Meports and Proceedings — Zoological Society of London. 379 



_ 2. June 23rd, 1887.— Prof. W. H. Flower, LL.D., F.E.S., Pre- 

 sident, in the chair. — The following communications were read : — 



1. "Note on a Fossil Species of Chlamydoselachiis." By James 

 W. Davis, F.G.S. 



The author showed that some teeth described and figured about 

 ten years ago by E. Lawley (" Nuovi Studi sopra ai Pesci, etc.,'* 

 Florence, 1876, p. 87, pi. i. figs. 1, a-c) were truly referable to the 

 newly-discovered Japanese Shark, Chlamydoselachus, Garman. These 

 fossils were obtained from the Pliocene of Orciano, Tuscany, and 

 their original discoverer was naturally perplexed in determining their 

 relationships ; he left them incertan sedts, and refrained from pro- 

 posing a name. Mr. Davis suggested that the new species be known 

 as C. Laiuleyi. 



2. "On the Fossil Teleostean Genus Bhacolepts, Agassiz." By 



A. Smith Woodward, F.Z.S. 



This communication contained a detailed description of the 

 Brazilian fossil fish briefly noticed by Agassiz under the name of 

 Bhacolepts, and concluded by discussing the systematic position of 

 the genus. The original determination was founded upon a collec- 

 tion of fossils obtained by Mr. G. Gardner, about 1840, from Barra 

 do Jardim, Serra de Araripe, North Brazil, and brief notes were 

 published in the " Edinb. New Phil. Journ." 1841, and the " Comptes 

 Eendus," vol. xviii. p. 1007. An early figure, without name, was 

 also given in the Atlas accompanying Spix and Martius' " Eeise in 

 Brasilien," 1823. A large number of specimens now in the British 

 Museum display the principal characters of the skeleton, and also 

 show well-preserved traces of the gills and the lateral muscles of 

 the trunk. The body exhibits but slight lateral compression, and 

 the abdomen is rounded ; the snout is acutely pointed, and the roof 

 of the skull flattened. The margin of the upper jaw is formed both 

 by the premaxillfe and maxillge, and the cleft of the mouth is nearly 

 horizontal ; the cheek is covered by the expanded posterior circum- 

 orbital bones ; there is a narrow preoperculum, a triangular inter- 

 operculum, and a relatively large suboperculum. The branchiostegal 

 rays are numerous, about ten, of considerable size, being attached to 

 the epihyal, and an equal number of smaller ones to the ceratohyal. 

 There is a single dorsal fin in the middle of the back ; the pelvic 

 fins are abdominal in position, ojoposite the dorsal, and each consists 

 of about 12 soft rays ; the anal is situated half-way between the 

 pelvics and the caudal ; and the latter is deeply forked. The scales 

 are cycloid and beautifully marked with delicate radiating rug^; 

 thin scales also appear upon portions of the dorsal and caudal fins. 

 A distinct " axillary appendage " is observable above the pectoral 

 fin. Three species can be distinguished, and are separated by the 

 form of the body, and the proportions of the operculum and posterior 

 circumorbital bones ; they Avere respectively named by Agassiz, 



B. brama, B. buccalis, and B. latus, and many of the National fossils 

 bear his MS. labels. The newly-determined characters show that 

 Bhacolepis is not a Percoid or Berycoid, as originally supposed, but 

 a truly Physostomous fish. The author concluded that it was an 

 Elopine Clupeoid. 



