488 BULLETIN 10 0, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Psychichthys Fowlee, Proc. Acad. Nat, Sci. Philadelphia, 1907, p. 419. (Type, 



Hydrolagus waitei Fowler, orthotypic.) 

 Phasmichthys Jordan and Hubbs, Mem. Carnegie Mus. vol. 10, p. 119, 1925. 



(Type, Chimaera mitsukurii Dean.) 



Head partly conic, compressed. Snout soft and fleshy, conspicu- 

 ous, large, blunt. Eye large or moderate, lateral. Mouth inferior. 

 Tritors or dental laminae rodlike. Lips thick, lower with frenum. 

 Gill opening small. Skin smooth. Lateral line on head with zigzag 

 openings. First dorsal triangular. Anal present, distinct or joined 

 with subcaudal, or rudimentary. 



According to Smitt : "In the seventeenth century Kentman sent to 

 Gesner a drawing of a fish from Denmark which he called Meeraff 

 {Simia marina) ; and when Linnaeus found the same kind of fish 

 from Bohuslan in the Royal Museum at Ulriksdal, he called it 

 Monkey-fish or Monster-fish {Cliima£Ta) . 'Master is the name given 

 to this fish which is so unlike all others and as it were a medley of all 

 fishes. At certain seasons when this strange fish dieth and is cast 

 ashore, the common people behold in him a miracle and imagine that 

 they see laces, points, topknots, and other finery, which they believe 

 have so displeased the great God that He hath seen good to warn 

 them with signs and wonders, which belief news-men, no less wise 

 than they, speed the whole world through to the edification of all'. 

 Thus the name of Chimaera was introduced into ichthyology; and 

 though the monstrosity formerly seen in the structure of the genus 

 has disappeared in the light of modern researches into its relations 

 to the other Elasmobranchs, the life led by these fishes is still in 

 great part a mystery to us." 



ANALYSIS OF SPECIES 



a*. Anal fin distinct from subcaudal. 



6\ Chimaera. Caudal filament long; eyes large. 

 &. Lateral line in short even waves on flank. 

 (?\ Claspers bifid % their length. 



e\ Tritors 5 to 7 on each vomerine monstrosa 



e^. Tritors 3 on each vomerine pseudomonstrosa 



d^ Claspers bifid % their length phantasma 



c^ Lateral line irregular, not waved ; claspers divided % their length. 



e\ Iridescent dusky, blackish below jordani 



e^ Mottled light, tail with light streaks owstoni 



6^ Caudal filament short. 



f. PsYCHicHTHYS. Eycs Small; second dorsal not indented. 

 g^. First dorsal origin little behind gill opening. 

 7i\ First dorsal 1% in head; pectoral reaches beyond ventral 



origin purpurescens 



li^. First dorsal 1% in head; pectoral reaches % to ventral. 



eidolon 

 g^. First dorsal origin over gill opening. 



t\ First dorsal 1% in head - aflBnis 



i'. First dorsal little greater than head waitei 



