THE EGG-CAPSULE. 



35 



Fig. 16. Chimaeroid egg-cap- 

 sule. Mid-Pacific. (Ventral 

 aspect.) After Garman. 

 About two-thirds natural size. 



Fig. 17. Egg-capsule of Chi- 

 maera monstrosa. Norway. 



sule (fig. 1 6), differs widely from other 

 recent forms. It has thus a remark- 

 ably long tail-sheath; is provided with 

 a distinct type of lateral web, for its 

 rugae are few in number and restricted 

 to the region of the trunk-case, and 

 there are no conspicuous rugae arising 

 from the hinge of the opercular flap, 

 dividing a precardinal from a post- 

 cardinal lateral web, as in the other 

 forms. 



These differences are so striking that 

 I am quite convinced that this capsule 

 represents a new genus.* Garman 

 himself tells us nothing of its antece- 

 dents, and as he on one page refers 

 to it as belonging to Callorhynchtts 

 antarcticus and on another to Callo- 

 rhynchus callorhynchus, I infer that he 

 attributes it to the latter species and 

 that he regards these terms as synony- 

 mous. 

 Chimaera. 



Capsules somewhat tadpole-shaped, with 

 large trunk-sheath, short snout-, and long, 

 tapering tail-sheath; lateral web narrow, with 

 rugae faint, if present at all. Opercular flap 

 extends forward to end of case; serrulae pres- 

 ent, beginning far forward, a part of the 

 complicated apparatus of opercular ridges 

 (cf. pi. ni, fig. 17, A, B, c) ; caudal pores 

 many, opening on both dorsal and ventral 

 sides. A dorsal keel present. Capsules thin, 

 parchment-like, smooth or slightly ridged. 

 The species differ in well-marked details, e-g., 

 in width of lateral web, length of tail-sheath, 

 modeling of trunk- and snout-case, texture, 

 number of serrulae, etc. If arranged in a com- 

 parative series (cf. table, p. 30, and figs- 17, 18, 

 21, 22), C. colliei stands closest to the type of 

 Carman's capsule, and C. mitsukurii is ob- 



(Ventral aspect.) Natural size. viously the most specialized. 



*This might be christened and specified by a systematist who does not hesitate 

 ultimatelylto complicate Chimaeroid literature in the matter of synonyms. It may be 

 long before a new Chimaeroid is fished from the mid- Pacific and it may be a century 

 before this can be satisfactorily fitted to "Carman's capsule." Let us therefore pro- 

 visionally refer to such capsules according to the names associated with them thus 

 under Callorhynchids we may refer to the " Martinez capsule, " " P^ron capsule, "etc. 



