162 



the scales are uninterrupted, in Sardinella thej' are interrupted in 

 the middle. Tlie recent species witli perforated scales mentioned above, 

 as well as my fossil, iiave also interrupted transversal grooves on 

 the scales, and Tate Regan ranges these recent species therefore 

 under Sardinella. It is clear, that my fossil belongs to the same 

 group. Tate Regan does not mention the small perforation of the 

 scales in his short description and, therefore, 1 do not know if 

 such perforations occur in other species, which belong to Sardinella 

 and which inhabit the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Black Sea, Indie and 

 Pacific. From the foregoing however it will be clear, that the species 

 with scales of this structure form a natural group, and that the 

 fossil belongs to it, which I proceed to describe now as: 



Clupea {Sardinella) bromveri n. sp. 



The total length of the specimen cannot be ascertained, as the 

 praeorbital part of the iiead is wanting. The vertebral column is 

 also broken at different places and some of the vertebrae have 

 been shifted over each other, or got loose from each other. I 

 estimate the length to be 150 mM. It is also difficult to count the 

 number of vertebrae. I think I can distinguish forty-two of them 

 which is somewhat less than the numbers, given by Tate Regan I.e. 

 for Sardinella. Dei.sman (Bijdragen tot de Dierkunde, Afl. XXll, 

 1922, p. 29) records forty-tive vertebrae in Clupea finibriata, one 

 of the species with perforated scales. 



Of the head skeleton really only the opercles and a part of the 

 orbitalia have been well preserved. The vential part of the opercle 

 shows delicate vertical stripes, caused by sensory -canals and which, 

 although in a somewhat different form, are also present in Clupea 

 finibriata and perforata. The preaoperculura also shows some sculp- 

 ture. Under favourable light fine lines, radiating from one point, 

 may be detected, which I do not find so well developed in recent 

 species. The operculum is not quite twice as high as long. 



The dorsal rays cannot be counted accurately as part of the 

 scales of the back have shifted on that fin. 1 think I can distinguish 

 fifteen of them. Neither is it possible to ascertain the exact position 

 of the dorsal fin, as the vertebral column has been distorted, as 

 mentioned above. The origin of the dorsal is situated about in the 

 middle between snout and base of caudal and is placed above the 

 twenty-seventh vertebra, counted from the caudal. The longest D. 

 ray is about equal to the height of the operculum. 



The whole of the ventral part of the fish is severely damaged. 



I 



