Geological Society. 459 



river, and 40 feet below the surface of the ground. The piths with 

 the breadth across the osfrontis measured 1 1 feet 7 inches, but it is 

 calculated that 5 inches had been broken off the end of each tip ; and 

 the circumference of the piths at the root was 18 inches. The 

 orbits were situated immediately under the base of the horns. Part 

 of the upper jaw, containing five molar teeth and other fragments of 

 the head, as well as a cervical vertebra, were found at the same time. 



A notice on the Fossil Fishes of the Yorkshire and Lancashire Coal- 

 fields, by W. C. Williamson, Esq., was then read. 



About four years ago, Mr. Williamson first met with remains of 

 fishes in the coal-measures of Lancashire. Nearly at the same time 

 Sir Philip Grey Egerton detected them in the Staffordshire fields ; 

 Mr. Hutton had previously found them near Newcastle ; Dr. Hibbert 

 Ware had brought them before the public in Scotland ; Mr. Bow- 

 man had detected scales of Holoptychus in Wales ; and two or three 

 instances had been noticed of their existence in the coal-fields of 

 Yorkshire. Since that period, however, the coal-measures of Lan- 

 cashire and Yorkshire have proved to be exceedingly rich in Ich- 

 thyolites. In the former, they occur throughout the whole series 

 from the Ardwick limestone to the millstone grit ; and at Middleton 

 colliery, near Leeds, they have also been found in considerable quan- 

 tity. At that locality there are three seams of coal, but only two are 

 wrought. The following is a general section of the pits : — 



Fish coal 14 inches. 



Interval 60 yards. 



Yard coal 3 feet. 



Interval 32 yards. 



Main coal . 4J feet. 



Ichthyolites occur in the shale in connexion with all the seams, 

 but principally in the uppermost one, to which the colliers have in 

 consequence given the name of Fish Coal. They are contained in a 

 fine bituminous shale, and in greatest abundance at the junction of 

 the roof with the coal, where a very thin seam of coprolitic matter 

 occurs. The author has obtained from it the following remains : — 



Teeth of Diplodus gibbosus and Ctenoptychus pectinatus ; scales 

 jaws, and teeth of Megalichthys Hibbertii, and of another smaller spe- 

 cies ; rays of Gyr acanthus formosus ; scales, fins, and other portions 

 of two species of Holoptychus, of a species of Acanthodes, or Chei- 

 racanthus? of a species of Platysomus; three kinds of Ichthyodoru- 

 lites, and other remains of which he has not yet determined the genera. 



In the shale of the main coal Ichthyolites are much less abun- 

 dant, but they are remarkable for their great size. They occur in a 



