". W, OF THE C H.TiEGE OP SCIENCE, IMPERIAL UMIVFJi; 



TOKYO, JAPAN. 



VOL. XIX., ARTICLE 3. 



Notes on Chimaera. 



TWO JAPANESE SPECIES, C. PHANTASMA JOEDAN AND SNYDER, 

 AND C. MITSUKURI1 X. S., AND THEIE EGG CASES. 



By 



BASHFORD DEAN. 



With 1 Plate. 



Chimaeroid fishes enjoy the distinction of representing one of the 

 largest (i.e., major) groups of chordates of winch least is known ; and 

 they are forms, moreover, of especial interest, since they are often 

 regarded as standing more nearly in the direct line of the higher 

 vertébrales than even the oldest sharks. At the present day they are 

 widely scattered, rarely common in any one locality, and they have 

 proven unusually inaccessible to naturalists. Their embryology has 

 not been described, and even their remarkable egg cases are known 

 only in a few species. 



From Japanese waters the only true Chimaera hitherto known 

 is the one described, probably from t\m bay of Nagasaki, by Tem- 

 liMiiek and Schlegel, who figure it in their important FAUNA 

 JAPONIC A (1847). This species they here regard as identical with 

 the common Chimaera of North Atlantic and Mediterranean wafers. 



