Davis — On the Fossil Fish of the Cretaceous Formations of Scandinavia. 431 



fragmentary, consisting of the head and portions of the vertebrse, imperfectly 

 preserved. They do not present sufficiently characteristic features for full 

 comparison with the species already, or presently to be, described. 



For the opportunity of studying the specimens which I now proceed to describe 

 I am indebted to the courtesy and kindness of Dr. W. Dames of Berlin, to whom 

 Dr. Lundgren had entrusted them, along with others, for description, previously 

 to my visit to the Lund Museum. In order to render this memoir as complete as 

 possible, Dr. Dames readily consented to place the fish-remains at my disposal, 

 retaining the bird-remains which form the new genus Scaniornis, Dames.* 



Dercetis Umhaninensis, Davis, 

 (PI. XLV., figs. 1, 2.) 



Portions of this fish of large size have been found in the Faxe Chalk. The 

 matrix is so soft and friable that the specimens, being of the same character, are 

 not well preserved. The head and a part of the vertebral column is preserved, 

 and parallel with the vertebrse are a number of scutes. The entire length of the 

 head, from the snout to the posterior margin of the operculum, was probably 

 0"10 m. This portion of the body is succeeded by eighteen vertebrse, which 

 occupy a length of 0.10 m. Compared with other species of the same genus, the 

 parts preserved appear to indicate a fish having a total length of about a metre. 

 There is no evidence of fins preserved. 



The head is divided on the matrix from side to side in a plane parallel with 

 the crown. The bones were thick and massive, but are so fractm-ed that it is 

 almost impossible to identify them. The position of the orbits, owing to the 

 manner in which the head is divided, cannot be determined with certainty, but 

 the depression at the side of the head may indicate its position (fig. 1., 

 or fig. 2). The operculi have entirely disappeared. The bones of the 

 cranium were thick and strong, and an impression remains on fig. 2 which 

 exhibits the form of the occipital part of the skull. 



The mandibles are articulated at a point quite under the posterior extremity of 

 the skull, their length being 0-06m. The dentary bone occupies a Little more 

 than half the length. A number of small setiform teeth, with acuminate apices, 

 cover the upturned alveolar surface of the left mandible. Other strong bones 

 running parallel to the mandibles may indicate the maxillse ; but if so, they are 

 not sufficiently distinct to allow of description. A strong sigmoidally-curved bone, 



* "Ueber Vogelreste aus dem Saltholmskalk von Limhanm bei Malmo." — Bihang till k. Svenska 

 Vet.-Akad. Handlingar, Band 16, afd. iv., No. 1. 



