8ir Philip Egertoriy Bart. — On a New Liassic Fish. 441 



II. — Notice of Harpactes velox, a Predaceous Ganoid Fish of 

 A NEW Genus, from the Lias of Lyme Regis. 

 By Sir Philip Grey-Egerton, Bart., M.P., F.R.S. 



SOME years back the Earl of Enniskillen obtained a specimen of 

 a fossil fish, found in the rich ichthyological treasury of the Lower 

 Lias at Lyme Regis, which proclaimed itself at first sight to be an 

 entirely new form, diifering generically from all the previously- 

 known fishes of the Mesozoic period. 



Although the outlines of the fish are clearly delineated, without 

 dislocation or distortion, the majority of the component members are 

 either altogether wanting, or so indistinctly preserved, that, being 

 averse to overhaste in thrusting new names upon the Palseontological 

 list, I deferred publishing any description, in the hopes that some 

 further evidence might be forthcoming to bridge over the deficiencies 

 of the type. How often have I cherished similar hopes, and how 

 . often have they been disappointed ! 



The Liassic genera — Ctenolepis, Legnonotus, Nofhosomus, Endactis, 

 Thrissonotus, and Isocolum, still remain, after years of anxious ex- 

 pectation, each exemplified by one type-specimen ! 



Warned by this experience, I am tempted to offer to the Editors 

 of the Geological Magazine a cursory description of this specimen, 

 considering it not impossible that by so doing I may draw the atten- 

 tion of the numerous collectors of the present day to the leading 

 features of this type, and so induce them to make publi(; any 

 materials they may chance to have bearing upon the subject of the 

 present memoir. 



The features which strike the beholder most forcibly on inspecting 

 this specimen are, the great disproportion of the length, compared 

 with the depth of the body, and the excessive proportions of the 

 caudal fin. The direct measurement from the snout to the spring 

 of the caudal fin is 2 feet 10 inches, while the greatest depth of the 

 trunk is barely 5 inches. The head measures 8 inches from the 

 nose to the thoracic girdle. The dorsal fin is placed directly above 

 the ventral fins, nineteen inches from the snout. The anal fin is 

 mid-way between the ventral fins and the base of the tail, twenty- 

 seven inches from the snout. The head is in the form of an elon- 

 gated cone, the most effective figure for cleaving the water. The 

 component bones are much dislocated. One ramus of the mandible 

 is thrown up and seen from below, the dentary margin being con- 

 cealed or absent. The vomer is nearly in situ, a little moved on one 

 side, so as to display a close-set group of small conical hooked teeth 

 which invested its palatal surface. Below the head is seen a large 

 symmetrical oval plate of bone, measuring 3 inches by 2 inches, 

 which I take to be a single jugular or glossohyal bone. The oper- 

 cular apparatus appears from the contour of the head to have been 

 of moderate dimensions, but the parts in this region are defective. 

 There is evidence, from some impressions left on the matrix, that at 

 all events some of the bones of the head had an ornamental cover- 

 ing of ganoine, more or less granular in pattern. The position of 

 the pectoral fin is only indicated by a few scattered rays, showing 



