Tcleostei — Cyprinictce, Esocidce, etc. 37 



with their remains exhibited in the case. Very singular is the 

 occurrence of the genus Pcecilia in the Oeningen beds, this being 

 now confined to the freshwaters of Tropical America. 



The Cyprinidce are found abundantly in a fossil state, but Wall-case, 

 almost all the extinct species are referable to existing genera. The ?°" 16, 

 true Carp (Cyprinus) and Gudgeon (Gobio) occur in the Miocene of ^ go * 86 ' 

 Oeningen. Species of Leuciscus (Roach, Dace, Minnow, etc.) are 

 represented in the same deposit, in the lignites of France and 

 Germany, and in the Upper Miocene Infusorial Earth of Licata, 

 Sicily. The latter formation also yields remains of other genera, 

 e.g. Rhodeus and Aspins ; and as Herrings, Seopeloids, etc., occur 

 abundantly in association with these, the mingling of marine and 

 freshwater fishes is here very remarkable. The Tench [Tinea) 

 is found in the Oeningen beds and Tertiary lignites ; and the 

 little Acanthopsis, now of Tropical India, is met with in the 

 Miocenes of the Puy-de-Dorne, France. Other genera exhibited 

 are Barbus, Thynnichthys, Amblypharyngodon and Hexapsephus, from 

 the Eocene of Padang, in Sumatra; also Cobitis from Oeningen. 



Of the Esocidce, or Pike-family, few undoubted extinct forms Wall-case, 

 have yet been discovered. The Isticeus of the Westphalian Chalk No. 16. 

 is sometimes placed here, but the earliest genus having a decided 

 resemblance to the surviving type is the Sphenolepis, with long, 

 wedge-like scales, from the Eocene Gypsum of Montmartre, Paris, 

 and corresponding or slightly higher beds at Aix in Provence. 

 Fine specimens of true Pike are shown from the Miocene of 

 Oeningen; and there are fragments of the existing species (BJsox 

 lucius) from the peat of the Fenland. 



The Scopelidce are exclusively marine pelagic or deep-sea fishes, Table-case, 

 and but few fossil forms are known. They are represented in the No. 53. 

 collection by Parascopelus and Anapterus from the Upper Miocene 

 of Licata, Sicily : and a still earlier genus, JTemisaicrida, allied to 

 Saurus, has been described from the Chalk of Comen, Istria. 



The remarkable family of Sihiridee, or " Cat-fishes," is widely Table-case, 

 distributed throughout most of the freshwaters, and some of the * 0, *> 3, 

 littoral areas, in all temperate and tropical regions at the present 

 day ; but fossil remains are much more rarely met with, than might 

 be expected from the position these fishes occupy among living 

 Teleosteans. They are characterized by the absence of scales, and 

 the occasional presence of bony scutes, which sometimes envelope 

 the entire body. The maxillary bone is almost always small, sup- 

 porting a maxillary barbel ; and the anterior dorsal and pectoral 

 fins are often armed in front with a large, bony, denticulated spine. 

 A posterior adipose dorsal fin of considerable size is also met with 

 in many genera. 



~No undoubted Cretaceous genera have been discovered, and the 

 earliest known member of the family is Bucldandium diluvii, from 

 the London Clay of Sheppey. 



The Middle Eocene of Bracklesham yields evidence of one 

 species indistinguishable from the living Arius — Arms Egertoni, 



