276 PICTURESQUE SKETCHES 



strays to our shores, was represented by five species 

 referable to four genera, all of which have analogies 

 connecting them with species at present only met 

 with in the southern seas. 



As an example of one of the fishes whose remains 

 are extremely common in the London clay of Shep - 

 pey, I give a restored figure of the B&anurus (S. 



Fig. 121 



SCLENURUS. 



Bowerbankii), which illustrates some peculiarities, as 

 well as shows the general resemblance to existing 

 groups. This genus is of the Ctenoid order, and not 

 very widely removed in its affinities from the perch. 

 It affords an example of unusually perfect restoration 

 from fragments almost always injured and displaced, 

 and it departs so far from modern types, that, al- 

 though its place in scientific classification can be de- 

 termined (chiefly from the scaled cheeks, and the 

 bony plates about the head), there is yet decided 

 proof of its being a new genus. 



It is interesting to find, that, while this and many 

 other marine representatives of the perch and modern 

 allied forms existed, other species now common are 



