18sc.] squalouaja polysponuyla. 529 



New Specimens. 



Up to the present time, therefore, there is no very precise infor- 

 mation in regard to the structural features of Squaloraja beyond tlie 

 descriptions of dermal appendages, the snout, and the vertebral 

 column. But the British Museum again furnishes materials for an 

 addition to our knowledge (thanks, especially, to a recent purchase 

 from Mrs. DoUin of Lyme Regis, and the acquisition of the Egerton 

 and Enniskillen collections), and it is upon the national fossils that 

 the present contribution is based. All the specimens are from the 

 well-known Lower Lias of Lyme Regis, Dorsetshire ; and, adding 

 Roman numerals for convenience of future reference, they may be 

 briefly enumerated as follows : — 



L The nearly complete skeleton of a male, wanting only a small 

 portion of the caudal region, and shown of the natural size in Plate 

 LV. fig. 1. This specimen exhibits the dorsal aspect, and is parti- 

 cularly interesting on account of the preservation of the limbs and 

 limb-girdles, which have not hitherto been so well displayed. The 

 cranial cartilages are not remarkably distinct, and the dentition is 

 only feebly indicated ; but the form and proportions of the snout and 

 rostral spine are very satisfactorily shown, and the vertebral column, 

 except anteriorly, is in a comparatively good state of preservation. 

 (Brit, Mus. no. p2276.) 



II. Portions of the vertebral column and the crushed cranium of 

 an old individual, probably female. (Egerton Collection, Brit. Mus. 

 no. p 2079.) 



in. Portion of the skeleton of a young female, viewed from the 

 ventral aspect. There are only obscure remains of the cranial 

 cartilages, but the snout and dentition are beautifully exhibited. 

 The caudal region is also well preserved, but all traces of the 

 abdomen have been removed and destroyed. (Enniskillen Collection, 

 Brit. Mus. no. p3184.) 



IV. A fine skull of a male individual, seen from above, and 

 exhibiting the form of the head, dentition, and rostral spine. (Brit. 

 Mus. no. 47402.) 



V. A detached rostral spine, somewhat smaller and less robust 

 than that figured by Davies (/. c. fig. 3), but equally curved, the 

 broadened base of insertion wanting. (Eimiskillen Collection, Brit. 

 Mus. no. p31H6.) 



VI. A complete, much-curved rostral spine, exhibiting only the 

 superior aspect. (Enniskillen Collection, Brit. Mus. no. p311S7.) 



VII. The anterior two thirds of a rostral spine, probablv belong- 

 ing to an animal even larger than no. II. (Enniskillen Collection, 

 Brit. Mus. no. p 4574.) 



VIII. An extraordinarily slender and acuminate small rostral 

 spine, seen from the dorsal aspect. (Egerton Collection, Brit. Mus. 

 no. P2081.) 



The specimens numbered I. to IV. are almost certainly referable 

 to the already named species, S. pohjspondyla, Ag., and' owe their 

 slight variability to differences in age, as indieated by the condition 



Phoc. Zool. Soc— 1886, No. XXXV. 35 



