Nr. 9] CONTRIB. TO THE LIFE HISTORY OL THE FISHES 





Chimæra monstrosa Lin. 

 This fish (king of the herrings, rabbitfish; Norwegian: sjø 

 mus) is called by the local fishermen »spelstrenghyse«. (Vide 

 my notes in Maal og Minne, 1913, p. 113). The egg capsule of 

 this species was first described by Collett in Norges Fiske, 

 1874, p. 206. Further information as to the ova is given by 

 James Grieg, in Ichthyologiske Noliser, Bergens Museums Aar- 

 bog 1894 — 95, Nr. 5, p. 11. I have obtained from fishermen two 

 egg capsules of Chimæra, one tåken at Munkholm, 12 A 1907; 

 length of the capsule itself plus capsule stem 15 cm. the fili- 

 form prolongation of the stem measuring 4.5 cm. The other was 

 laken between Munkholm and Frosta in the first half of August 

 1909. L. 15 cm. - 5.5 cm. (the filiform prolongation). Both of 

 these must have been newly spawned, only the yolk mass being 

 visible, without any indication of macroscopic embryonal devel- 

 opment. The capsules were light yellowish-brown in colour. 

 A photographic reproduction of the one is given in lig. 5. 



Fig. 5. Egg capsule of Chimæra monstrosa. tåken 

 between Frosta and Munkholm first half of 

 August 1909. 



According lo Colletts explanation, the side facing forward 

 in fig. 5 should be the ventral. The ventral carina thus disap 

 pears in the broadest part of the capsule; the dorsal, nol visible 

 here, and the lateral, continuing along the entire length of the 

 capsule. A priori, il would be natural to suppose that when 

 the young fish is ready to emerge, the capsule splits along the 

 lateral carina in the broad part. And this has also been found to 

 be case. On the Vs 1916, while dredging on clay bottom between 

 Frosta and Leksviken (on the inner side of Tautra), 100 — 200 

 m., we found 5 empty Chimæra capsules, all split along the 

 lateral carina for a length of abt. 2 /s of the broad part. These 

 must, I take it, have been capsules of this years spawning, the 

 colour when tåken being a fresh yellowish-brown. On being 

 dried, the gradually turned black. The terminal thread was in 

 all cases lacking. 



Lamna cornubica Gmel. 

 On the Vn 1914, we purchased from a fisherman, Jon A. 

 Haugrønning, a specimen of this species (porbeagle; Norwegian: 



