A NEW COELACANTH FISH 361 



margin of the lower jaw, nor lying free in the matrix, in case any had 

 been broken away. 



The mandibular ramus of the right side is well displayed, and the 

 dentary is seen to have been retained in union with its fellow of the 

 left side at the symphysis. The articulo-angular element is long, 

 narrow in front, its superior border rising into a small median and a 

 large posterior elevation, between which is a deep concavity; and 

 its inferior border is nearly rectilinear. The superficial ornament of 

 this piece has become well-nigh obliterated by weathering or abrasion, 

 and of the two gular plates lying immediately underneath, nothing 

 remains but an impression of their inner surfaces. 



A notable peculiarity of the form under discussion consists in the 

 arrangement of cheek-plates immediately in advance of the operculum. 

 In all other Coelacanths, so far as known, two subequal postorbital 

 plates are placed one above the other in the space between the orbit 

 and operculum, their position being such as to exclude from contact 

 with the latter the small triangular plate called " postmaxillary " by 

 Huxley. The present species, however, has all three of these cheek- 

 plates situated in vertical series, one overlapping the other from above 

 downwards, and each of them overlapping the anterior border of the 

 operculum. The lowermost cheek-plate, which corresponds to the 

 so-called " postmaxillary " of Huxley, terminates below at a depth 

 equal to that of the inferior border of the operculum, and its super- 

 ficies covers the space immediately behind the inflected portion of 

 the articulo-angular element of the lower jaw. Its antero-superior 

 margin is apposed to the strongly arched and apparently semicircular 

 suborbital element, of which only a small segment happens to have 

 been preserved. 



No indications are to be observed in the type specimen of a scle- 

 rotic ring, although one may be inferred to have been present as in other 

 known Coelacanths. Neither is there any external indication of the 

 presence of an ossified air-bladder, pecuhar to members of this family. 

 The caudal, anal, and pelvic fins are too imperfectly preserved for 

 description, and the pectoral pair is entirely wanting. On the other 

 hand the squamation is admirably displayed, especially in the posterior 

 part of the trunk, where the fine longitudinal ridges of ganoine and 

 concentric growth-lines are pyritized. The lateral line is rendered 



