LETTER TO AGASSI Z. 147 



a series of longitudinal ridges, waved just enough to 

 give them a sort of pendulous appearance ; and, as if to 

 conform with this character, the rays of the fins and tail 

 have a pendulous appearance too. In the fish with the 

 spines, the silvery smoothness of the fins must have har- 

 monized well with the smoothness of the head, and the 

 lightly -marked ridges of the scales with the light fringe 

 of the neck and the elegant lines of scales which covered 

 the tail. And the small-scaled toothed fish had its har- 

 mony of ornament with the rest. Without bearing per- 

 haps a single thorn, it must have everywhere presented 

 a thorny appearance. Each scale seems a bunch of 

 minute prickles; the head and neck present the same 

 rough appearance, and the rays of the fins are all 

 jagged at one edge. I find that, unlike at least two va- 

 rieties of fish furnished by the beds, the fish with the 

 larger punctured scales and the fish with the large 

 ridged ones, the caudal fin spread equally on both 

 sides the tail. I am afraid, however, that when thus 

 communicating the results of my petty observations, I 

 am but gaining for myself the reputation of being a 

 tedious fellow. 



c Do I ask too much, honoured sir, when I request 

 a very few lines from you to say whether the formation 

 in which these fossils occur be a fresh- water one or other- 

 wise, and whether the small-scaled fish with the teeth 

 be of a kind already known to geologists, or a new one ? 

 I am much alone in this remote corner, a kind of Robin- 

 son Crusoe in geology, and somewhat in danger of the 

 savages, who cannot be made to understand why, ac- 

 cording to Job, a man should be making leagues with 

 the stones of the field ! But I am sanguine enough to 

 hope that the good-nature of which my friend Dr 

 Malcolmson speaks so warmly may lead its owner to 



