Ea 
24 Short notices of American Fossil Fishes. 
Arr. IV.—Short notices of American Fossil Fishes ; by W. C. 
Reprieitp, Mem. Yale Nat. Hist. Soc., &c 
[Received March 15, 1841, and read before the Yale Nat. Hist. Soc. April 28,] 
Tue limited attention which is given nmposutalists to the fos- _ 
sil fishes of the United States, is probably 
rare occurrence of these fossils in our | oc] 
Hitherto, 
Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Jerse 
The earliest notices of these fossils sooiee to have been given 
by the late Dr. Mitchill, Prof. Hitchcock, and Dr. Dekay. Ata 
later period, some imperfect specimens and drawings of American. 
species received the notice of Prof. Agassiz: to whose invalu- 
able labors this department of science is so greatly indebted. 
T'wo species from the Connecticut sandstone have been noticed 
_ by my son, Mr. John H. Redfield, in the Annals of the New York 
Lyceum of Natural History. The existence of fossil fishes in 
the rocks which overlie the bituminous coal deposit near Rich- 
mond, in Virginia, had also been casually noticed, in the Ameri- 
can Journal of Science. More recently, it has been made known 
that these fossils are also found in the red sandstone of New 
Jersey.* 
With the partial exceptions above stated, there appears to have 
been no attempts to characterize or describe these interesting fos- 
sils. I venture, therefore, to notice and designate, provisionally, 
the several: species which, within a few years past, have fallen 
under my observation. 
All the species hitherto found in the ‘shave named formations 
are distinguished, like other ancient fishes, by angular or rhom- 
boidal scales covered with bony enamel: and hence they belong 
to the order Ganoides, in the, arrangement of Agassiz; a living 
type of which is found in the Hsox osseus or bony pike of our 
pa and western waters. They are also included in the 
ly Lepidoides ; and are referable to at least two distinct gen- 
era. 
* 
—_ 
* Remains of one or two species of Holoptychus have been found recently i in the 
old red sandstone beneath the coal measures, at Blossburg in Pennsylvania. Mr. 
Conrad has specified the H. oe oasetag See a Jour. of Science, Vol. XXXVI 
p- 89. 
