VOSSIL FISHES. 53 
The operculum is semilunar, anterior margin slightly concave. It appar- 
ently consists of two parts, which may be operculum and interoperculum, but 
this is not plainly shown. Joining the mandible behind seems to be a 
small, oblong quadrate, but this is also too obscure to he insisted upon. 
All the specimens which show the structure of the head fairly well 
belong to Catopterus Redfieldi. In these the first rows of scales next the 
head and in the gular triangle are ornamented with tubercles or ridges, 
and their posterior margins are notched or toothed. Like the joints of the 
fin rays these are brilliantly polished, and confirm what has been said in 
regard to the great beauty of the external decoration of this elegant fish. 
Catoprerts Reprrevpr Egerton. 
PI Xe, Bigs. 5 2) 3. 
Among the Triassic fishes taken to England by Sir Charles Lyell and 
examined by Sir Philip Egerton were (1) three species of Ischypterus ; (2) 
representatives of Catopterus gracilis J. H. R; (3) Catopterus Redfieldi, “a 
broader fish than the preceding, and with scales not so long in proportion 
to their depth.”* This is all the description we have of this species; but as 
there are found at Durham, Conn., many individuals of a large and broad 
species of Catopterus, and one to which the name gracilis is certainly inap- 
plicable, I have thought it probable that this was the fish referred to by 
Sir Philip Egerton, and I take pleasure in accepting his name, and by 
figures and more complete descriptions securing to the founder of the genus 
the dedication of its finest species. This may be characterized as follows: 
Fish of large size, ten inches in length by three in breadth; long-ovoid in 
outline, broadest between ventral and pectoral fins; head small, pointed, 
about one-sixth of the entire length, or one and one-half inches long and 
deep; bones of the head all thickly set with enameled tubercles; clavicles 
ornamented with raised lines and elongated tubercles of enamel; dorsal fin 
opposite middle of anal; caudal fin forked, though less deeply than in 
some other species; anal fin broad, not reaching the base of caudal; ven- 
trals midway between anals and pectorals ; scales on sides near head oblong 
'Qnart. Jour. Geol. Soc. London, vol. 3, 1847, p. 278. 
