 53.1 in. long over all), 381 mm. or 15 in.; No. 

 II (1485 mm. or 58.4 in.) 483 mm. or 19 in.; No. Ill (1550 mm. or 61 in.) 483 mm. or 19 

 in. Note that while fish No. Ill is 65 mm. (2.5 in.) longer than No. II, the above measure- 

 ments are the same. These measurements, though made on fish long in preservative and 

 very much bent, are fairly accurate, and they clearly show that here as in other measure- 

 ments and structures of this fish there are variations. 



The body, from pectoral to pelvic fins, is everywhere about the same diameter. 

 This may be noted in Carman's specimen (Text-figure 1), in Giinther'sand Collett's speci- 

 mens (Figures 1 and 3, plate I), in Bolivar's reproduction of a photograph (Figure 4, plate 

 I), in Mertens' drawing (Text-figure 4), and in Lo^ano Key's fish (Text-figure 5). How- 

 ever, it is not true of Bertrand's full-bodied specimen (Figure 5, plate II) which is a 

 female and probably gravid as was Nishikawa's fish (Text-figure 2). It is also not true 

 of the Japanese fish figured by Ito (1930), which is a female, and which because of the very 

 large abdomen we believe to have been gravid (Text-figure 6). We cannot give girth 

 measurements for our three specimens because they have all been opened and partly 

 eviscerated. 



We have noted that the placement of the locomotor organs around and behind the 

 cloacal aperture gives the body a somewhat three-tailed appearance when viewed from 

 the side. This, taken in conjunction with the practically uniform diameter of the body 

 proper, accentuates the elongate form. This appearance is helped also by the fact that 

 there is Httle or no compression save in the region behind the cloaca. In general appear- 

 ance, our shark is more eel-like than any other known to us. 



In Chlamydoselachus the pointed sub-triangular snake-like head, the slender sinuous 

 body devoid of an anterior dorsal fin and having about the same diameter throughout, the 

 flexible make-up of the fins and their bunching far behind where the body is smaller, fit 

 the fish for gliding eel-like in and out of crevices in rocks and wrecks. It is evident that 

 it could worm its way out through the fairly large meshes of a beam or otter trawl, and 

 this may in part account for the fact that so few have been taken in such trawls even in 

 localities where the fish is known to live and where such fishing is carried on. Further, 

 we conjecture that its motion in swimming must be sinuous and is probably rather slow. 



