14 



CHIM^ROID FISHES AND TlIEIR DEVELOPMENT. 



that it descends to very considerable depths." The writer has taken it in water of 

 less than 5 fathoms in Puget Sound, and he obtained a specimen caught from 

 the Monterey wharf in water of about 3 fathoms. He also secured over a score of 

 immature specimens (measuring about 30 cm. ) from a single haul of a seine along a 

 shore reach near Port Townsend, at a depth not greater than 2 fathoms. It is 

 known, furthermore, that egg-cases of this species are plentiful in shallow water. 

 C. />/ianfasi/ia -^nd C. (jov'/^r/ also occur in relatively shallow water, /. c, respectively 

 from 10 to 50 and from 22 to 150 fathoms. It appears, further, that Callorhyn- 

 chus is sometimes taken in \vater of no great depth. (Thus Plate records having 

 dredged off the coast of Chile an egg-capsule in water of 10 fathoms.) It follows, 

 therefore, that in the matter of vertical distribution Chimjeroids are not widely 

 different from sharks. 



Fig. 3. — Sketch ot the region ot Monterey, Cal., showing the location of the fishing-ground for Chimaera. 



Returning to the habitat of C. colli ci : It can safely be said that this species 

 is more abundant in shallow water in Puget Sound than at similar depths on the 

 California coast — in this regard paralleling several other fishes as w'ell as inverte- 

 brates. It is nevertheless true that in the region of Monterey specimens were often 

 taken in water shallower than 1 5 fathoms ; but experience demonstrated that the 

 greatest number of individuals could be fished in water of 60 fathoms. It was also 

 found that in somewhat deeper water, 60 to 120 fathoms, females, although less 



