2 2 Bulletin American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XIX, 



be the skull of P. perniciosa. In such case P. seqiiax will 

 become a synonym. 



Protosphyraena ziphioides (Cope) . 



Erisichthe ziphioides (Cope E. D.), Bull. U. S. Geol. and Geog. Surv. 



Terrs. Ill, 1877, p. 823. 

 ProtosphyrcEna ziphioides Newton (E. T.), Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc. 



XXXIV, 1878, p. 795. — Felix (J.), Zeitschr. deutsch. geol. Ge- 



sellsch. XLII, 1890, p. 297. — Woodward (A. S.), Cat. Foss. 



Fishes Brit. Mus. 1895, p. 413. — Hay (O. P.), Bibliog. and Cat. 



Foss. Vert. N. A. 1902, p. 379. 

 Erisichthe xiphioides Loomis (F. B.), Palseontogr. XLVI, 1900, p. 222. 



This species was described by Cope in 1877, as above cited. 

 The description was quoted by Felix and accompanied with 

 brief remarks. The type specimen is now in the American 

 Museum of Natural History, and has the number 2 131. Cope 

 states that the specimen is the muzzle of an old individual 

 which has lost a good deal of its apex by attrition. It is 

 probable that he meant that this attrition had been suffered 

 during the life of the animal. The present writer, however, 

 finds no evidences of any attrition. It appears improbable 

 that the beak could have been worn to any considerable 

 amount without revealing it either in the character of the 

 surface or in some asymmetry. Where the wear must have 

 been suffered, the bone is dense and smooth and the form 

 wholly symmetrical. The specimen appears to have belonged 

 to a species having a short and blunt snout. 



The following measurements are given. : 



Length of the specimen 102 mm. 



Width of the hinder end 30 mm. 



Transverse diameter at vomerine alveoli 22 mm. 



Vertical " " " " 19 mm. 



Transverse " 15 mm. from tip of snout 20 mm. 



Vertical " " " " " " 14 mm. 



On the under side of the snout (Fig. i^,vom. t.) is a pair of 

 longitudinal depressions. These Cope regarded as alveoli for 

 vomerine fangs, from which the teeth had fallen and which 



