Davis—On the Fossil Fishes of the Chalk of Mount Lebanon. 551 
existing flying fishes in all these particulars, and consequently Exoccetoides, by 
which name it is proposed that this genus shall be distinguished, may be regarded 
as more or less closely related to the genus Exoccetus, one of the family Scom- 
bresocidee. 
Exocetoides minor, Davis. 
(Pl. xxvi., figs. 1 and 5.) 
The fish is preserved with the dorsal surface exposed. The cranial portion of 
the head, the vertebral column, the pectoral and ventral fins, are exhibited; but 
the unpaired fins, except a few rays of the dorsal, are wanting. The portion 
preserved is 1:8 inch in length. The head occupies nearly one-fourth of this 
length. The entire length of the body cannot be easily estimated, on account of 
the absence of the tail and the posterior part of the body. 
The head is 0-4 of an inch in length from the snout to the anterior margin of 
the pectoral arch. Its greatest width is 0°35 inch across the occipital region, 
and it diminishes rapidly to the snout, which is small, apparently flattened, and 
with a triangular outline. The head was covered with thin enamelled plates, the 
greater portion of which have disappeared, and only the impression of them 
is left. A somewhat prominent ridge extends along the median line of the head, 
formed by the parietal and frontal bones; the anterior portion is depressed. The 
orbits are median or slightly posterior, separated by 0°15 of an inch, moderately 
large and circular. The maxillaries, which extend in this specimen from the 
anterior margin of the orbit to the end of the depressed ethmoid bones, are 
0-2 inch in length. Premaxillary bones are spread on each side of the snout, 
displaced, no doubt, by pressure during deposition ; they are 0-15 inch in length 
on each side. Teeth are not visible. Opercular bones can be distinguished, but 
not with sufficient clearness for detailed description. 
The spinal column, so far as preserved, consists of about forty vertebre ; nine, 
larger and longer than the remainder, extend between the head and the base of 
attachment of the ventral fins. The vertebre are small, slightly longer than 
broad, and contracted in the middle. Towards the posterior extremity a few 
short and fine spinous processes are preserved, and near them are four rays, which 
have belonged to the dorsal fin ; they are 1:1 inch behind the occipital region. 
Of the paired fins, the pectorals are very large, and situated laterally, imme- 
diately behind the head; the ventrals are 0°35 inch farther back, and are much 
smaller. The pectoral fins are supported by a strong scapular arch, and the 
fin-rays are attached to a broadly-expanded scapular bone, connected by the 
coracoid with the base of the skull. The rays of the pectoral fin are sixteen 
in number, and about 1 inch in length; the proximal end is expanded for 
attachment; for a distance of half their length the rays are simple, beyond they 
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