A. Smith Woodward — Pholidophorus in U. Lias, Whitby. 545 



III. — PaOLIDOPHORUS GERMANIOUS: A.N ADDITION TO THE FiSH FaUNA 



OF THE Upper Lias of Whitby. 

 By A. Smith Woodward, F.G.S., F.Z.S. 



SEVERAL species of Vertebrata are now known to be common to 

 the Upper Lias of the neighbourhood of Whitby, Yorkshire, 

 and the corresponding formation so widely developed in parts of 

 Wurtemberg and Bavaria. The recent discovery of another link 

 between the two f'amias in question thus seems to be worthy of 

 placing on record. Moreover, the latest comparisons render it 

 possible to assign to the fossil under consideration a more precise 

 specific diagnosis than has hitherto been published ; and the an- 

 nouncement of the discovery may lead to the recognition of other 

 specimens besides those in the British Museum, with which alone 

 , as yet the present writer is acquainted. 



The fossil in question is a Lepidosteoid fish, long ago observed b}'' 

 Quenstedt in the Lias of Wiirtemberg, and briefly described under 

 the name of Pholidophorus germaiiicus} A figure of the head and 

 anterior portion of the trunk accompanies the original description ; 

 and it is satisfactorily proved that the fish is a typical species of the 

 well-known early Mesozoic genus to which it is referred. It is the 

 largest known Liassic species of Pholidophorus, attaining a length 

 of nearly 0-^3 m. 



Two almost complete examples of the species, and four more 

 fragmentary specimens were obtained from the neighbourhood of 

 Whitby by the late Sir Philip Egerton and the Earl of Enniskillen. 

 These at present form the series in the British Museum. They 

 agree precisely in all their characters with several typical specimens 

 of Pholidophorus germanicus from Ohmden. Wiirtemberg, in the same 

 collection ; and the chief points of specific importance are noted in 

 the following paragraph. 



As usual in Pholidophorus, the body is gracefully fusiform in 

 shape. The length of the head with the opercular apparatus some- 

 what exceeds the maximum depth of the trunk, which equals about 

 one-fifth of the total length of the fish. The rugose ornament of the 

 head and opercular bones — especially that of the cranial roof — is 

 very fine and conspicuous ; and the rugee on the maxilla and dentary 

 bone tend towai'ds a longitudinal striation. The pelvic fins arise 

 slightly in advance of the middle point of the trunk, and are provided 

 with small fulcra (as especially well shown by B. M. No. P. 1058). 

 The dorsal and anal fins are of the ordinary small proportions, and 

 the former is directly opposed to the pelvic pair. The scales are 

 large and nearly smooth, but with a faint, coarse rugosity, most 

 conspicuous in the caudal region : their hinder margin is very 

 slightly convex, and not sexTated ; and there are at least six longi- 

 tudinal series of flank-scales much deeper than broad. 



Of the characters just mentioned, the peculiar ornament of the 

 scales seems to be especially distinctive, and renders possible the 



1 F. A. Quenstedt, " Der Jura " (1858), p. 234, pi. xxx. figs. 9-U. 



DECADE III. VOL. Till. — NO. XII. 35 



