COPE ON GEOLOGY AND VERTEBRATE FOSSILS. 587 



clj'stous characters. It possesses ctenoid scales, and a spinous dorsal 

 fin, but the ventral fins are abdominal in position. The femoral bones 

 are triangular, and in contact on the median line, and their external 

 border is thickened, and produced freely as a rod in advance of the 

 inner plate. The pectoral fin has an inferior position on the scapular 

 arch. The abdomen is simple, and the lateral line traverses a row of 

 scales which is above the middle of the side. 



The anterior part of the femoral bone is yet concealed in the typical 

 specimen of the species now referred to this genus ; this reference is 

 therefore not final. The typical species, P. variiis Cope, is from the 

 Benton group of Kansas ; the present species is from the succeeding 

 horizon, or the Pierre epoch. 



I inadvertently, in the work above cited, spelled the name of this 

 genus with an e instead of a ^ in the second syllable. It is derived from 

 -zhj'^, pelvis, and pa-ic. 



Pelycorapis berycinus sp. nov. 



This fish is represented in the collections by the mineralized body, 

 which includes the scapular arch and femoral bones, but wants the 

 other parts. It is covered with the scales in place, and the basal 

 portions of the dorsal and pectoral fins are preserved. The osseous 

 parts have been nearly all replaced by chalcedony, so as to be transpa- 

 rent in section, while the surface is of the dark color of the matrix in 

 which it has been imbedded. 



The body is somewhat compressed and the abdomen rounded. The 

 epiclavicle is quite wide and the humeral angle is moderate. The origin 

 of the pectoral fin is but a short distance below the latter. The femo- 

 ral bones are wide posteriorly, and the thickened external border is 

 decurved and separated by a groove from the laminar portion. The first 

 dorsal spine preserved originates above a point measuring one-fourth 

 the length between the scapular arch and the posterior border of the 

 femoral bones. The spines of the dorsal fin are deeply excavated in 

 front, so as to fold into each other. 



4 



The number of the scales between the points above mentioned is si, 



7 



counting from the base of the dorsal fin to the middle line of the abdo- 

 men. The tubes of the lateral line are quite prominent, and are acumi- 

 nate at the extremity, resembling those of some Beryces. A rather 

 narrow band of the border of each scale is sharply and closely radiatel}' 

 grooved ; the central part of the surface is in the chalcedonic pseudo- 

 morpli, smooth, but it is generally covered with a thin, dark layer, which 

 has a finely reticulate-punctate sculpture. The scales are thick at their 

 middles and thin at the borders. The numbers of the fin-rays cannot 

 be given, owing to the imperfection of the specimen. There are eight 

 of those of the spinous dorsal remaining. 



