634 MR. A. SMITH WOODWARD ON SOME [NoV. 18, 



ensis \ as also the typical species B. sphyrcenoides ', B. muensteri ^, 

 B. kochi ', and B. tenuirostris ^, from the Bavarian and French Litho- 

 graphic Stone, are distinguished, among other characters, hy the much 

 more slender proportions of the trunk. The determination of the 

 Brazilian fossils as a hitherto undefined species is thus justified, and 

 we propose to adopt the specific name originally suggested by Agassiz, 

 terming the fish Belonostomus comptoni. 



Formation and Locality. — The species occurs in a bed of nodules 

 met with on the slopes of the Serra de Araripe, in the Province of 

 Ceara, North Brazil. As remarked on a former occasion ", the 

 formation seems to be of late Cretaceous date. 



Genus Apateopholis, novum. 



Body much laterally compressed. Head relatively large ; mandi- 

 ble equalling the snout in length ; dentition consisting of conical 

 teeth, mostly small, sometimes obtuse, but a single series of large, 

 well-spaced laniaries occupying the anterior half of the mandible. 

 Preoperculum deep and triangular, with a long, robust, posteriorly- 

 directed spine at its postero-inferior angle. Vertebrae well ossified, 

 and the ribs robust. Dorsal fin at least as long as deep, in advance of 

 the anal fin, which is remote, elongated, and relatively low ; caudal 

 fin deeply cleft. Scales very thin and feebly ornamented ; a single 

 series of deep scales occupying the greater part of the flank. 



The tj'pe and only known species of this new genus has not 

 hitherto been satisfactorily described. The original specimens, how- 

 ever, are preserved in the British Museum, and an opportunity is 

 thus afforded for contributing some additional notes. 



Apateopholis laniatus. (Plate LV. fig. 1 1 .) 



1887. Rhinellus laniatus, J. Wf Davis, Trans. Roy. Dublin Soc. 

 [2] vol. iii. p. 612, pi. xxxvii. figs. 1, 7. 



1888. Belonostomus laniatus, Smith Woodward, Rep. Brit. Assoc, 

 p. 678. 



The largest known specimen of this species would probably mea- 

 sure not less than 0"3 in length when complete. The head is remark- 

 ably large, this with the opercular apparatus being not less than two- 

 thirds as long as the trunk. The maximum depth of the trunk 

 immediately behind the head is contained about eight times in the 

 total length ; and the caudal region tapers rapidly to its hinder 

 extremity. 



Head and Opercular Apparatus. — The head (Plate LV. fig. 11) is 



' F. Bassani, Denkscbr. k. Akad. Wiss., math.-naturw. CI. vol. xlv. (1882), 

 p. 198, pi. i. fig. 10. 



^ L. Agassiz, Poiss. Foss. vol. ii. pt. ii. (1843), p. 140, pi. xlvii. fig. 5; A. 

 Wagiier, Abb. k. bay. Akad., matb.-pbys. CI. vol. is. p. 690, 



3 Agassiz, loc. cit. p. 141, pi. xhii. a, fig. 2 ; Wagner, loo. cit. p. 689. 



■* Agassiz, loc. cit. p. 143 ; Wagner, loc. cit. p. 689. 



*. Agassiz, loc. cit. p. 143 ; Wagner, loc. cit. p. 691. 



8 P. Z. S. 1887, p. 541. 



