ROOM V. ASTEROLEPIS MACROPOMA. 435 



remains are commonly found associated with those of Mega- 

 licthys and Rhizodus, there are in this Case several specimens 

 from Burdie House. 



Asterolepis, (starry-scale.) (A. Asmusii.) Wall-case B. 

 On the outside of this Case on the top, there is a series of 

 models of the cranial bones of an enormous fish, from the 

 Old Red, near Riga ; presented by Sir Roderick Murchison. 

 This Russian ichthyolite is a species of Asterolepis, a genus 

 that has recently been made the subject of an elaborate 

 examination by Mr. Miller, who has published the results in 

 a charming little volume, which I would earnestly recom- 

 mend the reader to peruse. 1 These fishes attained a large 

 size ; probably from four or five to eighteen or twenty feet 

 in length; for in the Russian model there is a hyoid plate 

 two feet broad, and a maxillary bone twenty-eight inches 

 long. 



MACROPOMA MANTELM.* Wall-case B. (Nos. 13, 14.) The 

 group of beautiful chalk fossils, thus labelled, comprises some 

 of the first-fruits of my geological researches in the strata 

 around my native town ; several of them are unique, and 

 others are the most instructive examples of this extraor- 

 dinary type hitherto discovered. The general appearance 

 of these fishes is well shown in the magnificent ichthyolite 

 on the middle shelf (represented on a small scale in Lign. 

 89) ; in form the Macropoma resembled a large Carp; like 

 the rest of the Celacanths, the rays and processes are hollow, 

 and the cranium is covered with large granulated plates. The 

 head is very large, being nearly equal to one-fourth the entire 

 length of the body. The brush-teeth are very minute, giving 

 a rasp-like surface to the borders of the jaws, and the conical 

 teeth are small and pointed. The scales are enamelled on the 

 exposed surface, which is covered with tubular spines. The 

 opercula are remarkably long. The rays of the fins are large 

 aud rigid, especially those of the anterior dorsal, which are 

 armed on each side with rows of sharp spines. The tail is 





1 " Footprints of the Creator, or the Asterolepis of Stronmess." By 

 Hugh Miller ; p. 71. Ibid. p. 80. 



2 Described as Amia ? Lewesiensis. " Fossils of the South Downs,"1822 ; 

 tab. 37, 38. The large specimen figured in PL XVIII. I presented to 

 Baron Cuvier, and it is now in the Museum of the Institute at Paris. 

 " Wonders of Geology," p. 348 ; " Medals of Creation/' p. 655. 



