36 FOSSIL FISHES OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 



Family FORFICID^. 



31. Forfex hypuralis Jordan, new genus and species. 

 (Plate XIV, fig. 3) 



Type (No. CV) a small fish from soft clay shales of Monterey age, 

 obtained in Pine Canon, Santa Maria oil-fields, Santa Barbara County, 

 by Mr. R. E. Cullom. 



The total length of this specimen, including beak and caudal fin, 

 must have been 100 millimeters or about four inches. Head, exclusive 

 of the slender beak, 3^4 to 4 times in length to base of caudal; depth 

 about five, eye about one-third of head exclusive of beak. 



Vertebrae about 38, about 12 of those under front of dorsal fin 

 being obliterated; the vertebrae small and little constricted, the anterior 

 short, the posterior longer than deep, those toward base of caudal with 

 small, oblique dorsal and haemal spines, much weaker than in RHOMURUS ; 

 no trace of ribs preserved. 



Head badly broken, low and elongate, evidently ending in a very 

 slender beak, the broken parts of which are distorted and displaced. 

 This must, however, have been as long as the rest of the head. The 

 jaws are provided with small, sharp teeth, visible only under the lens, 

 not close set and apparently in one row, an occasional one twice as 

 high as the others ; a bone, apparently the opercle, small, quadrate, with 

 shining surface. Pectoral fin short and narrow. Seven rays apparent, the 

 fin inserted higher than in soft-rayed fishes generally, but not so high as 

 in the BELONID^:; ventral fins obliterated, perhaps represented by two 

 slight marks about midway between gill opening and front of dorsal ; 

 dorsal fin long, of moderate height. The distance from insertion to gill 

 opening 1% in the distance from insertion to base of caudal ; length 

 of base of dorsal, 2y w in body from gill opening to base of caudal; the 

 rays apparently 1, 16 in number, the first short and spinous, the rest 

 soft rays, and the anterior soft rays apparently highest. Anal repre- 

 sented by three or four broken rays just behind middle of dorsal on 

 posterior third of body, the rest obliterated. Caudal fin long and broad, 

 apparently truncate, certainly not forked; the upper lobe a little longer 

 than head without beak; the rays 7, 14, 7, the slender outside rays 

 graduated. Hypural plate broadly triangular, unusually large and dis- 

 tinct, bearing all the long rays of the caudal, a narrow line of division 

 between the parts. Obscure prints of rather large scales occur in parts 

 of the body. There were perhaps forty in a lengthwise series. 



The relations of this singular fish are uncertain. Probably the form 

 of the hypural plate will give the final clue. Externally it bears some 

 resemblance to the BELONID^:, but its dorsal fin is much farther advanced 



