146 A. Smith Woodicard — Fish Fauna of Purheck Beds, 



as lono; as the dorsal, arising completely behind the latter and 

 situated -close to the caudal tin. Scales very coarsely granulated ; 

 fulcra of upper caudal lobe slender, much elongated, and very 

 numerous. 



The above diagnosis, published in 1891, was based on a nearly 

 complete fish, presented by the Rev. W. R. Andrews to the Museum 

 of Practical Geology. The specimen itself, however, has not hitherto 

 been described and figured, and the writer is now indebted to Mr. 

 E. T. Newton, F.R.S., for the privilege of again referring to it in the 

 present contribution. The specimen is partly preserved in counterpart, 

 and the best side is shown of the natural size in PI. YII. Fig 1. 



Axial Skeleton. — The head appears to be typically Paleeoniscid,. 

 though too imperfect for desci'iption ; the only noteworthy features 

 are a few slender conical teeth in the mandible, and traces of delicate 

 broad branchiostegal rays below. The axial skeleton of the trunk is 

 well exhibited through the thin squamation, and appears as already 

 described in C. liassica from the Lias of Lyme Regis.^ The neural and 

 hasmal arches are at least superficially ossified, and preserved throughout 

 the length of the fish. Their total number to the origin of the caudal 

 fin is approximately thirty-eight, and of these about sixteen may be 

 reckoned as caudal. There are no ribs, the hsemal arches in the 

 abdominal region being merely a series of diminutive cartilages, best 

 seen in the counterpart of the fossil here figured. The neural spines 

 in the abdominal region are stout and relatively large, not fused with 

 their supporting arches ; but both these and the haemal spines are 

 firmly fixed to their arches in the tail. At the base of the catidal fin 

 the hsemals are enlarged for the direct support of the dermal rays ; 

 and a series of very small, though stout, haemals is continued for 

 some distance along the lower margin of the upper caudal lobe. The 

 neural arches at the base of the tail are apparently aborted, and there 

 is a series of distinct supporting ossicles beneath the fulcra of the 

 upper caudal lobe. There is no trace of ossifications referable to the 

 notochordal sheath. 



Appendicular Skeleton. — All the fins except the pectorals are well 

 preserved. Ordinary fulcra are absent ; but at the origin of each fin 

 there are three or four short, unjointed rays gradually increasing in 

 length' to its highest point, where the normal rays begin, with distant 

 articulations and (in the caudal fin at least) with distal bifurcation. 

 The pelvic fin is about as long as deep, arising midway between the 

 pectoral arch and the anal ; its rays are shown to be not less than 

 twenty in number, but the supports are unfortunately not observable. 

 The dorsal fin, arising opposite the hindermost portion of the pelvic 

 pair, has about sixteen articulated rays; and a more imperfect specimen 

 presented by Mr. Andrews to the British Museum (No. P. 6302) seems 

 to exhibit five endoskeletal supports for the six foremost articulated 

 rays. The anal fin is somewhat smaller than the dorsal, but its 

 number of rays appears to be the same ; and the series of supports, 

 well preserved in the British Museum fossil, comprises fourteen for 

 the whole fin, while the foremost of these basals is much the longest. 



1 A. S. "Woodward, "Notes on some Ganoid Fishes from the English Lower 

 Lias," Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. [6] vol. v. (1890), p. 433. 



