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On the Occurrence of the Megalichthys in a Bed of Cannel Coal 

 in the West of Fijeshire, with Observations on the supposed 

 Lacustrine Limestone at Burdiehouse. By Leonard Hor- 

 KER, Esq. F. R. SS. L. & E. Fellow of the Geological Society. 



■^'>qCommunicated by the Author *. 



The specimen which has led to this communication was 

 given to me, a few weeks ago, at Dunfermline, by Mr Mac- 

 kie, manager of the factory of Messrs Arthur, Aitken and 

 Company. It is an object of considerable geological interest, 

 being a very fine specimen of a tooth, of the same nature with 

 -those found in the limestone of Burdiehouse, near Edinburgh, 

 which were first brought under the notice of the scientific world 

 by Dr Hibbert. He conceived them to be the teeth of a sau- 

 rian reptile ; but their true nature was afterwards determined 

 by the more experienced eye of M. Agassiz, who pronounced 

 them to have belonged to a sauroid fish. M. Agassiz consider- 

 ed the fish to be a new genus, calling it Megalichthys, in re- 

 ference to its great size, which the largeness of the teeth indi- 

 cate ; and he designated the particular species found at Burdie- 

 house by the name of Megalichthys Hibberti. This specimen 

 was found accidentally in a mass of cannel coal, which they were 

 breaking into small fragments, to be cast into a gas retort ; and 

 it is to be feared, that many precious relics of a similar nature 

 have been destroyed by the same fate which awaited this very 

 ancient record of the past ages of our globe. 



The tooth is two inches long, and seven-eighths of an inch in 

 diameter at its base. It is covered with a thin shining enamel, 

 which is longitudinally striated, and, within a quarter of an inch 

 of the base, deeply furrowed. It is not entirely circular, but is 

 somewhat flattened. The enamel of the teeth, found in the 

 limestone of Burdiehouse is of a pale brown colour, but this 

 is black ; the internal substance is, however, the same in both. 

 It is in size and general appearance very similar to that figured 

 at page 383. of Dr Hibbert's Memoir (Transactions of the 

 Royal Society of Edinburgh, vol. xiii.), and is, I believe, the 



• Head at a meeting of the Royal Society, 1st February 1830. 

 VOL. XX. NO. XL. APRIL 1836. X 



