54 CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY IV. 



one on each side. Isthmus moderate; gill-rakers small. Ov^iparous, 

 the egg-cases long, elliptical, with silky filaments. Genera 2 {Ghimcera 

 and Gallorhynchus) ; species about 5. Abounding in the seas of temper- 

 ate and cold regions. 



(Ckimwridw Giiutlier, vii 1,349-352.) 

 *Suout soft, not termiuatiug iu a cntaueousflap ; tail not beut upward.. CniMiERA, 45. 



45.— CHIMERA Liuna-us, 



Rat-fishes. 



(Linnteus, Mus. Regis. Ad. Frid. i, .53; Syst. Nat. : typo Chimwra monstrosa L.) 



Head somewhat compressed, the snout bluutish, i)rotruding, fleshy, 

 not armed at tip with an appendage. Eyes verj^ large, lateral. Teeth 

 rather strong. Lijjs thickish, the lower with a frenum. Lateral line 

 simple on the body, but forking anteriorly, forming several series of 

 mucous tubes on the head. Male with a club-sliaped, cartilaginous hook 

 on the head, above the snout. This hook is curved forward and down- 

 ward, and is armed at its tip with decurved spines. Its tip fits into a 

 depression in front of the eyes. Gill-opening small. Pectorals mod- 

 erate. Ventrals rather large, with large bifid or tritid claspers in the 

 male. Male also with rough api)endages at the base of the ventrals, 

 protruding from a sheath of skin. First dorsal triangular, preceded by 

 a strong spine which is grooved behind and serrated on its edges. Sec- 

 ond dorsal and caudal fins low, often more or less notched. Tail ex- 

 tending in the line of the axis of the body, sometimes produced in a 

 filament. Skin smooth. Fishes of singular api^earauce; mostly of the 

 northern seas; not valued for food. [A'cfrntfja, Chimwra, a fabulous mon- 

 ster, with the head of a lion, body of a goat, and tail of a serpent.) 



a. Claspers in the male trifid. {Chimwra.) 



71. C. pluau1>ca Gill. 



"A CMmcera with the snout acutely produced ; the ante-orbital flexure 

 of the suborbital line extending little above the level of the inferior 

 margin of the orbit ; the dorsals close together ; the dorsal spine with 

 its anterior surface rounded ; the ventrals triangular and pointed ; the 

 pectorals extending to the outer axil of the ventrals; and the color uni- 

 formly plumbeous." {GiU.) Atlantic coast from Cape Cod northward; 

 iu deep water. 



(GiU, Proc. Pliilos. Soc. Washington, Dec. 22, 1877.) 



an. Claspers iu the male bifid. (Hydrolafjus* Gill.) 



* Gill, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sc-i. Phila. 1SG3, 331 : type CMnmra colliei. (v6u>p, water ; laydg, 

 hare ; from the form of the lips aud teeth.) 



