396 Mr. A. S. Woodward on Fossil Fishes from 



genus AtJierstonia, already obtained from the Beaufort Beds 

 of Colesberg, Cape Colony ; the enlarged series of dorsal 

 ridge- scales combined with the arrangement of the fins and 

 the nature of the scale-ornament being especially diagnostic. 



Sj^ecijic Determination. — It is, indeed, difficult to distinguish 

 the new fossils, except in size, from the typical Atherstonia 

 scutata. The species discovered by Professor Seeley, how- 

 ever, seems to have had a somewhat more robust trunk, with 

 the dorsal fin slightly more i-emote than in the fish already 

 known ; it may therefore be recorded as Atherstonia minor. 



Form, and Loc. — Beaufort Beds (Lower Karoo) in asso- 

 ciation with Therlodont Reptiles ; Klip Fontein, on the farm 

 of the Brothers Erasmus, S.W. of Fraserburg, Nieuwveldt 

 Range, Cape Colony. 



3. Atherstonia Seeleyi^ sp. n. 

 (PI. XVII. figs. 3, 3 a.) 



Type. — The only known fragment of this species is shown 

 of the natural size in PL XVII. fig. 3, with impressions of 

 four scales enlarged in fig. 3 a. It was discovered by Pro- 

 fessor H. G. Seeley, F.R.S. 



Description. — The fish must have had a comparatively 

 deep trunk, but it is impossible to obtain any of the propor- 

 tions from the single known specimen. Of the fins, only one 

 of the pelvic pair and the anal are preserved, both comprising 

 numerous distantly articulated rays, of which some apparently 

 show traces of a longitudinal striation. The pelvic fin has 

 a much extended base-line, and is considerably smaller than 

 tlie anal fin. All the scales preserved, except at the ventral 

 border, are much deeper than broad, and those immediately at 

 the base of the anal fin, though relatively very small, are 

 equilateral. There seems to have been one enlarged ridge- 

 scale at the origin of the anal fin. The scales of the flank 

 are united by a large peg-and-socket articulation, but there 

 are no indications of an internal median rib, and all are 

 elaborately ornamented with conspicuous oblique ridges. A 

 natural impression of the external surface of four adjoining 

 scales is shown of four times the natural size in fig. 3 a, and 

 it will be observed that the irregular oblique ridges exhibit a 

 tendency towards convergence at the postero-inferior angle. 



Generic Determination. — It is evident that the ichthyolite 

 thus described belongs either to the PalEeoniscidge or to the 

 Platysomidaj ; and on account of the great development of 

 the pelvic fins we prefer to assign it to the first family. The 

 few generic characters enumerated are the same as those of 



