FOSSIL FISHES. 



33 



The Sparida (" Sea-Bream ") have their fossil representatives in 

 the Cretnceous of Mount Lebanon, which are placed in the genera 

 Sargus and BayeUus. 



The other fossil species occur in the Eocene and Miocene, 

 namely, Sparnodus, Saryodon, Capitodus, Soricidens and Asima. 



Teeth belonging to the living genus Chrysophrys have been 

 found in the Miocene Tertiary of Malta and in the Red Crag of 

 Suffolk. 



[The Scorpenidce resemble the " Sea-perches " both in form and 

 habits, but some of them are bottom-dwellers and possess curious 

 appendages resembling fronds of sea-weed, which serve to conceal 

 them. They have one fossil representative, Scorpcsna* in the 



Fig. 54. — Beryx Lewesiensis, Mantell, Chalk. Sussex. 



Eocene Tertiary Diatomaceous Earth (polir-schiefer) of Oran in 

 Algeria.] 



The Berycidce are among the earliest of the Teleostean fishes ; 

 well-preserved specimens belongiug to this family occur in the 

 Greensand (Planerkalk) of Westphalia, and are very characteristic 

 of the Chalk formation both in England and Mount Lebanon, 

 Syria. They are represented by the genera Beryx, Bseudoberyx, 

 Berycopsis, Homonotus, Ste?wstoma, Sphenocephalies, Acanus, 

 Acroyaster, Bhacolejns, the two last-named from the Chalk of 

 Brazil. The genera Holocentrum and Myripristis occur in the 

 Eocene of Monte Bolca. 



Of the genus Beryx (Fig. 51) a fine series is exhibited from the 

 English Chalk (including the type-specimens figured by Agassiz 

 from the late Dr. Mantell's collection) ; many of the specimens, 

 being but slightly compressed, retain their original form. 



In Pseudoberyx the ventral fins are abdominal, and Berycopsis 

 has thin cycloid scales ; in Beryx the scales are large, thick, and 

 ctenoid (pectinated). 



There is no example of this in the collection. 



D 



