Fuss/t Fish l{<;iii<(in-s. 69 



The present species differs from other described fossils in 

 many particuhirs. Frcnu D. sipna^ it differs in having the 

 dental plates with a subquadrate outline, instead of, as in thai 

 species, strongly rounded sides. 



From 1). vetus" it niay be readily separated by tlie broad 

 and angular shape of the jaws, and l)y tlieir more massive build in 

 the palatal area. It is noteworthy that of the severajl described 

 fossil forms of Diodon only 1). vetus appears to have been 

 preserved as perfectly as the present species. 



The only other authentic si>ecies to which we may refer is 

 D. scillae. Agassiz'' frcnn the Miocene of Italy, Sicily and Malta. 

 In this form the palartal plates are thinner and consequently 

 more numerous than in our species, and its lateral boundaries 

 are sinuous and incurved instead of convex. 



It was in all probability the herein described species that 

 the late Professor Ralph Tate had in mind when he recorded 

 Atopomycterus from the Older Tertiary of Australia in his 

 " Census " of its fauna.^ The reason that Tate assigned this 

 fossil to the genus Atopomycterus may probably have been due 

 to the fact that a fish, recorded b}- Steindachner' as Atopomyc- 

 terus bocagei, had been found in Port Jackson, but this has 

 since been indicated as synonymous with Diodon noveni- 

 niaculatus, Cuviei." 



The genus Diodon is commonest as a Miocene fossil, and is 

 usually associated with other fish and cetacean remains charac- 

 teristic of phospha/tic beds in various parts of the world, but it 

 also occurs in beds of Oligocene and Eocene age. 



Diodon connewarrensis, sp. nov. (Plate VIII., Figs. 8-10). 



Description. — Spine smooth, short and strong, after the type 

 of those of D. hystrix, but not so acutely pointed, and without 



1 Martin, Saminl. Geol. Reichsmus. Leiden, ser. 1, vol. iii., p. 16, pi. i., %s. 5, 5(t, oh. 

 ■2 Leidy, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad., vol. vii., 1855, p. 397; also Journ. of same 

 Society, ser. '2, vol. viii., 1877, p. -255, pi. xxxiv., figrs. 15-18. 



3 Poiss. Koss., vol. ii., pt. ii., p. 274. See also Smith Woodward, Cat. Foss. Fishes 

 Brit. Mus., pt. iv., 1901, p. 572 ; text-figure 20 (p. 573). 



4 Jinun. Roy. Soc. N. S. Wales, vol. xxii., pt. ii., 1888, p. 247. 



5 Sitzun{,'sb. and K. Ak. Wiss. Wien, vol. liii., 1866, p. 477, pi. vi., f. 3. 



6 A. Giinther, Cat. Fishes Brit. Mus., vol. viii., 1870, p. 308; also W. Macleay, Descr. 

 Cat. Australian Fishes, vol. ii., 1881, p. 280. 



