CARTILAGINOUS FISHES. 



525 



mythological antiquity, which is represented with the body of a goat, 

 the head of a lion, the tail of a dragon, and a gaping throat which 

 vomited flames. The strange form of this fish, the manner in which it 

 moves, the different parts of its muzzle, its mode of showing its teeth, 

 its ape-like contortions and grimaces, its long tail, which acts with 

 such rapidity, reminding one not a little of a reptile, are well calcu- 

 lated to strike the imagination. At a later period mediaeval naturalists 

 were contented to see in it a fish with a lion's head, and as the lion 

 was then regarded as the king of animals, so the chimaera became the 

 Herring king. 



The king of the herrings (Fig. 355) is from five to six feet in length, 



Fig. 35. The Arctic chlmaera. 



of a general silvery colour, spotted with brown. It inhabits the North 

 Sea, living on molluscs and crustaceans ; occasionally, as if to justify the 

 title which has been given it, levying heavy contributions upon the 

 herrings. Another species, C. antarctica, is found in the southern 

 hemisphere, which greatly resembles, in its conformation and habits, 

 the northern species. In both the end of the muzzle terminates in a 

 cartilaginous appendage, which projects forward, curving afterwards 

 over the mouth. This extension assimilates to a crest. 



