Prof. Affassiz on Fossil Fishes. 



321 



Upon taking th.e average of the number of passengers since 

 the opening of the first line in 1835, there will be found to be 

 9 per cent, of the first class, 27 per cent, of the second class, 

 63 per cent, of the third class, and 1 per cent, of military. 



CUPAR-FXFE, 25th May 1844. 



On Fossil Fishes, particularly those of the London Clay. 

 By Professor Agassiz. 



The fossils of the London clay have long since attracted the 

 attention of geologists, from the considerable number and va- 

 riety of their species belonging to all classes of the animal and 

 vegetable kingdom, as well as from the beautiful state of pre- 

 servation in which a large number of them occur. Since the 

 researches of Sowerby on the shells of this deposit, several 

 memoirs of great merit have appeared on the fossils of differ- 

 ent classes. Professor Owen has described, with his usual 

 acuteness, the reptiles, birds, and Mammalia which are met 

 with scattered here and there in the layers of this deposit, and 

 his erudite investigations have thrown quite a new light on 

 the relations which connect the fossil creatures of this forma- 

 tion with the species of the present epoch. The beautiful 

 work of Mr Bowerbank on the fruits of this deposit is well 

 knoAvn to every one. The Ichthyology alone had been almost 

 entirely neglected ; not that there is any scarcity of fossil fish, 



VOL. XXXIX. NO. LXXVlll. — -OCTOBER 18-15. X 



