BREEDING HABITS. 25 



first dorsal fin. In some instances the presence of several scars indicates that a 

 number of attachments were attempted. The most posterior scars (figs. 10 and i i, 

 scars 13 and 14) are rather scratches than points of attachment. In spite of this 

 evidence, however, the writer must remark that one gravid specimen examined 

 failed to show a scar in the region referred to. On the other hand, there was little 

 doubt that the marks referred to were made on the fish prior to capture, and that 

 in those specimens no other marks were noticeable. 



The antero-pelvic clasping organs are distinctly erectile and probably serve as 

 an additional means of attachment /« copula. They can hardly function as Garman 

 has indicated (/. r., to hold the erected mixipterygia), if for no other reason than 

 that if thus held the mixipterygia not only diverge widely, but are so closely 

 fastened to the side of the male that they can not well be made to enter an oviducal 

 opening. 



It may be noted that Parker (1897) states that spermatophores are present in 

 Callorh^-nchus. * 



MODE OF DEPOSITING EGGS. 



Two eggs are deposited almost simultaneously; and it is more than probable 

 that, just as in sharks, considerable time is taken in the actual process of extruding the 

 eggs. In fig. I 2 is shown the anal region of a specimen (C pliantasiiia) in which the 

 egg-capsules were protruding. This specimen, it may be said, had been rather 

 carelessly handled and had been in the well of a fishing-boat nearly half a day, but 

 the eggs showed no tendency to become detached. The capsules in this instance 

 are still deeply inserted in the oviducts; even at a later stage they remain firmh' 

 attached. In the condition shown in plate i, fig. 4, the capsules protruded as far 

 as the base of their terminal filament, j^et they remained attached to the fish for 

 several hours and were thus brought to the Hopkins laboratory. It was then found, 

 as the figure indicates, that the terminal filament passed throughout the length of 

 the thickened portion of the oviduct and terminated in an expanded tract in the 

 crease at the lower end of the capsular gland. At this stage the walls of the lower 

 oviducts were contracted and embraced tightly the capsular filament. At a still 

 later stage the filament hardens into a dark-colored string, and the capsules then 

 hang freeh' into the water, 2 or 3 inches distant from the body.f Such a condition 

 was once observed by the writer, and he found that even thus the eggs were firmly 

 attached. In removing them the connecting strings were observed to possess con- 

 siderable elasticity. They could even be lengthened and shortened several inches. 

 When detached from the fish they showed that the terminal was still immature, 

 soft, and pale in color. It is to be regretted that in this specimen no dissection of 



*Doubt has been expressed as to the presence of a receptactihiyyi scmuiis. (Hyrtl in Sb. Akad., Wien, 1853, XI, 

 pp. 1078-1087, and Redecke, Tydschr. d. nederl. Dierkund. Ver, 2d ser., Decl. vi, 1899, p. 125.) In this connection 

 cf. Howes as to a "rudimental vesicula seminis" in Chimaera (9 )■ (J- Linn. Soc, vol. xxiii, p. 405.) 



tProf. Einar Lonnberg, in a recent letter, which I am permitted to quote, states that he has observed (in July, 

 1S98, in the market of Bergen), a specimen of Chimisra tnonslrosa in which egg-capsules were protruding from 

 the oviducts, somewhat in the condition shown in the present fig. 12. 



