Davis — On the Fossil Fish of the Cretaeeoiis Formations of Scandinavia. 417 



Sub-Class.— TELEOSTEI. 



Order. — Acan th o pt e r yg ii. 



Family.— BERYCID-ffi. 



Genus. Hoplopteryx, Agassiz. 1843. " Rech. sur les Poiss. Foss.," 



vol. iv., p. 131. 



Body compressed, more or less oval in outline ; abdominal cavity deep ; head 

 large in proportion to the size of the body ; orbit large ; opercular bones serrated ; 

 vertebral column strong ; dorsal fin with five or six spinous rays, strong, and 

 widely separated. Anal fin has three spinous rays, supported by a strong 

 interspinous process, which reaches nearly to the vertebral column. Scales large, 

 strongly connected, but not coarsely punctured. Lateral line begins on the 

 abdominal surface, near the tail, and passes over the vertebral column forward. 

 It consists of arrow-shaped scales (von der Marck). 



This genus is distinguished by the spinous and soft rays of the dorsal fin 

 being continuous without intermission ; in this respect it is separated from the 

 genera Holoceiitrum and Myripristis, in which the spinous and soft rays form two 

 separate fins. Agassiz* founded the genus on specimens of fish from the Chalk of 

 Westphalia, which he named Hoplo'pteryx antiquus. I have on a previous occasion 

 shown that some of the species associated with the genus Beryx t belong to 

 Hoplopteryx {B. superbus,X Ag. ; B. sippei,^ Ag. ; and B. Sp-iaacs,\\ Pictet & H.), 

 and Mr. A. Smith Woodward 5[ has since adduced sufficient evidence to prove that 

 Beryx letvesiensis, Mantell (= B. ornatus, Agass.), should also be placed in the 

 genus Hoplopteryx. 



Hoplopteryx lundensis^ Davis. 



(PI. XLIII., figs. 1-3.) 



Several specimens of this species occur in the Lund Museum. The matrix is a 

 soft friable chalk, and the fossilized remains partake very much of the same 



* " Poiss. Foss.," vol. iv., p. 131, pi. xvn., figs. 6-8. 



f " Foss. Fishes of the Chalk of Mt. Lehanon," Trans. Eoy. Duhl. Soc, ser. rr., vol. iii., p. 513. 

 X "Foss. Sussex," p. 372, pi. xxxvi., fig. 5. 

 § " Kech. BUT les PoissonFoss.," vol. iv., p. 120, pi. xv., fig. 2. 

 II "Nouv. reeh. sur les Poiss. Foss. du Mt. Liban.," p. 28, pi. i., fig. 1. 



*\ "Proc. Geol. Assoc," vol. x., p. 327, and "Catalogue Brit. Foss. Vertehrata " (Woodward and 

 Sberbom), p. 98, 



