J903-] 



Hay^ North American Cretaceous Fishes. 



53 



of Saurocephalus, belonging to the section or subgenus Sanro- 

 doii. Its number is 2 no. It is difficult to understand how 

 Professor Cope came to refer the species to Ichthyodectes, 

 since the forms of the maxillary, premaxillary, and palatine, 



Fig. 41 Saiitoctphaliis goodtaims (Cope). No. 2110. X \. Type. 

 Upper jaw, outer view, mx., maxilla; pal.^ palatine; p>iix.^ pre- 

 maxilla ; stkx., supramaxilla. 



and the presence of notches at the bases of the teeth plainly 

 indicate its relationship with Saurocephalus pJdebotomus (Fig. 



41). 



Cope's description agrees in almost every respect with the 

 specimen, but in one or two cases there is some apparent lack 

 of agreement, due evidently to a misuse of terms. He states 

 that "the maxillary border is incurved at its anterior ex- 

 tremity," etc. This is exact, if instead of maxillary we read 

 premaxillary. That the latter is meant is indicated by the 

 statements "the middle part of the border being most 

 prominent," and "the anterior border is sigmoidally curved," 

 statements true of the premaxilla, but having little or no 

 significance when applied to the maxilla. The statements 

 as to the number and character of the premaxillary teeth 

 are correct. As Cope says, the maxillary teeth are round 

 in section ; but there can be little doubt that if we had the 

 crowns of these teeth they would be found to be two- 

 edged, as are those of the premaxilla. Cope's measurements 

 are correct. 



This species differs from all other described species of 



