NORTHERN CHIMiERA. 
1083 
sists of a small lobe, obliquely triangular and posteriorly 
somewhat elongated, below the end of the second dorsal. 
The paired fins are lobate (with fleshy, broad, 
brachial base, so far as the radialia [fig. 294, 1 — 6 and 
fig. 295, 1 — 2} extend and form the rounded basal disk) 
and obliquely pointed, more or less sickle-shaped, the 
pectorals more than the ventrals. The former are set 
vertically on the lower part of the sides, just behind the 
gill-openings, and are very large. Their tips extend, 
when laid back, at least to the insertions of the ventrals, 
in the males usually beyond the said points. The ven- 
tral fins are set about half-way between the tip of the 
snout and the beginning of the caudal fin, the length 
of the head being about 2 / 5 of their distance from the 
tip of the snout. They are only about half as long as 
the pectorals, measuring in the females about 3 / i , in the 
males about 88 %, of the length of the head. Before 
them lies in the males, within a dermal sac, opening at 
an oblique, slit-like aperture, the tongue-shaped, flat, 
but somewhat twisted anterior copulatory organ (fig. 295, 
prp), armed at the inner margin with 6 or 7 pointed, 
curved teeth, and articulating with the fore end of the 
pelvis. Behind them and on their inside are situated the 
posterior copulatory organs (pterygopodia) of the males, 
which are trifid at the tip for about 2 / 3 of their length. 
The three branches are equal in length, but differ in 
thickness, the lowest (lower inner) branch (fig. 295, ii) 
being invested only with a thin dermal covering, where- 
as the two upper branches have a thick skin, with 
numerous prorsal denticles on one side. When at rest, 
however, the lower inner branch (ii) lies so close to 
the upper inner (si) that the apparatus seemingly con- 
sists of only two sections. 
The Northern Chimsera, when alive, is a brightly 
coloured fish of a beauty more striking than agreeable. 
The back is reddish brown, lighter or darker; the sides 
are for the most part silvery, shading above into blue; 
the lower parts of the body white. But under the sil- 
very lustre of the sides the dorsal colour spreads in 
curious figures, oblong spots, arranged in longitudinal 
rows, or irregular, sinuous, and indefinite patches (clouds), 
a kind of marbled pattern being thus formed. The sil- 
very lateral line is sharply marked by its brown edges. 
The top of the head partakes of the dorsal coloration, 
but in front is crossed with the retiform design which we 
have already noticed; its under surface shares in the 
white of the belly. The iris has either a golden or a 
silvery sheen; the pupil a greenish lustre. The unpaired 
fins are of the same colour as the back; but a black 
border extends throughout the length of the caudal fin, 
more or less far forward along the second dorsal, and 
along the upper posterior margin of the first dorsal. 
The paired fins too are similar in coloration behind to 
the back"; the anterior (under) surface is lighter, with 
rays of an ashy gray. The cavities of the mouth arid 
pharynx are more or less black, but the tongue and 
the branchial arches yellowish. 
Of the internal organs Retzius and Hollberg (1. c.) 
have given an exhaustive description, and we shall here 
merely refer the reader to our above remarks on this 
head, adding that the bluish black intestinal canal is 
short and almost straight, with only three coils in the 
spiral intestine, the heart extremely small, and the bi- 
lobate liver, especially the right lobe, very large and 
oily. The well-developed spleen is of a triangular fusi- 
form shape and lies beside (under and behind) the pan- 
creas, between the inferior edges of the lobes of the liver. 
The Northern Chimaera has its proper home in the 
depths, some hundreds of fathoms below the surface, 
but frequently ascends to a higher level, to a depth of 
40 or 30 fathoms, where it is occasionally taken on 
Haddock-lines. It often falls a victim also to the not 
unusual fate of deep-sea fishes, being carried involun- 
tarily to the surface and cast ashore dead or in a help- 
less condition by storms. It has a wide geographical 
range in the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean as 
well as in Japanese waters. It occurs besides, according 
to Dumeril’s statements from the Museum of Paris, off 
the Cape of Good Plope. Within the limits of the Scan- 
dinavian fauna it 'is known from East, Finmark to the 
west coast of Jutland and the Sound. It is most com- 
mon on the coasts of Norwegian Nordland and Bergen 
(Collett). Hollberg remarked that it was common in 
Bohuskin during the Herring-fishery of last century; but 
it afterwards became rare, and each time a Chirmera was 
seen there, the revival of the said fishery was eagerly 
expected. Off Mount Kullen it has been caught on se- 
veral occasions, and in the Sound it has been met with 
between Landskrona and Hveen (Nilsson). From the 
Belts and the Baltic it is unknown. Off the coasts of 
Iceland it is rare (Faber). It is equally rare in its oc- 
currence off the Shetland and Orkney Islands and on the 
“ See the special figures to fig. 3 in our plate, which represent the form and colour of the left pectoral and ventral fins, seen from 
behind, in the female. 
