Mr. A. S. Woodward on Coelorhynchus, Agassiz. 223 



medium attenuatis, supra convexis, tubereulis seriatis duplici 

 serie in singulo positis. 

 Long. 26, lat. 1 0| mm. 



Black, covered with a brown squamosity. Rostrum elon- 

 gated, shaped like that of B, setipennis ; scape of antennae 

 elongated, the other joints closely set, the apical one cylin- 

 drical ; prothorax very rugose, much ampliated, shaped like 

 that of B. cornutus, with the sides subangular, much sinuated 

 anteriorly, as broad as the elytra, which are very elongated, 

 narrowed in the middle, slightly ampliated _ posteriorly, con- 

 vex, very rugose, and each provided with two rows of 

 tubercles, the discoidal more conspicuous than the second row. 

 Legs as in B. setipennis. 



One example from Natal. 



Cape Town, 

 July 25, 1888. 



XXVII. — On the Fossil Fish-spines named Coelorhynchus, 

 Agassiz. By A. Smith Woodward, F.G.S,, F.Z.S., of 

 the British Museum (Natural History) . 



Among the most interesting of undetermined Ichthyodorulites 

 are some straight, long, slender, round, ribbed spinps, met 

 with in the Upper Cretaceous and Tertiaries, and originally 

 described by Agassiz as the rostral bones of sword-fishes 

 under the name of Coelorhynchus *. Their dermal nature 

 was first pointed out by Williamson f, who published a de- 

 tailed microscopical description ; and fragments of the fossil 

 have since been recognized from various parts of the world. 



Coelorhynchus cretaceus occurs in the Chalk of England j:, 

 and fragments of a similar spine in the " Mucronatenkreide " 

 of Liineburg §. Agassiz {loc. cit.) named C. rectus and G. 

 sinuatus, without description, from the Bracklesham Beds and 

 the London Clay of Sheppey respectively ||. Le Hon ^, P. 



• L. Agassiz, Eecb. Poiss. Foss. vol. v. pt. i. (1843), p. 92. 



t W. C. Williamson, " Investigations into the Structure and Develop- 

 ment of the Scales and Bones of Fishes," Phil. Trans. 1849, p. 471, 

 pi. xliii. figs. 35-37 ; ibicL 1851, p. 668. 



X F. Dixon, Geol. and Foss. Sussex, 1850, p. xh, pi. xxxu. fig. 10. 



§ W. Dames's paper quoted below, p. 148. 



II C. rectus is erroneously ascribed to the London Clay in the original 

 notice. See figures by F. Dixon, op. cit. pi. x. figs. 14-17, pi. xi. fig. 26. 



^ H. Le Hon, ' Pr6liminaires d'un M(5moire sur les Poissons tertiaires 

 de Belgique,' 1871. Figures given in Burtin's ' Oryctographie de Brux- 

 elles,' 1784, pi. vi. figs. a-h. 



