263 



A portion of flat bone, about a foot in length, and four inches broad, 

 bearing a general resemblance to the saw of the saw-fish (Pristis) with 

 apertures or sockets for the lateral teeth, very distinct along each side, 

 from Gloucestershire, was exhibited in the Leverian, and, since, in the 

 London Museum. 



In the neighbourhood of Bath is found a fossil proboscis, or jaw, of 

 some unknown animal, of a curious form. It is long and tapering; sel- 

 dom, however, exceeding six inches in length, of a dark brown colour, 

 or nearly black : it is flat, and fluted on its two broader sides : and, on 

 one of its edges, has a series of small teeth disposed in a straight line. 



Not the least curious of the weapons of the finny tribe is a spear- 

 formed bony substance, of a dark brown colour, found in the Isle of 

 Shepey, which I purchased from the collection of Mr. Strange. It is 

 of a conical form, tapering nearly to a point; eight inches in length, and 

 three inches in width, at its largest part. It appears to have been the 

 proboscis of some unknown fish. 



The scales of fishes are frequently found in a state of high preservation 

 in the pyritous clay of Shepey, sometimes possessing even a metallic 

 lustre. They are also sometimes, but more rarely, formed in the masses 

 of chalk, and very rarely indeed in the flint nodules. Plate XVIIL 

 Fig. 13, is a curi6usly-formed scale, found in the Kentish chalk-pits; and 

 in Plate XVIIL Fig. 9, is shown a single scale, with its processes for 

 attachment, found in a lump of calcareous matter, in Dorsetshire. This 

 scale seems to differ only in size from those which are described Page 250, 

 and figured Plate XVL Fig. 12. 



The bodies of the vertebrae are very frequently found both in pyritous 

 masses, and in the several lime-stone strata; but it is very rare to find 

 them possessed of either their spinous or transverse processes. Among 

 those fossils which have been desribed as scarce, are those vertebra 

 which bear somewhat of the form of an hour-glass. These, however, 

 are by no means so rare as has been supposed, the vertebrae of fish in, 

 general approaching to this form. 



