THE 



OEOLO&IGAL MAaA.ZINE. 



NEW SERIES. DECADE II. VOL. 



No. VI.— JUNE, 1874. 



OIRXG-XJSTJ^Xj J^S-TIOIjIES. 



I. — Desoeiption of CrcLOPTTcnius cabbonarius, Huxley, from 

 THE Coal Measures of North Staffordshire. 



By R. H. Tkaquair, M.D. 

 (PLATE XII.) 



THE beautiful little fisli, from the North Staffordshire "Deep 

 Mine Ironstone," named by Prof. Huxley Cycloptycliius car- 

 6oraaruts, has hitherto never been figured, and only a brief descrip- 

 tion of it was published in I860 by Prof. Young, of Glasgow.^ 

 Cursory allusion has been made to its teeth by Messrs. Hancock and 

 Atthey,^ and to its scales by Mr. T. P. Barkas.^ 



Mr. Ward, of Longton, Staffordshire, having kindly lent me the 

 beautiful series of specimens in his collection, I am enabled to give 

 a more detailed description, which T hope will be rendered intelli- 

 gible by the figures on the accompanying Plate XII. 



General Proportions. — All the specimens but one are the remains 

 of small fishes, measuring from about 3^ to 4^ inches in length ; 

 the exception is formed by the head and fore-part of the body of an 

 individual, which must have, when entire, measured at least 6 or 7 

 inches. The general form is elegant and slender ; the greatest depth 

 is at the shoulders, whence the body gradually tapers towards the 

 caudal extremity. The pectoral and ventral fins are small ; the 

 dorsal, moderate in size, is placed so far back as to be exactly oppo- 

 site the anal, which is nearly its counterpart in form and dimensions ; 

 the tail is perfectly heterocercal, but not very inequilobate. 



Among the specimens, in which the general shape of the entire 

 body is well shown, considerable differences occur in the general 

 proportions ; some being shorter and deeper, others more elongated 

 and narrow. These differences are illustrated in the following table 

 of measurements of four selected specimens ; the entire lengths from 

 head to tail must, however, be taken as only approximate, as the only 



^ British Assoc. Reports, 1865, vol. xxxv. p. 318. 



2 Annals and Mag. Nat. Hist., 1868, 4tli series, vol. i. p. 362. 



^ Illustrated Guide to the Fish, Amphibian, Reptilian, and supposed Mammalisn 

 Remains of the Northumberland Carboniferous Strata, London, 1873, p. 36 ; 

 Atlas, fig. 140. 



DECADE II. — VOL. I. — NO. VI. 16 



