1883.] bbO [Claypole. 



men. In reply he told me that he thought he had fragments that might 

 belong to the same species, but they were not suiBciently perfect for de- 

 scription. Feeling anxious to have Dr. Newberry's decisive opinion I 

 next forwarded to him a photograph of the plate, asking if that would 

 enable him to express an opinion whether the specimen belonged to a de- 

 scribed or an undescribed species of fish. In reply he informs me that the 

 fish in question is undescribed, but that he has some fragments of what he 

 thinks is the same species, too imperfect for description. 



Knowing that Prof. Whiteaves, Palaeontologist to the Canadian Survey^ 

 had been working recentl}^ among some new Upper Devonian fishes, I 

 sent him a photograph, requesting his opinion upon it. He has replied, 

 saying, that there is no similar specimen among all those which he has 

 seen from Scaumenac bay, and that he believes itis undescribed. 



Description. 



The specimen in question so far as the means at my command enable 

 me to determine belongs to some species of the genus Pterichthys, or to 

 some kindred genus, and is apparently the veutro-mediau plate. It is pent- 

 angular in outline but inequilateral, nearly symmetrical but not perfectly so. 

 The front ('?) is formed by one of the angles of the pentagon and the two 

 sides enclosing this angle (of about 80^) are slightly concave outwardly. 

 One of these sides — the right on the cast — is four and the other three and 

 a quarter inches long. The former meets the third side of the pentagon at 

 an angle of about 120°. This side is six and a quarter inches long. The 

 latter meets at an angle of about 130O the fourth side of the figure which 

 measures six and a half inches in length. The pentagon is closed at the 

 base (back) by a short side of one and three-quarters of an inch long and 

 very concave outwardly. The base is, in consequence' of the inequality of 

 the sides, slightly oblique. 



The surface of the plate is marked with an ornamentation which I can. 

 not find mentioned in the accounts of any other species. Instead of show- 

 ing the tubercular or pustulose appearance of Pterichthys, its character 

 more resembles (if we compare the great with the small) a magnified scale 

 of Holoptychius. It is completely covered with close set interrupted 

 wrinkles, slightly wavy, anastomosing and again separating without any 

 appearance of regularity. These wrinkles meet the outside line almost at 

 right angles and radiate inward in the following manner: If from the 

 middle point of the axis of the plate straight lines be drawn to the upper 

 (front) and two lower (back) angles, and lines, upwardly convex, to the 

 lateral angles, the wrinkles in question start from these lines so as to meet 

 the periphery (as said above) nearly at right angles. The wrinkles are 

 subequal in size, largest anteriorly and posteriorly where they measure as 

 much as one-eighth of an inch in breadth and are separated by furrows of 

 about equal width. They increase slightly in size towards the periphery 

 and in the middle are very small and much interrupted. 



A flat, finely striate margin surrounds the whole plate, commencing at 



