86 FISH-EEMAINS OF THE CARBONIFEROUS ROCKS; 



forwards, and this seems to indicate that the body may have 

 been depressed, like that of the rays. 



Referable to this genus is a small tooth in the cabinet 

 of University College, Bristol, which would seem to be of 

 special interest. It forms part of a collection which was 

 made by the late Mr. Malthus, and was presented to the 

 College by his son, Col. Malthus. It is slightly broken atone 

 end, 10 mm. in length, and 5 in maximum breadth, and about 

 2\ in maximum height. It rises with a gentle hollow curve 

 to a rounded apex, situate near one end of the tooth, which 

 is then cut off abruptl}^ by a vertical face which, though 

 slightly worn, is natural, and not the result of fracture. 

 The surface of the tooth is marked with numerous and fairly 

 close set pits. Mr. A. Smith Woodward, to whom one of us 

 submitted the tooth, says : " In shape this is identical with 

 Psammodits angustiis (Romanowsky), from the carboniferous 

 limestone of Moscow ; but it is of smaller size. Adopt the 

 specific name provisionally." If the provisional reference to 

 this species be correct, this form is new to our limestone, 

 and, we believe, new to England. The tooth was placed in 

 association with a number of other palates which were not 

 named. Nor was the locality from which they were derived 

 recorded. It is therefore i^ossibJe that it is foreign. But if 

 so, it is the only foreign tooth in the collection. Many of 

 the other specimens found with it in the collection are un- 

 doubtedly from the palate bed of the lower limestone shales. 

 And the rock in which the tooth is embedded precisely re- 

 sembles in character that which constitutes this remarkable 

 and easily recognisable local deposit. We have, therefore, 

 little doubt that the tooth is local and from the palate bed of 

 the lower limestone shales. But, in the absence of direct 

 record, this must remain only a very strong probability. One 

 could not have a more tellinor illustration of the extreme im- 



