HOLOCEPHALI. 
1079 
ward direction of the upper front teeth, by a special upward direction of the tip of the tail, the upper part 
dermal appendage at the tip of the snout, and by the 1 of the caudal fin being extremely small (heterocercal). 
Genus CHIMERA. 
Front teeth in the upper jaiv of a vertical or hut slightly oblique forward direction; tip of the snout without 
special appendage; tip of the tail prolongated straight hack, in a line with the spinal column , the caudal fin 
narrowing behind and being of about the same height and extent above as below. 
In the Iliad (VI, 179) Homer depicts the slaying 
by Bellerophon of the Xi'/uatget, a, fire-breathing mon- 
ster shaped in front as a lion, behind as a dragon, in 
the middle as a goat. In the seventeenth century 
Kentman sent to Gesner a drawing of a fish from 
Denmark which he called Meeraff {Simia marina)', and 
when Linnaeus found the same kind of fish from Bo- 
huslan in the Royal Museum at Ulriksdal, he called it 
Monkey-fish or Monster-fish ( Chimcera ). “Monster is 
the name given to this fish, which is so unlike all 
others and as it were a medley of all fishes. At certain 
seasons when this strange fish dieth and is cast ashore, 
the common people behold in him a miracle and ima- 
gine that they see laces, points, topknots, and other 
finery, which they believe have so displeased the great 
God that He hath seen good to warn them with signs 
and wonders, which belief news-men, no less wise than 
they, speed the whole world through to the edification 
of all”". Thus the name of Chimcera was introduced 
into ichthyology; and though the monstrosity formerly 
seen in the structure of the genus has disappeared in 
the light of modern researches into its relations to the 
other Elasmobranchs, the life led by these fishes is sfill 
in great part a mystery to us. 
Three species are recognised within the genus, 
one from the west coast of North America, one from 
the North Atlantic and Japan, one from the coast of 
Portugal. 
THE NORTHERN CHIMERA (sw. hafmusen). 
CHIMiERA MONSTROSA. 
Plate XL VI, figs. 2 and 3. 
All the vertical fins contiguous or nearly so; the anal lobe distinct just in front of the beginning of the lower caudal 
lobe and below the end of the second dorsal fin. Tip of the tail prolongated into a finless, whip-like appendage. 
The tips of the pectoral fins, when laid back, extend to the anterior margin of the ventral fins or still further. 
Pterygopodia ( posterior appendages of the ventral fins) of the males forked throughout the greater part of their length. 
Syn. Meeraff ( Simia marina ) sec. Kentmann in litt. : Gesn., De 
Aquatilibus , p. 878 (fig. in p. 877). Galens Acanthias 
Clusii Exoticus, Willughby (ed. Ray), p. 57, tab. B, 9, 
fig. 6. Iis-Galte , Str6m, Sondmors Beslcriv., Tom. I, p. 289. 
Chimcera monstrosa, Lin., Mus. Ad. Frid., part. I, p. 53, 
tab. XXV; Syst. Nat., ed. X, vol. I, p. 236; Fna Suec., 
ed. II, p. 197; Gunn. ( Hav-Katten ), Trondhj. Selsk. Skr., 
vol. II, p. 270, tabb. V et VI; Olafs. ( Iiavinus ), Reise 1st., 
pp. 360 et 598; Ascan. (Solvhaaen, argentea ), Icon. Rer. 
Nat., fasc. II, p. 6, tab. XV ; Mull., Prodr. Zool. Dan., 
p. 38; Bl., Naturg. Ausl. Fiscli., part. I, p. 60, tab. CXXIV; 
Lacep. ( Chim . arctique), Hist. Nat. Poiss., tom. I, 392, tab. 
19, fig. 1; Retz., Fna Suec. Lin., p. 308; Donov., Brit. 
Fish., tab. CXI; Rtsso, Tclithyol. Nice, p. 53; Fmng, Brit. 
Anim., p. 172; Faber, Fiscli. 1st., p. 41 (+ Chim. cristata, 
“ Mus. Ad. Frid., part. I, p. 54. 
p. 45); Nilss., Prodr. Ichthyol. Scand., p. 112; Val. in 
Gaim., Voy. 1st., Groenl., tab. 20; Bonap., Iconogr. Fna Ital., 
Pesci, tab. 130; Schleg. in Sieb., Fna Japan., p. 300, tab. 
CXXXII; Ekstr., Gbgs Vet., Vitt. Samh. Handl., Ny Tidsf., 
vol. I (1850), p, 21; Costa, Fna Regn. Nap., Chim., tabb. 
1 — 7; Kb., Danin. Fisk., vol. Ill, p. 784; Nilss., Sleand. 
Fna, Fisk., p. 705; Dum., Hist. Nat. Poiss. (su. a Buff.), 
tome I, p. 686; Gthr, Brit. Mus. Cat., Fish., vol. VIII, 
p. 349; Coll., Fork. Vid. Selsk. Chrnia 1874, Tillaegsh., 
p. 206; Cederstr., Ofvers. Vet. Akad. Fork. 1876, No. 4, 
p. 67; Malm, Gbgs, Boh. Fna, p. 605; Winth., Naturk. 
Tidskr. Kblivn, ser. 3. vol. XII, p. 56; Mor., Hist. Nat. 
Poiss. Fr., tome I, p. 455; Mela, Vert. Fenn ., p. 363, tab. 
X; Day, Fish. Gt. Brit., Brel., vol. II, p. 286, tab. CLI; 
Lillj., Sv., Norg. Fna, Fisk., vol. Ill, p. 511. 
136 
Scandinavian Fishes. 
