292 Bashford Dean Memorial Volume 



Goodrich's figure ^ seems to us more normal and for that reason is reproduced herein as 

 Text-figure 22. Our adult specimens are unfortunately all females, and our embryo males 

 have only rudimentary claspers, so we are unable to add anything here. Giinther's brief 

 statement of the external conditions is as follows : 



The membranous margin of the ventral [pelvic] fin of the male is attached to the outer 

 and upper side of the clasper, leaving only the terminal third of the latter free, as is the case 

 in the Notidanidae generally, whilst in other sharks the fin and the clasper are separated by a 

 more or less deep notch. 



The only other investigator who has studied the claspers is Goodey (1910, pp. 563- 

 567). His work is chiefly anatomical and will be reviewed in another paper. He gives 

 some measurements, which are of interest in themselves and because they seem to be the 

 only ones ever made. His male fish was 1300 mm. (52 in.) long. The length of girdle 

 and appendage (myxopterygium) was 214 mm. (8.5 in.), the appendage was 112.5 mm. (4.5 

 in.) long, but the free part was only 48 mm. (1.9 in.) long. The greatest width of the 



Text-figure 22 

 Lateral view of a male Chlamydoselachus. Note the length of the claspers in comparison with those 

 shown in Figures 2 and 4, plate I, and in Figure 17, plate V. 

 After Goodrich, 1909. 



appendage was 14 mm. (0.6 in.) and the greatest width across the fins 125 mm. (5 in.). 

 Goodey notes that, compared with the pectorals, the pelvics and appendages are quite 

 large, that this si2;e is mainly in the fin since the appendage is very short, and that the skin 

 covering the terminal part of each appendage is very soft and is entirely lacking in the 

 dermal spines ordinarily found on this organ in other Elasmobranchs. 



As may be inferred from Gunther's figure of the pelvic fins and claspers (our Figure 

 17, plate V), and from Goodey's measurements and descriptions, these latter organs are 

 very primitive and simple in make-up when compared with the elaborate structures 

 usually found in the more highly specialised sharks and rays. This is an additional proof 

 of the lowly position of this shark. 



UNPAIRED FINS 



Leaving the paired fins, we now turn to the unpaired ones which present several 

 features of interest from a natural history point of view. 



Dorsal Fin. — Unlike most sharks, Chlamydoselachus has but one dorsal fin. This 

 is placed far back and apparently corresponds to the second dorsal of other sharks. This 



^ E. S. Goodrich. Vertebrata Craniata (Cyclostomes and Fishes). In Lankester, E. R. Treatise on Zoology, 1909, vol. IX, fascicle 1, 

 {Chldmydoselachus, pp. 140-142, figs.). 



