1084 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
Scotch coast, oft’ Banffshire (Fleming and Day). In the 
Mediterranean, according to Giglioli", it is not uncom- 
mon oft’ Nice, Genoa, and Palermo; but during 21 years 
Costa could only procure 16 specimens from the Bay 
of Naples. On the east coast of North America it is 
found from Cape Cod northwards (Jordan and Gilbert); 
but Fabricius does not include it among the fishes of 
Greenland. According to Schlegel it is rare off South- 
ern Japan, but common to the north, especially in 
autumn, when it pursues the Herring-shoals to the 
very heads of the inlets. 
The life and habits of the Northern Chimaera are 
otherwise little known. Its intestinal canal has been 
found to contain the remains of fishes 6 , testaceans, crus- 
taceans, Echinoderms, and worms. A few fragments of 
seaweed among the contents have, no doubt, been swallowed 
accidentally with the food. The dentition of the mouth is 
evidently intended both to cut up flesh and crush shells. 
The spawning-season of this fish is unknown; but in the 
month of February, according to Lilljeborg, each ovi- 
duct of a female nearly 1 m. long contained in the uterine 
dilatation an egg ■with the parchment-like shell almost 
fully developed and 122 mm. long. Esmark received 
from Christiania Fjord another egg, which has been 
described by Collett. It was of a lustrous brown, but 
empty, and had probably been washed ashore. The thick 
end was cylindrical c , the small end prolongated into a 
filamentous appendage. The whole egg was longitudi- 
nally fringed all round with a fin-like membrane' 6 , con- 
taining rays directed obliquely outwards towards the 
thick end. A similar, though rayless membrane followed 
the middle of the egg, at right angles to the plane of 
the former membrane, along the whole of one side and 
the narrower part of the other. The length of the egg 
was 163 mm., exclusive of the thread at the small end, 
which appendage measured 42 mm. Its greatest breadth 
was 42 mm., exclusive of the fin-like membrane on each 
side, which was 4 mm. broad. During the English ex- 
pedition on board the Triton a young male 4 1 / 2 in. long, 
which appeared to have just been hatched, was taken, ac- 
cording to Gunther (Deep Sea Fish., Chall. Exped., p. 
12), at a depth of 505 fathoms. 
The economical importance of the Northern Chimaera 
cannot be considerable, for as a rule only solitary spe- 
cimens are met with, and the flesh is worthless as food; 
but the oil that flows from its liver has been highly 
esteemed in medicine. “Since olden times”, wrote Holl- 
berg in 1821, “the islanders of Bohusl&n and especially 
of Norway have appreciated the value of the fat prepared 
from the liver of the Chiimera, as an excellent external 
remedy for stiffness of the joints, gout, rheumatic pains, 
glandular swellings, cataract, etc. The fishermen of the 
northern island-belt of Bohuslan frequently offer this fat 
for sale in the stomachs of Ling, for it does not fail to 
find a ready market either in chemists’ shops or among 
the peasantry. In all likelihood, however, not all this 
fat is procured from the rare Chimatra, though it always 
bears the name of that fish.” The oil of the Chimaera 
is also used internally, like that of the Ling and Cod, 
to alleviate weakness and disease of the respiratory or- 
gans; and it has been especially prized as an internal 
remedy for the sting of the Weaver. The great oiliness 
of the liver may be seen even in Chimaeras that have 
been preserved entire for scores of years in the spirit- 
jars of museums. On opening their abdominal cavity, 
oil runs copiously from the belly. 
The Northern CMmaera has many names. The 
nostrils and the invariably visible front teeth, in com- 
bination with the mobile snout, give it a certain resem- 
blance to a grinning monkey, whence the name of simia 
marina ( hafsapa ). The thread-like tail and the wriggling 
movements have given rise to the name of Jiafmus (Sea- 
mouse). Linnaeus called the species vidunderfisk (Mon- 
ster-fish). In Norway it has borne the names of Isgalt, 
Gulhd, Blanklid, Sorotte, Somus , Hdnms (the last three 
= Jiafmus), Sorcev, Solvfisk, Havkruge , Havkatt, Spil- 
strceng-Hyse. In the Shetland Islands it is known, ac- 
cording to Day, as the King of the Herrings and the 
Babbit-fish. The former name occurs even in Dauben- 
ton e , and is said to be derived partly from the ravages 
committed by the Chimaera among the Herring-shoals, 
partly from the hooked organ on the forehead of the 
males, which appendage has been compared to a crown. 
The latter name has the same origin as hafsapa. 
a Espos. intern, di Pesca in Berlino 1880, Sez. Ital., Catal., p. 111. 
b One of our specimens had Herring-scales in the mouth. 
c According to Lilljeborg’s description of the egg-shells, which had not quite reached their full development, compared with Dume- 
ril’s figure of an egg probably belonging to the nearly related genus Gallorhynchus {Hist. Nat. Poiss., pi. 8, fig. 8), the thick end of these 
eggs is furnished with two short filamentous appendages. 
d In the egg described by Dumeril this membrane was covered with silky hairs. 
e In the old Encyclopedic M ethodique. 
