DESCRIPTION OF the MUTILATED CRANIUM of a 



LARGE FISH, from the LOWER CRETACEOUS of 



QUEENSLAND. 



By R. Etheridge, Junr., Curator 



(Plates i. — ii.) 



A comparatively recent visit to Queensland yielded to Mr. 

 P. G. Black's researches in the Lower Cretaceous beds at Mara- 

 thon, Flinders River, the mutilated skull of a fish. A reproduc- 

 tion of this fossil has been made for the Museum collection, 

 with Mr. Black's permission, the original returning to his cabinet. 



The skull is crushed from above downward, and consequently 

 expanded to some extent laterally, and also pressed backwards 

 Above, the bones are firmly encased in the close-grained argillace- 

 ous limestone forming the matrix, but below are weathered to a 

 great extent free of the latter. The displacement arising from 

 this downward and backward pressure renders the determination 

 of the osseous members of the cranium difficult and uncertain ; 

 but the jaws ai^e in a much better state of preservation. A pre- 

 liminary inspection shows considerable portions of the maxillaries, 

 and mandibles i7i situ, parts of the opercular apparatus, the hyoid 

 bones, the pectoral fins, some of the anterior vertebne, and 

 remains of some ribs. 



Photographs of this head were forwarded to Dr. A. Smith 

 Woodward, who has been good enough to afford me some valu- 

 able suggestions as to its affinity. In correspondence, I indicated 

 the genus Portheus, Cope, a species of which is believed to exist 

 in the Lower Cretaceous of Queensland, but Dr. Woodward sug- 

 gested Elapopsis, Heckel, as a more fitting resting-place. As, 

 however, the teeth are implanted in sockets, and not merely at- 

 tached to the margins of the jaws,^ I have rejected this referenct 

 in favour of one that appeal's to me to suit the case better. Irx 

 the Ichthyodectida? (Crook), the margins of the jaws bear a row 

 of strong, conical teeth implanted in sockets,^ and the maxilliB 



1 At least, so I infer from Dr. A. Smith "Woodward's remarks (Brit. 



Mus. Cat. FosP. Fishes, pt. 4, I'JOl. p. 8); see also J. J. Heckel— 

 Denks. K. K. Akad. Wiss. (Math. Nat. Classe), xi., 1 Abth., 1856, 

 p. 251. 



2 Zittel— Text- Book Pal. (Ed. Eastman), ii, 1902, p. 95. 



