Devonian.'] 



PALEONTOLOGY OF VICTORIA. 



[^Animals, 



Sandstone, which, placed side by side with qui- Australian specimens 

 fi-om the Buchan limestone, agree in every particular so closely that 

 I can only doubtfully indicate a local variety on the ground of the 

 tubercles being slightly less prominent and more closely crowded 

 in the Australian than in the Russian examples ; but even in these 

 resjiects some portions of the Russian bony plates may be found 

 agreeing com^iletely, although the two are in general perhaps 

 distinguishable in these respects. 



The great ganoid armour-plated fishes of the genus Asterolepis 

 are amongst the most abundant and striking characteristics of the 

 Devonian rocks of Russia, and it is certainly a most extraordinary 

 circumstance to find them here in Australia in limestones of the 

 same age, and accompanied by the corals and shells of the Plymouth 

 and Eifel limestones of similar age, with which they are not known 

 to occur in England or Germany, and which do not occur with 

 them in the Russian beds. Some impressions of this species in the 

 Buchan strata might readily be taken for the genus Bothriolepis, 

 fi'om the tubercles seeming to be represented by pits, but on taking 

 impressions of them in wax and gutta-percha, the identity with the 

 Asterolepis is evident. 



Rare in the Middle Devonian limestone of the Buchan River, 

 North Gippsland. 



Explanation of Figures. 



Plate XXXV. — Fig. 7, portion of bony plate, natural size. Fig 7a, portion of surface of 

 ditto, magnified to show the stellar character of the base of the tubercles, with a few of them 

 uniting iuto short ridges. Fig. lb, edge yiew, natural size, showing the thickness of the bony 

 plate. 



Feedeeick McCoy. 



[20] 



