Miscellaneous. 413 



tyi)ical members of the genus in exhibiting " a series of scutes 

 similar to those on the abdominal profile between the occiput and 

 the dorsal " fin. He points out, moreover, that this feature is 

 peculiar to " all the freshwater and estuary non-migratory H(!rrings 

 of the cismontaue rivers of the Colony, between the limits of the 

 Richmond River and Botany Bay; " while he finally observes that 

 the presence of the dorsal scutes may perhaps be regarded as 

 separating the species in question from the genus Clupea, in which 

 case he proposes the new name of Hyjierloj^ihus. 



If Mr. Ogilby had not shared in that lamentable ignorance of 

 extinct animals so conspicuous in a certain school of zoologists, he 

 might have been spared the discussion of a point that was settled 

 more than filteen years ago ; and, instead of adding to the burden of 

 synonymy, he might have been able to contribute an item to the 

 broad philosophy of the subject. As a matter of fact, the doubly- 

 armoured herrings were discovered in 1877 by Professor E. D. Cope*, 

 who established for them the genus Diplomtjstus — a genus now 

 so widely recognized that it has already found a place in the 

 elementary handbooks f. 



Now the great interest of Mr. Ogilby's observation lies in the 

 circumstance that Diplomystns is one of the earliest known types 

 of herring, having a very wide range in space during the latter part 

 of the Cretaceous and the early part of the Tertiary period. It was 

 evidently a characteristic fish of those times, and no trace of the 

 genus at a later period seems to have been recorded until the publi- 

 cation of Mr. Ogilby's recent paper. It has been discovered in the 

 Upper Cretaceous of Brazil and of Syria ; in the Eocene of Wyoming, 

 U.S.A. ; and in the Oligocene of the Isle of Wight. It is most 

 abundantly represented in the Green River Shales of Wyoming J, 

 and some species exhibit the remarkably forward pelvic fins ob- 

 served in the new herring from New South Wales. The occurrence 

 of Diplomystus at the present day in the freshwaters of Australia, 

 is thus another interesting case of the survival of ancient types in 

 remote places of refuge ; and it might be profitable to institute a 

 detailed comparison between the other freshwater Teleostean fishes 

 of Australia and their extinct allies occurring in other parts of 

 the world. 



The Development of the Gemnmles of Ephydatia fluviatilis, Auct. 

 By W. Zykofp, of Moscow. 



While at present engaged in preparing for the press a detailed 

 article on the development of Ephydatia fluviatilis, Auct., I see a 



* Bull. U.S. Geol. Surv. Territ. vol. iii. p. 808. 



t Ziltcl, Handb. Palaeont. vol. iii. p. 276; Nicholson & Lydekker, 

 Palteont. vol. ii. p. OOU. 



X E. I). Cope, Rep. U.S. Geol. Surv. Territ vol. iii. pp. 73-79, with 

 plates. 



