430 Mr. A. S. Woodward on some Ganoid Fishes 



LII. — Notes on some Ganoid Fishes from the English Lower 

 Lias. By A. Smith Woodward, F.G.S., F.Z.S., of the 

 British Museum (Natural History). 



[Plate XVI.]' 



The accumulated discoveries of many years, preserved in 

 several Museums, afford the opportunity for a revision of our 

 knowledge of the Fish-fauna of the English Lower Lias, and 

 also make known a few interesting forms as yet unrecognized. 

 Having had frequent opportunities of pursuing the subject 

 during the last few years, the writer ventures to offer the 

 following remarks on some of these new and little-known 

 fishes — the result of observations chiefly based on specimens 

 in the British Museum. 



I. Family Palaeoniscidse. 



As already remarked by Traquair *, the Palaeoniscidas of 

 the Lias comprise the four fishes described by Egerton under 

 the names of Oxygnathus ornatus, Cosmolepis Egertoni, 

 Thrissonotus Colei, and Centrolepis asper. A fifth genus 

 and species, Lissolepis serratus of Davis, is also described as 

 referable to the same family ; but there seems to be no justi- 

 fication for this determination, and the fish in question has 

 lately been removed to the Eugnathidaj f. 



Genus Centrolepis. 



Of the undoubted Palasoniscidge the genus Centrolepis is 

 the most striking and well characterized. It is, however, 

 very rare, there being only three specimens in the British 

 Museum ; and the caudal pedicle and fins still remain un- 

 known. The new examples show that the type species, 

 Centrolepis asper, is not so short and stout as supposed by 

 Egerton ; the fin described as anal being truly one of the 

 pelvic pair, while the marginal rays ascribed to the lower 

 lobe of the caudal fin are undoubtedly those of the anal. 

 Moreover, the scales described and figured in the original 

 notice are all referable to the ventral aspect, those of the flank 

 (PI. XVI. fig. 1) being somewhat deeper in proportion to their 



* R. H. Traquair, "Ganoid Fishes of the British Carboniferous For- 

 mations," pt. i. (Pal. Soc, 1877), p. 12. 



J Woodward and Sherkorn, " Catalogue of British Fossil Vertebrata " 

 (1890), p. 77. Complete references to the literature of the subject under 

 consideration will be found in this work. 



