President's Address. 149 



that occasion he also bestowed on this mighty fish the not 

 inappropriate name of Megalichtliys Hihherti. With its 

 remains, however, those of a much smaller fish, with glossy 

 angular scales, were at the time unfortunately confounded, 

 but there can be no doubt that the name Megalichtliys was 

 suggested by the large teeth, and properly belonged to their pos- 

 sessor. Nevertheless, some time afterwards, on visiting Leeds, 

 and finding in the Museum there the head of an example of the 

 smaller fish, Agassi z described and figured it in a subsequent 

 number of the " Poissons Fossiles" as MegalichthysHibberti, while 

 for the real and original Megalichtliys, along with some Old Eed 

 species he founded the genus Holoptychius. Professor Owen, 

 however, in his well-known work, ''Odontography" (1840-45), 

 elevated the Carboniferous " Holojptychiiis " Hihherti into the 

 new genus Rhizodus, giving also many important details 

 regarding the microscopic structure of the teeth. The claims 

 of Ehizodits to generic distinction were stoutly disputed by 

 Agassiz in his work on the fishes of the Old Eed Sandstone. 

 Subsequent investigation has, however, not only proved the 

 validity of Rhizodus as a genus, but also that it cannot even 

 be included in the same family with Holopty chins. 



In the same work ("Odontography") Professor Owen 

 described the remarkable microscopic structure of the conical 

 teeth from the Old Eed Sandstone of Morayshire, to which he 

 gave the name of Dendrodus. 



The next writer on Scottish fossil fishes who claims our 

 attention is our own countryman, Hugh Miller. We all 

 know the wonderful history of this remarkable man ; how 

 that, born of humble parents, educated at a village school, 

 and entering upon life first as a quarryman, then as a stone- 

 mason, he finally became the editor of an Edinburgh news- 

 paper, and one of the most eloquent writers of the English 

 language that Scotland has produced. The attention of his 

 leisure moments was early drawn to Natural History, and 

 his wonder and interest being excited by the rich deposits of 

 fossils, both Jurassic and Old Eed, which he found near his 

 native place of Cromarty, he in time amassed a magnificent 

 collection both from these deposits and from the Carboniferous 

 rocks of the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, which is now safely 



