274 Reviews — Dr. Traquair— Vertebrate of Moray Firth. 



EEVIE ^A7" S. 



I. The Extinct Vertebrata of the Moray Firth Area. By 



E. H. Traquair, M.D., LL.D., F.E.S. [Reprint from Brown 

 and Buckley's "Vertebrate Fauna of the Moray Basin" 

 (Edinburgh, 1896), pp. 235-285, pis. i-ix.] 

 II [ESSES. BROWN AND BUCKLEY have done good service 

 i}X to Vertebrate Palaeontology by inducing Dr. Traquair to 

 contribute to their recently published volume on the vertebrate 

 animals of the Moray Basin, a summary of the known fossil fishes 

 from the Old Eed Sandstone of that area. The supplement occupies 

 fifty pages, and is illustrated by nine plates of Old Eed fishes 

 drawn by Dr. Traquair himself; only ten pages of it are devoted 

 to the enumeration of the vertebrata of the Triassic, Jurassic, and 

 Pleistocene deposits. Six of the nine plates are occupied with 

 useful restorations, some already published elsewhere, but the 

 majority quite new, and giving a much more correct idea of the 

 Old Eed Sandstone fishes than any restorations previously attempted. 

 They are only marred by the process of reproduction, which imparts 

 to them an inartistic coarseness. 



After some preliminary remarks on the distribution and divisions 

 of the Old Eed Sandstone in the Moray Basin, accompanied by an 

 enumeration of the literature of the subject, Dr. Traquair proceeds 

 to treat of the fishes of the Lower Old Eed Sandstone (Orcadian 

 Series). They are systematically arranged, though not technically 

 described; and the known localities for each species are carefully 

 enumerated. The Acanthodians are named Diplacanfhus striatus, 

 D. tenuistriatus, Rhadinacanthus longispinvs, Mesacanthns pusillus, 

 Cheir acanthus Murchisoni, and C. latus. Eestored figures of Dipla- 

 canthus and Cheir acanthus are added. The subclass Ostracodermi 

 and the order Antiarcha are admitted, three species of Pterichthys 

 (Milleri, productus, and oblong us) being recorded here. Of the 

 Dipnoi, the sole representative is Dipterus Valenciennesi, of which 

 a new restoration is given. Though common in the Caithness 

 Flags, this fish is very rare in the Moray Firth area. The subclass 

 Teleostomi (Dr. Traquair no longer speaks of Ganoidei) includes 

 Glyptolepis leptopterus, Gyroptychius microlepidotus. Osteolepis macro- 

 lepidotus, Diplopterus Agassizi, and Cheir olepis Trailli, while the 

 characters of all, except the first, are shown in restored figures. 

 The "Order Placodermata " is placed " incerta? sedis " under the 

 Teleostomi. Coccosteus decipiens and Homosteus Milleri are recorded 

 here, the first a very common fish, the second known in the Moray 

 area only from Hillhead quarry, near Dalcross. 



The fishes of the Upper Old Eed Sandstone of Moray are shown 

 to represent two distinct faunas — that of Nairn in the west, that 

 of Elgin in the east. These are treated separately, and a table of 

 localities at the end indicates at a glance the species found in each. 

 The first species mentioned from Nairn, Asterolepis maxima, was 

 described by Dr. Traquair in great detail in the Palasontograpbical 



