228 Reviews—Prof. A. K. von Zittel’s Palichthyology. 
“Handbuch”? supphes an important desideratum in Ichthyological 
literature. The description of the “ subclass” occupies pp. 252- 
316, and is illustrated by 58 woodcuts. 
After an enumeration of the more general works upon the subject, 
and a preliminary definition, the six ‘‘orders” of Johannes Miller 
are adopted, and the extinct representatives of each noticed in 
succession from the Lophobranchii to the Anacanthini. 
The known fossil Lophobranchs are but few in number, and 
restricted to the Tertiaries. Of the Solenostomide an extinct repre- 
sentative (Solenorhynchus) occurs in the HKocene of Monte Postale ; 
and the common surviving pipe-fish (Syngnathus) is met with in 
the Oligocene of Monte Bolca and Croatia, and in the Miocene of 
Licata, Sicily. A Hippocampus-like fish with a caudal fin (Cala- 
mostoma) has also been described by Agassiz from Monte Boleca. 
The Plectognathi have a scarcely more satisfactory paleontological 
record, and only a few types, closely related to living genera, have 
hitherto been detected in the Tertiaries. Of the sun-fish (Orthago- 
riscus) Dr. v. Zittel rightly casts doubt upon Dixon’s supposed fossil 
jaw from the Chalk, which now proves to be the dentary bone of a 
turtle ;' but reference might have been made to the undoubted 
mandibles of Orthagoriscus discovered in the Oligocene of Belgium.” 
Diodon has a wide range from the Oligocene upwards, and there are 
some indications of closely-allied extinct genera in the Lower 
Tertiaries of Egypt, the Gironde, and Monte Postale. Ostracion 
occurs at Monte Bolca; and Balistes is supposed to be represented 
upon the same horizon by the extinct Protobalistum. Following 
Baron de Zigno, the author assigns two species to the latter genus, 
but Dr. Theodore Gill® has lately pointed out that a rearrangement 
is required, and that the so-called P. Ombonii forms the type of a 
very distinct genus to be henceforth termed Protacanthodes. Acan- 
thoderma and Acanthopleurus are the well-known Scleroderms 
described by Agassiz from the black slates of the Canton Glarus ; and, 
in default of a more certain position, the pharyngeal teeth named 
Ancistrodon (first determined as such by Dr. W. Dames) are pro- 
visionally placed as an appendix to the same group. 
The great order of Physostomi commences with the family of 
Siluride, and the earliest undoubted representatives of this remark- 
able division are recorded from the Hocene. One extinct genus 
(Bucklandium) has lately been noticed in the London Clay of the 
Isle of Sheppey ;* and a recent discovery of a nearly complete skull 
in the Barton Clay ° has confirmed the occurrence of the recent genus 
Arius in the English Middle and Upper Eocenes. The genera from 
the Pliocene of the Siwalik Hills, India, and from the Lower Tertiary 
of Padang, Sumatra, are also satisfactorily determined ; but the so- 
called Pimelodus from the Miocene of Hungary is based upon fin- 
1 Proc. Geol. Assoc. vol. x. p. 276. 
2 P. J. Van Beneden, Bull. Acad. roy. Belg. [8] vol. vi. (1883), p. 132. 
3 Amer. Nat. 1888, pp. 446-448. 
4 Grou. Mag. [3] Vol. V. p- 471; and Proc. Zool. Soc. April 2nd, 1889. 
© K. T. Newton, Proc. Zool. Soe. ‘April 2nd, 1889. 
