174 THE STORY OF FISH LIFE 



So much for the shark-tribe, the Elasmo- 

 branchii of the scientific text-books (p. 192). 

 We will turn now, not to a consideration of 

 the still higher groups of fishes descended from 

 the sharks, but to some other shark-like forms — 

 the chimeras. In spite of their superficial re- 

 semblance to the sharks, they are held to be 

 distinct therefrom. Their points of resemblance 

 are probably derived from an ancestor common to 

 both. One species of chimera, Chimcera monstrosay 

 is found occasionally in the Atlantic and Medi- 

 terranean. It occurs sporadically. Another, 

 Chimcera affinis, is occasionally to be seen, ac- 

 cording to Mr Bashford Dean, in Lisbon market, 

 "where, from its low price, it evidently ranks 

 with the sharks as a food-fish." Another species, 

 Chimcera antardica, is common in the Straits of 

 Magellan. Yet another is abundant in the 

 shallow waters of Vancouver, where it is known 

 as the " rat-fish," and " may often be seen in the 

 neighbourhood of the docks swimming slowly at 

 the surface." The last of the chimeras to be 

 discovered has been placed in separate genus, 

 Harrotia. It is the most primitive and most 

 shark-like of all. 



The chimeras are divided into four families, 

 three of which are now extinct. The family to 

 which the living chimeras belong attained the 

 zenith of its development in the Cretaceous and 

 Eocene periods. The surviving members are to 

 be regarded as the degenerate descendants of those 

 days, for they never exceed five feet in length, 

 whilst Edaphodon, one of the fossil members 

 of the family, attained gigantic proportions. 



