1903.] Hay, Cretaceous Fishes from Mount Lebanon, Syria. 4^3 



From this point backward the width again diminishes until 

 at the proximal end the width is about 35 mm. It might be 

 supposed that immediately behind the widest part of the 

 rostral cartilages the shagreened skin would part from the carti- 

 lages and pass outward and backward to the sides of the 

 head. There is, however, no indication of such expansion of 

 the head, and a few teeth are found at a little distance behind 

 this broadest part of the rostrum. 



The rostral teeth resemble most those of 5. solomonis, but 

 they are still smaller, not exceeding 2.5 mm. in length, and 

 numbering 10 in 10 mm. The base does not appear to be 

 distinctly stellate. From 5. hiram the teeth differ in that 

 the enameled blade does not form any considerable angle with 

 the pedicel. 



The form of the rostrum is quite different from that of 5. 

 solomonis, in that it does not contract so rapidly toward the 

 distal end, and it has evidently been longer in proportion to 

 its width. The rostrum has been composed of small, hexag- 

 onal, smooth calcifications. Most of these are now removed 

 from the fossil, only their imprints remaining. A peculiar 

 feature, one not found in either 5. hiram or 5. solomonis, is 

 the presence of two rows of denticles throughout about the 

 anterior two-thirds of the fragment, one row on each side of 

 the midline. These denticles appear to have had a height of 

 about a millimeter. Only their bases are seen, the remainder 

 being buried in the matrix. The bases are stellate on their 

 hinder borders, but not in front. The denticles are placed 

 about 3 mm. apart. Whether they were on the upper or the 

 lower side of the rostrum I am unable to determine. These 

 doubtless belonged to the shagreen, and they appear to be all 

 of the dermal structures, except the teeth, that now remain. 



It will, perhaps, be profitable to note certain differences in 

 the forms of the rostra of the three species described in this 

 paper. In 5. hiram the rostral cartilages have a width, where 

 widest, of 44 mm., and the mouth is placed 55 mm. behind 

 this. In 5. solomonis the greatest width is 55 mm., and the 

 mouth is only 40 mm. behind this widest portion. In S. sen- 

 Uis the rostrum has a maximum width of 45 mm., and the 



