FOSSIL FISHES. 
The fishes of our Triassic rocks, though so far as yet known repre- 
senting but six genera and about twenty-five species, are locally very 
numerous and are found in many localities. They were among the first 
fossils which attracted the attention of American geologists, and were re- 
ferred to by Mitchill, De Kay, and Hitchcock half a century ago. Some 
imperfect specimens, obtained in the Connecticut Valley, near Amherst, 
were sent by the latter to Professor Agassiz when he was publishing his 
great work on fossil fishes. He figured and described two species, one of 
which he referred to the genus Palwoniscus and named P. fultus; the other 
he considered a Hurynotus and called it F. tenuiceps. About this time Mr. 
W. C. Redfield, of New York, began the study of these fishes. In con- 
nection with his son, Mr. J. H. Redfield, he published many notices of them 
during the succeeding twenty years. The first formal description of any 
of them was ina paper read by Mr. J. H. Redfield before the Lyceum of 
Natural History of New York, December 12, 1836, and subsequently pub- 
blished.’ It contains figures and descriptions of two species, Catopterus 
gracilis and Palconiscus latus, the former being made the type of a new 
genus. In 1841 Mr. W. C. Redfield read before the Yale Natural History 
Society a paper entitled “ Short Notices of American Fossil Fishes.” This 
contains descriptions of five species of Pal«oniscus, three of which were then 
for the first time characterized, viz: P. fultus Ag., P. latus J. H. R., P. 
macropterus W. C. R, P. Agassizii W. C. R., and P. ovatus W. C. R.; also, 
‘Anna's Lyccum Nat. Hist. N. Y., pt. 7, vol. 4, 1848, p. 38. 
