520 Davis—On the Fossil Fishes of the Chalk of Mount Lebanon. 
twenty-five, gradually diminish in size and thickness. The anal fin is long, 
extending 0°6 of an inch, and separated by 0:2 of an inch from the caudal; 
it contains sixteen rays, of which those anterior are opposite to the first rays 
of the dorsal fin; they are strong, spinous, and close together; their length 
cannot be ascertained, the extremities having all disappeared. The caudal fin 
is moderate-sized and deeply cleft. There are twenty-two rays in the two 
lobes, frequently articulated and dichotomizing. The external rays of each 
lobe are strengthened by rudimentary imbricating caudal rays. 
The paired fins are not so well defined as the vertical ones; the pectoral 
fin is situated on the side of the body about one-third of the height of the 
fish above the abdominal line. The fin is not large; nine rays can be distin- 
guished. The ventral fins are situated on the abdominal surface immediately 
beneath the pectorals; they are larger and stronger than the pectoral fins, and 
supported by long pubic bones. 
The scales are small, circular, thick, and smooth, very slightly crenulated 
on the posterior margin. They extend over the whole of the body to the root 
of the tail and envelop the base of the dorsal and anal fins; they are also 
found on the upper surface of the head, on the temporal region, and in front 
of the opercular bones. The number of scales in each longitudinal row cannot 
be ascertained, but there are about twenty in a vertical row, extending between 
the anterior rays of the dorsal and anal fins. 
This specimen offers peculiar features which render its association with others 
hitherto described somewhat problematical. Its nearest relationship with any 
species which have been described from the chalk of the Lebanon district appears 
to be with Beryx vexillifer, Pictet, but it differs from that species in several 
important particulars. B. vexillifer is a fish of about similar size, whose dorsal 
fin is situated a little in advance of the middle of the body, and consists of 
nineteen to twenty rays. The anal fin is considerably behind the dorsal and 
consists of thirteen to fourteen rays; in the dorsal there are two spinous rays in 
front of the softer posterior rays, and in the anal fin three to five, which, however, 
can with difficulty be distinguished from those which follow. The dorsal fin 
in this specimen is situated on the posterior dorsal surface; it consists of twenty- 
five rays, of which the anterior six are spinous, and its posterior rays extend 
to the base of the caudal fin. The anal fin is supported by sixteen rays, of 
which the anterior seven are very strong spines. The scales of the specimen 
now described are smaller than B. vexillifer. In the latter M. Pictet counted 
ten scales in a vertical row; in this one there are at least twenty scales in a 
line between the dorsal and anal fins. The pectoral fins of this specimen are 
much smaller than those of B. vexillifer. 
Compared with the several species of the genus Beryx, from the chalk, which 
have been described by the late Professor Agassiz (‘‘ Poiss. Foss.,” vol. iv.), or 
