490 FISHES. 



FOSSIL FISHES. 



FOSSIL remains of Fishes, in the form of bones, casts, or im- 

 pressions, are met with in various strata, from those of the transi- 

 tion rocks to the latest alluvial formations. The greater part 

 of these remains, however, like the other remains of vertebral 

 animals found in a fossil state, cannot be identified with the 

 existing species ; and though many resemble in their generic 

 characters the groups of the present races, so as to be conve- 

 niently referred to these, yet there appear to be some which 

 present typical forms possessing no identity with the more re- 

 cent individuals. These animal remains have been termed Ich- 

 thyolites. 



Among the more ancient marine formations, the fossil remains 

 of fishes near the town of Claris in Switzerland have long at- 

 tracted attention. The place where they are found is in the 

 bottom of a small valley named Sernft, about 1000 metres above 

 the village of Lengi, and surrounded by the mountains call- 

 ed Plattenberg. The rock which includes the Ichthyolites is a 

 kind of transition or schistose rock, containing mica slate and 

 limestone in parallel beds ; and the skeletons of the fishes 

 occur in relief on the slaty laminae. The specimens are rare, 

 and never accompanied by fragments of shells. The valley of 

 Sernft opens into another valley hollowed out of mountain lime- 

 stone. Species of the genus Anenchelum, (A. Glarisianum, 

 Blainv. the eel of Glaris,) of Palceorhyncum, Clupea, and 

 Zeus, have been met with in this locality. 



In the canton of Lucerne, near the top of Mont Pilat, and 

 in the slaty schistus of which it is composed, are also found re- 

 mains of fishes. The hard parts of the skeletons, however 

 have disappeared, and the impressions of the animals only remain. 

 Large quantities of the teeth of fishes occur in this locality. 



In the metalliferous rocks of Germany, as at Mansfeld, Thu- 

 ringia, near Madgeburgh, and in the Palatinate, fossil remains 

 of fishes are numerous, and in very complete preservation. 

 The soft parts of the animals, as the skin, appear to be here 

 preserved, the body being found on splitting up the stones in re- 

 lief on one side, with a corresponding hollow on the other. The 



