1903.] Ha\\ Cretaceous Fishes frotn Mount Lebanon, Syria. 4^7 



Cretaceous Fossils from the Beyrut District, Syria, in the Col- 

 lection of the American Museum of Natural History, with 

 Descriptions of some New Species' (Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. 

 Hist., Ill, 1891, pp. 381-441, pis. iva-x). 



Class PISCES. 



BELONORHYNCHID^ ? 



Stenoprotome, gen. nov. 



The writer finds it difficult to determine with any certainty 

 either the relationships or the characters of this genus. The 

 following characters are given provisionally: 



Body furnished with large tuberculated bony scutes. Ver- 

 tebral centra not developed. Head elongated, the snout slen- 

 der, obtuse at the apex. Teeth of moderate size, conical. 

 Opercular? bone furnished with a long, curved spine. Type, 

 Stenoprotome hamata sp. nov. Derivation of name, (rTe.v6<s, 

 narrow, and irpoTOfxri, the face. 



Stenoprotome hamata, sp. nov. 



Plate XXVI, Figure 2; Plate XXVII, Figure 2. 



The specimen which forms the basis of the following de- 

 scription was obtained at Hakel, and the number is 4509 

 (3863). The head is the part most satisfactorily preserved, 

 and figures are here presented of both the counterparts. The 

 most striking feature of the fish is the possession of two long, 

 curved spines, one on each side of the head. Each of these 

 ends in a sharp point; and just proximad of the point is a 

 sharp barb. The distal end of the spine resembles closely the 

 point of a fishhook. The writer has not been able to deter- 

 mine conclusively what bone supports this spine. On looking 

 at Coccodiis it is suggested to one that the spine is homo- 

 logous with the lateral spine of that genus, but further con- 

 sideration makes it evident that the present form has no 

 relationships with the pycnodonts; and the close attachment 

 of the spine to the side of the head and its evident great ex- 

 tension forward indicates that it is rather the opercular bone. 



