260 Dr. 1\. IT. Traquair o« Fossil Fishes 



ment that the scales are granulated, do remind us of the fish 

 under consideration, yet so little is known of the structural 

 details of the Australian fisli, that all evidence of f^jcneric 

 identity is wanting. As far as Sir rhilip I\gerton's descri))- 

 tion antl figures go, however, the head of ('leithrolepis would 

 seem to have been much smaller in projiortion, the vertical 

 rows of scales much more numerous, and the articulating rib 

 on the anterior margin of the inner surface of each scale very 

 considerably stronger. On the whole, I think it is better to 

 bestow a new generic title on the ])resent fish ; and accordingly 

 I ju'opose for it the name Wardichthys* ^ coupled with the 

 specific designation cydosovia. 



Wardichthys, gen. et sp. nov., Traquair, 



Body flat, nearly circular, back very highly arched ; dorsal 

 and anal fins small, opposite, the former arising much behind 

 the culminating point of the rounded dorsal arch and extend- 

 ing to the tail-pedicle. Pectoral, ventral, and caudal fins 

 unknown, the latter probably hcterocercal. Scales ornamented 

 externally with fine tubercles, which often coalesce into short 

 transverse ridges ; lepidopleura weak. Snout short, rounded ; 

 orbit well forward ; cranial bones ornamented by fine flexuous 

 ridges or striae. 



Wardichthys cydosoma. — The only known species ; and of 

 it, as yet, only one specimen has been obtained, from the 

 Lower Carboniferous shales of Wardie (Newhaven), on the 

 Frith of Forth, near Edinburgh. 



III. Rhizodus Hihbertij Agass., sp. 



A specimen of Rhizodus Hihherti^ Agass., sp., from the 

 blackband ironstone of Gilmerton, recently acquired by the 

 Edinburgh ]\Iuseum of Science and Art, throws some addi- 

 tional light on the structure of this remarkable and gigantic 

 fish, concerning Avhich so little is yet known in spite of the 

 comparative abundance of fragmentary remains. It is a 

 fragment of what would apparently have been a most magni- 

 ficent and truly unique specimen, had the whole of it been 

 obtained ; as it is, it shows a portion of the head, shoulder, 

 and anterior part of the body of an example of moderate, 

 or rather small size, for a Rhizodus at least. The entire 



* In honour of Mr. J. Ward, of Longton, Staffordshire, to whom I 

 am indebted for much vahiabl* assistance in the study of Carboniferous 

 fishes. 



