Proc. Roy. Soc. Victoria, 21 (N.S.), Pt. II., 1908.] 



Art. XXI. — On the Occurrence of tJte Selachian Genus 

 Corax in the Loiuer Cretaceous of Queensland. 



By FREDERICK CHAPMAN, A.L.S., &c. 



National Museum. 



(With Text Figure). 



[Read 10th December, 1908.] 



Introductory Remarks. — Already two species of sharks' teeth 

 have been recorded from the Lower Cretaceous (Rolling ■ Downs 

 Formation) of Queensland by Mr. R. Etheridge, junr. They are 

 represented by a tootlii, referred to Lamna appendiculata, 

 Agassiz, and seven conjoined vertebrae2, described under the 

 name of Lamna daviesii. Up to the present, apparently, no- 

 example of the truly Cretaceous genus Corax had been observed. 



The specimen herein described occurs on a weathered slab of 

 limestone, the surface of which is crowded with fragments of fish- 

 remains and a small Belemnite, possibly allied to B. diptycha, 

 McCoy. The other fish-remains noticed seem to belong to an 

 indeterminate ganoid genus, shown by the presence of polished 

 scale-fragments, awl-shaped teeth and small vertebrae. This 

 interesting fossiliferous limestone specimen was presented to the 

 Museum Ijy G. H. Roche, Esq., who had obtained it from H. A. C. 

 Webb, Esq., its discoverer. The locality of the specimen is the 

 Hainilton River, about 40 miles from Boulia, Queensland. 



Descrijition. — This specimen is evidently a young tooth, since 

 the point of the crown is much depressed and acute. The base 

 of the tooth is large in proportion, a characteristic of Corax, and 

 is broadly wedge-shaped, tapering to the lower margin. There 

 is no indication of an internal cavity to the tooth, as in Lamna 

 and other allied genera. The anterior coronal margin is flexuous, 

 and the depressed point makes it to be almost parallel with the 



1 R. Etheridi^'e, Jnr., in Etheridge and Jack's Geol. and Pal. of cjueeiisland and New- 

 Guinea, 1892, pp. nos, 504. 



2 Op. supra cit. , p. 503. 



