62 



Zoological Society :■ 



It is very unlike the skin of a cartilaginous fish, which is always 

 a good firm skin, more or less studded with hard, imbedded, bony 

 scales or processes, or the case of an Ostracion, which is formed of 

 cartilaginous or horny tesserae. The rounded surface, which has been 

 regarded as the upper surface of the ' tail, is pierced with two series 

 of small, rather unequal-sized, oblong holes, which look very like 

 irregular ambulacra for the passage of the feet or tentacles of the 

 animal which formed the body, as in the case of the Star-fishes ; 

 and yet, at the same time, these holes are very different from the 

 ambulacral pores of those animals, which are always in pairs and 

 surrounded by some special ossicles. Besides the holes on the 

 rounded or upper edge, there are a few similar perforations, but 

 smaller in size, on the sides of the thicker part of the tube. 



The entire surface of the external skeleton is cribellated with 

 small pores between the ossicles, as is the case with many Asteriadce 

 and Echinidce. This porousness of the surface induced one of the na- 

 turalists to whom it was shown to suggest that it might be the shell 

 of a gigantic Foraminifer, or the coral of one of the Polyzoa ; but 

 this opinion cannot be entertained, as the pores are very unlike the 

 pores of those animals, and the large continuous internal cavity, which 

 has been evidently occupied by some part of a larger animal, is totally 

 opposed to such a theory. 



I therefore propose to give it a name, in hopes that it may lead to 

 a more perfect knowledge of the animal, and to characterize it thus: — 



Myriosteon, gen. nov. 



Body, entire form unknown. The part alone known (fig. 1) is 

 elongate, tapering, straight, rather compressed, rounded above, and 

 flattened beneath ; the sides and upper surface formed of convex 

 tetragonal ossicles, united by short radiating branches ; with four 

 or five round pores round each ossicle ; ossicles of nearly equal size 

 in all parts of the surface. 





Fig. 1. The entire specimen, greatly reduced. 



2. Cross section of the specimen, natural size. 



3. Side view, showing the flat under surface. 



4. Figure of the surface, natural size. 



The lower surface flat (figs. 2, 3, & 5), formed of smooth flat-topped 

 tesserae, which are very close together, forming a nearly continuous 



