Fossil Fishes of Westjield. 39 



confirmed by the observations of Baron Cuvier — vid. " Ossemens 

 Fossiles." 



ORDER ACANTHOPTERYGIA. 



Genus SphyrjEna, B1. 



The fossil jaw from N. Jersey secondary referred to above, is 

 in possession of Dr Dekay, who has not yet published a descrip- 

 tion of it. 



Many years ago we received from Mr A. Jessup, a fine col- 

 lection of fossil fishes in the slate from Westfield, Connecticut. 



Connected with the fossil fish of this locality, Prof. Hitchock 

 in his recent work, " Report on the Geology, &c. of Massachu- 

 setts," has given a very interesting chapter — we quote his obser- 

 vations for the benefit of our foreign readers, who may not con- 

 veniently refer to the original. " The remains of fish have been 

 found on bituminous shale, and on bituminous marlite, in 

 Middleton, Con., at Sunderland, Mass., and also in West Spring- 

 field and Deerfield. Sunderland, however, is the only spot where 

 they can now be procured. The shale there forms the bank of 

 the river several feet high : but the Ichthyolites are most abun- 

 dant in the lower part of the bed, which corresponds nearly with 

 low- water mark. I have dug out hundreds of specimens at this 

 spot, though perfect ones are very rarely to be obtained. 



" On one layer of the rock, fifteen inches by three feet, seven 

 distinct impressions are visible. Indeed I have not unfrequent- 

 ly met with one fish lying across another, without the interven- 

 tion of a layer of shale, and from these specimens, I can easily 

 conceive how the mistake should have been made, that among 

 the Monte Bolca ichthyolites, one fish was found in the act of 

 swallowing the other. 



" A thin layer of carbonaceous matter usually marks out the 

 spot where the fish lay, except the head, whose outlines are ren- 

 dered visible only by irregular ridges and furrows. In some 

 cases, however, satin-spar forms a thin layer over the carbona- 

 ceous matter, and being of a bright gray colour, it gives to the 

 specimens an aspect extremely like that of a fish just taken out 

 of the water. 



