30 TRIASSIC FISHES AND PLANTS. 
Iscnyprerus Acassizu W. C. R. 
a Ba 0 om Ch rea 
Palwoniscus Agassizii W. ©. R., Am, Jour. Sci., vol. 41, 1841, p. 26. 
The first notice of this species was given by W. C. Redfield in the 
article cited above. The description which he there published is as follows: 
Its length in the specimens hitherto obtained varies from seven and one-half to 
ten inches, and its width from three to four inches. The fins, with their armatures and 
insertions, are also of more remarkable thickness than in the species already noticed. 
The large scales or plates which belong to the anterior portion of the dorsal line are 
commonly found doubled together at their lateral edges by the incumbent pressure, 
which gives them the appearance of short spines or flattened rays; and hence these are 
sometimes mistaken for aa anterior comb-like dorsal. 
Mr. J. H. Redfield, in the manuscript report to which reference has 
been so frequently made, adds the following notes upon this species : 
Head narrow and pointed, scales large and smooth, sometimes with faint concen- 
tric strie; those of the anterior portion of the dorsal ridge very much elongated, 
strong and pointed, and apparently erectile; when in an erect position much resembling 
rays, and giving the appearance of acomb-like dorsal fin; back arched, but not so 
abruptly as in P. tenuiceps. The widest portion of the fish is found just anterior to the 
ventral fin; pectoral fin moderate; anterior raylets rather short; primary rays six or 
eight; ventral fins small, anterior raylets about ten; primary rays about five or six; 
dorsal fins large, triangular, preceded by erect, pointed scales; anterior raylets very 
long, twelve or more in number; primary eight to ten; anal fin large, but not so much 
elongated as in P. tenuiceps or P. fultus; anterior raylets very strong, about twelve in 
number, primary rays six to eight; tail forked, lobes acute, anterior raylets rather 
stout, rays of lower lobe much stouter than those of upper; length, seven to ten inches; 
breadth, three to three and one-half inches. Occurs at Sunderland, Mass , Westfield 
and Middlefield, Conn., Pompton and Boonton, N. J. 
Among the fishes obtained at Boonton, N. J., are a dozen or more of 
unusually large size, and manifestly distinct from the many small fishes 
with which they are associated. These I have supposed to be the fishes to 
which W. GC. Redfield gave the above name, and indeed there are no others 
found at that locality to which his description is at all applicable. 
These fishes are from ten to twelve inches in length and from three to 
three and a half inches wide. The head is conical and pointed, and in an 
individual twelve inches long it has a length of three inches; the back is uni- 
formly and rather strongly arched anterior to the dorsal fin ; the row of dorsal 
scales is strong, though usually depressed, and when erected would present 
