Miscellanies. 195 
of Fossil Fishes, discovered by that gentleman in the chalk hills of 
the South Downs. A distinguished scientific friend had the gratifi- 
cation of being present, and thus writes to us :— 
“M. Agassiz expressed his extreme delight and astonishment at 
seeing the internal structure of many of the fishes so fully displayed. 
‘In other collections (he said,) in varicus parts of Europe, I have 
seen the external forms of fossil fishes in high preservation; but I 
never expected to see the interior organization and structure laid 
open in the distinct manner which has here been eflected by the 
consummate anatomical skill of Mr. Mantell. No museum I have 
hitherto examined, presents any thing of the kind comparable to the 
collection now before me.’ The great attention M. Agassiz has be- 
stowed on this department of natural history enabled him to throw 
much light on some of the specimens. He confirmed, in general, 
the conclusions of Mr. Mantell, particularly with respect to that re- 
markable elongated, cylindrical mass, seen within the bodies of some 
of the fossil fishes, which, in the earlier specimens, Mr. Mantell 
supposed to be the air-bladder, but which he had recently informed 
me, he believed to be the stomach or colon. One of the specimens — 
of fish resembles the Amia of Carolina; and M. Agassiz has lately 
dissected a specimen of a fish, sent from the United States, which 
presents a great analogy to the fossil fish, and has corro 
opinion, that the internal mass was the stomach. M. Agassiz fur- 
ner confirmed the character given by Mr. Mantell (in his valuable 
work on the ‘ Geology of the South east of England,’) of several of 
the Ichthyolites in his museum, as belonging to the families of Salmo 
and Zeus, or Dory, of which, according to M. Agassiz, there are 
several extinct species in Mr. Mantell’s museum. The jaw and 
teeth of an animal resembling, in some respects, the jaw of a croco- 
dile, but differing in other particulars (see ‘ Geology of the South-east 
of England,’ p. 153,) M. Agassiz says, belongs to an extinct class 
of animals, which he calls Sauroid Fishes, or fishes which had a struc- 
ture approaching that of Saurians or Lizards. 
“For the information of your readers who have not seen Mr. Man- 
tell’s museum, it may be proper to state, that the fossil fish in this 
collection, unlike those generaly discovered in the strata below or 
above the chalk, preserve their natural rotundity of form. In some 
specimens, the mouth is open, as if in the act of swallowing, and 
where the internal structure is exposed, the stomach is round and 
“weompressed. This fact is of considerable importance, as it proves 
