Geoh)(fy and Geography. 399 



The author amiouiiced that all the relics of lish hitherto discover- 

 ed at BiirdiehouHe would be submitted to the inspection of M. 

 Agassiz, who had studied fossil ichthyology with such splendid re- 

 sults, and who, in the invaluable work which he was publishing, 

 promised to fill up, with the success of a Cuvier, this great blank 

 in natural history.* 



Dr Buckland, after making many comments on the relics of the 

 Burdiehouse quarry, introduced to the Geological Section M. Agas- 

 siz, who was one of the distinguished savans present at the British 

 Association, and requested his opinion on the specimens displayed 

 on the table. 



M. Agassiz, agreeably to this invitation, explained the character 

 of the fish in a most luminous manner, which excited a very gene- 

 ral feeling of satisfaction. And after an examination, on tlie follow- 

 ing day, of the whole of the Burdiehouse specimens in the posses- 

 sion of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, he announced, that it was 

 one of the richest acquisitions which he had ever made in fossil ich- 

 thyology, as it contained several wholly undescribed genera. 



With regard to the large teeth which had been concaved to be 

 Saurian (for such was the opinion entertained of them by some of 

 the first naturalists of London and Paris), M. Agassiz, after a re- 

 newed examination of them, became disposed to pass a different 

 opinion from that which he had at first view embraced. A close in- 

 spection of the minute jaw of one of the fry of this animal, led him 

 to the conclusion, that the relic rather belonged to a fish of a new 

 and extraordinary genus, which will probably prove to be more 

 Sauroid than any of the ancient fish which he has classified in his 

 « Recherches sur les Poissons Fossiles." 



This naturalist now considers, as parts of this aninml^ all or most 

 of the large bones discovered in Burdiehouse quarry, including the 

 very large bony rays, as well as the large enamelled scales which 

 have been so abundantly found. These have been entrusted to his 

 care by the Royal Society of Eldinburgh, for the description which 

 he purposes to give of them in his invaluable work. M. Agassiz 

 has named the animal Megalichthys Hibberti. 



The judgment thus pronounced upon these relics is calculated, in 

 the opinion of this naturalist, to excite questions of the most lively 

 interest respecting the characters possessed by the races of being» 



• Dr Hibbert likewise displayed the teelh and other relics of a large fish, 

 which he had recently discovered in the black limestone of Ashford, in Derby- 

 shire. 



Od 



