166 MURyENOIDS. LEPIDOSIREN. 



two rows on each side, while the vomerine teeth are in four rows. 

 The teeth of the Murana Saga are small and numerous, and may be 

 said to be arranged ' en carde.' 



In the skull of the Murcsna tigrina, figured in PI. 56, fig. 5, 

 of which the jaws are upwards of four inches in length, they are 

 armed with a pretty close-set row of strong conical teeth, h, with the 

 base extended transversely and firmly anchylosed to the alveolar 

 margin of the jaw, and the apex narrowed off to a pointed and some- 

 what trenchant edge set lengthwise ; on the outside of this row there 

 is an irregular series of small conical teeth, and in the inside a 

 broader stripe of small granular teeth. At the extremity of the 

 lower jaw two of the conical teeth are developed to a size much 

 exceeding the rest ; they are surrounded by smaller conical teeth 

 which spread out like the prongs of a grappling-iron. These large 

 terminal teeth of the lower jaw are opposed to four similar large, 

 conical, sharp-pointed, divergent fangs on the expanded anterior 

 extremity of the vomer. A longitudinal oval plate on the vomer 

 supports twelve large and strong conical teeth, anchylosed by trans- 

 versely extended bases ; these teeth are arranged in alternate pairs 

 in the middle of the group, but the rest form a single longitudinal 

 row, decreasing in size as they are placed anteriorly. The whole 

 dentition presents a most formidable armature for seizing and 

 lacerating a resisting prey. The vomerine teeth are indicated by 

 the letter a. In the great Oxyrhynchus the crowns of the teeth are 

 sub-compressed laterally and have an anterior and posterior dentated 

 edge. 



LEPIDOSIREN. 



64. At the extreme limit of the class of fishes, and con- 

 necting that class with the reptiles, stands the very remarkable genus 

 of which the name is placed at the head of the present chapter, and 

 the dental system is figured in PL 59. This consists of two small, 

 slender, conical, sharp-pointed and slightly recurved teeth, which 

 project downwards from the intermaxillary bone, and of strong 

 trenchant dental plates anchylosed with the alveolar border of the 



