266 Messrs. Hancock & Atthey on Reptile- and Fish-Remains 



of moderate length. Brownish black, each scale with the 

 margin lighter ; back with two or three yellowish blotches : 

 the hrst, at the origin of the spinous dorsal, is sometimes ab- 

 sent ; the second at the origin of the soft dorsal, and the third 

 on the back of the caudal peduncle. Dorsal fins coloured as 

 the body underneath ; caudal nearly uniform white. Pectoral 

 rays variegated with black. 



Three examples, the largest 2^ inches long, are in the col- 

 lection. 



XXXV. — Notes on the Remains of some Reptiles and Fishes 

 from the Shales of the Northumberland Coal-field. By 

 Albany Hancock, F.L.S., and ThOxMAS Atthey*. 



The coal-shales of the Low-Main seam at Newsham and 

 Cramlington, near Newcastle-upon-Tyne, so prolific in fish- 

 remains, have also yielded some very interesting reptilian fos- 

 sils, the largest and most important of which are the posterior 

 and upper portions of two crania that are undoubtedly Laby- 

 rinthodont. These are apparently closely related to Loxomma 

 Allmanni described by Prof. Huxley in the Proc. Geol. Soc. 

 vol. xviii. p. 291 (1862), though apparently generically distinct 

 from that form. Two sets of sternal plates have also been 

 found in the same locality, as well as several ribs, a few ver- 

 tebrge, two of which have the neural arch complete and most 

 of the processes attached. Several premaxillaries and three or 

 four portions of mandibular bones, with the teeth attached, 

 have also occurred. All these most probably belong to the 

 same large Labyrinthodont Amphibian. 



Besides the above interesting remains, an almost entire indi- 

 vidual of a new species of Ophiderpeton, Huxley, has occurred, as 

 well as several other fragmentary reptilian fossils. And what 

 we now propose is to give in the following pages more or less 

 detailed descriptions of all these, and likewise of some fish- 

 remains that have been found in the same locality. 



Pteroplax cornuta^ nobis. 



The two cranial fragments of the reptile designated as above 

 are each composed of the two quadrate supra-occij)itals, the 

 two parietals, portions of the elongated frontals, the post- 

 frontals, and the epiotic bones, all of which are firmly united 

 into one great pyriform shield by well-knit serrated sutures, 

 which can be traced with sufficient accuracy. This shield 



* Eead at a Meeting of the Nat. Hist. Soc. of Newcastle-upon-Tyne 

 and Tyneside Nat, Field Club, March 12, 1868. 



