1886. ] SQUALORAJA POLYSPONDYLA. 529 
New SPECIMENS. 
Up to the present time, therefore, there is no very precise infor- 
mation in regard to the structural features of Squaloraja beyond the 
descriptions of dermal appendages, the snout, and the vertebral 
column. But the British Museum again furnishes materials for an 
addition to our knowledge (thanks, especially, to a recent purchase 
from Mrs. Dollin of Lyme Regis, and the acquisition of the Egerton 
and Enniskillen collections), and it is upon the national fossils that 
the present contribution is based. All the specimens are from the 
well-known Lower Lias of Lyme Regis, Dorsetshire ; and, adding 
Roman numerals for convenience of future reference, they may be 
briefly enumerated as follows :— 
I. The nearly complete skeleton of a male, wanting only a small 
portion of the caudal region, and shown of the natural size in Plate 
LV. fig. 1. This specimen exhibits the dorsal aspect, and is parti- 
cularly interesting on account of the preservation of the limbs and 
limb-girdles, which have not hitherto been so well displayed. The 
cranial cartilages are not remarkably distinct, and the dentition is 
only feebly indicated ; but the form and proportions of the snout and 
rostral spine are very satisfactorily shown, and the vertebral column, 
except anteriorly, is in a comparatively good state of preservation. 
(Brit. Mus. no. p 2276.) 
II. Portions of the vertebral column and the crushed cranium of 
an old individual, probably female. (Egerton Collection, Brit. Mus. 
no. P 2079.) 
III. Portion of the skeleton of a young female, viewed from the 
ventral aspect. There are only obscure remains of the cranial 
cartilages, but the snout and dentition are beautifully exhibited. 
The caudal region is also well preserved, but all traces of the 
abdomen have been removed and destroyed. (Enniskillen Collection, 
Brit. Mus. no. p 3184.) 
IV. A fine skull of a male individual, seen from above, and 
exhibiting the form of the head, dentition, and rostral spine. (Brit. 
Mus. no. 47402.) 
V. A detached rostral spine, somewhat smaller and less robust 
than that figured by Davies (/. c. fig. 3), but equally curved, the 
broadened base of insertion wanting. (Enniskillen Collection, Brit, 
Mus. no. p 3186.) 
VI. A complete, much-curved rostral spine, exhibiting only the 
superior aspect. (Enniskillen Collection, Brit. Mus. no. p 3187.) 
VII. The anterior two thirds of a rostral spine, probably belong- 
ing to an animal even larger than no. II. (Enniskillen Collection, 
Brit. Mus. no. p 4574.) 
VIII. An extraordinarily slender and acuminate small rostral 
spine, seen from the dorsal aspect. (Egerton Collection, Brit. Mus. 
no. Pp 2081.) 
The specimens numbered I. to IV. are almost certainly referable 
to the already named species, S. polyspondyla, Ag., and owe their 
slight variability to differences in age, as indicated by the condition 
Proc. Zoor. Soc.— 1886, No. XXXV. 35 
