50 



THE AQUARIUM BULLETIN 



Clrcen Ri\'er l-'ocene, found near 

 Fossil, Wyoming'. This gives tlie 

 black and shiny skeleton of this 

 ancient tish the greater prominence 

 through the c(jntrast ; and with an 

 ordinar}- hand-lens its bones may, in 

 a few instances, be studied almost 

 as well as they could ho in the skeleton 

 of any teleosteon of the present time. 

 In life this tish was twenty-eight 

 centimeters in length, that is, to the 



describer and may ha\e no signihc- 

 ance. \\ hethcr it occurs in its extinct 

 or now-existing modern relatives, 

 I cannot say at this writing, as the 

 material has not been examined by 

 me. There are numerous existing fresh 

 water Ashes found in the tropics and 

 subtropics related to this long extinct 

 one; they constitute the family 

 Cichlidae, while Priscacara is the sole 

 hlocene genus known to us at the 



•''fite 



base of the tail fin, and thirty-five in 

 total length. The form of this species 

 and the evident character of its 

 skeleton are, together, ample testi- 

 mony of its probable habits, external 

 contour, and appearance. As to its 

 coloration, that is a matter we shall 

 never know anything about. On the 

 head of the specimen, above the 

 frontal l)one, there appears to be a 

 small, downward-i)rojecting, osseous 

 s])ine, which is not menti(Mied by its 



])resent time. 



There are many other slabs con- 

 taining fossil fishes in this collection, 

 which are quite as perfect and equally 

 as interesting and important as the 

 one which I have taken occasion to 

 refer to quite fully as being repre- 

 sentative of this most valuable 

 material in its entirety. 



In a short article like the jiresent 

 one, it will not be possible to further 

 describe any other of the specimens 



