368 Survey of Fishing-Grounds, West Coast of Ireland, 1890-1891. 



with the fishes in the order given by Day, in his " Fishes of Great Britain and 

 Ireland," as the most reliable work on British ichthyology accessible to the 

 general public. In the present case there is not the same need, and we have 

 therefore adopted what seems to us the most natural classification, which is 

 practically that of Dr. Giinther. 



We have considered it undesirable, in the case of most species, to incumber 

 the descriptions with a complete list of references, and have therefore eliminated 

 all that ajjpear to be of only minor importance. It must also be understood 

 that in no case do we hold ourselves responsible for the correctness of the 

 synonomy given by the authors referred to. In the case of forms which are 

 only treated in respect to their vertical or horizontal distribution we have referred 

 only to such records as are concerned therewith. 



ELASMOBRANCHII. 



HOLOCEPHALA. 



Genus Chimsera, Linnaeus. 



Chimaera monstrosa, Linnaeus. The Rabbit Fish, or King of the Herrings. 



(Deep-sea.) 



ChimcBra monstrosa, . . . GiJNTHER, " Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus.," viii., p. 350 ; 



"Chall.," xxii., p. 12; "Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist.," 



1889, p. 415. 

 . . . Day, "Fish. Great Brit.," ii., p. 286. 

 . . . Vaillakt, "Exp. Sci. Trav. Talism. Poiss." p. 80. 

 . . . Holt, "Sci. Proc. Roy. Dub. Soc, vii., p. 121. 



This fish is represented in the Survey collections by five examples, taken in 

 July, 1890, off Achill Head, at 220, 175, and 144 fathoms. It was previously 

 known as a British form from specimens taken by the "Knight Errant" and 

 " Triton" between the Shetland and Faroe Islands, at a maximum depth of 516 

 fathoms, and from an egg-case taken by the " Flying Fox," at 315 fathoms, off 

 the S. W. coast of Ireland. We have received a skull, entangled on a hook to 

 the W. of the Faroe Islands, and the occurrence of two examples between 70 and 

 135 fathoms to the north of the Great Fisher Bank has been recorded by one of 

 us ("Journ. M. B. Assoc," N. S., iii., p. 120). Another example, now in the 

 British Museum, has reached our hands« from comparatively shallow water on the 

 south coast of Ireland. Four small specimens were taken by the French 

 scientific expedition in the Bay of Biscay at depths of 433 to 670 fathoms. The 



