104 SYSTEMATIC PALEOXTOLOGY 



Odontaspis elegans (Agassiz). 

 Plate XIV, Figs. 2a, 2b, 2c, 3a, 3b, 3c. 



Lamna elegans Agassiz, ISiS. Poiss. Foss., vol. iii, p. 369, pi. xl&, fig. 24. 

 Lamna elegans Gibbes, 1849. Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 2nd ser., vol. i, p. 196, 



pi. XXV, figs. 98-102 (? figs. 96, 97). 

 Lamna elegans Emmons, 18.58. Kept. Geol. Surv. N. Car., p. 239, figs. 70, 71. 

 Lamna elegans Noetling, 188.5. Abh. Geol. Specialk. Preussen n. Thiiring. Staaten, 



vol. vi, pt. 3, p. 61, pi. iv. 

 Odontaspis elegans Woodward, 1889. Cat. Foss. Fishes, British Mus., pt. i, p. 361. 

 Odontaspis elegans Clark, 1895. Johns Hopkins Univ. Circ, vol. xv, p. 4. 

 Odontaspis elegans Clark, 1896. BxiU. 141, U. S. Geol. Survey, p. 62. 

 Odontaspis elegans Woodward, 1899. Proc. Geol. Assoc, vol. xvi, p. 8, pi. i, figs. 



15-18. 



Description. — Anterior teeth with a very high and narrow crown, only 

 slightly curved, the inner face strongly striated longitudinally, and 

 scarcely flattened in the middle. A single pair of small, prickle-like 

 lateral denticles, and nutritive foramen on the prominent inner side of 

 the root placed in a deep cleft. Lateral teeth with an almost equally 

 slender, but less elevated crown, which is similarly striated and flanked 

 with relatively large, slender denticles. The two branches of the root 

 are long, compressed and generally pointed. 



This is the most abundant of all Eocene sharks' teeth in Maryland 

 and Virginia, but is of rare occurrence in the Miocene. It is a some- 

 what smaller form than 0. macrota., and tlie anterior teeth of the two 

 species are so much alike that it is difficult to separate them. This is 

 especially true of worn specimens (Plate XIV, Pig. 2) where the den- 

 ticles are wanting and the striation of the inner face inconspicuous,' and 

 chief reliance must be placed on the narrowness of the crown. The 

 anterior teeth sometimes exceed 4 cm. in total height. Dr. P. Xoetling, 

 and folloAving him, Jaekel and Smith Woodward, have been chiefly in- 

 strumental in reconstructing the dentition of this and other species of 

 Odontaspis. 



Tbe type consists of teeth and associated vertebrae in the museum of 

 College of Surgeons, London. 



Occurrence. — Aquia Poemation. Aquia Creek, Port Wasliington, 

 Liverpool Point. 



ColledionH. — Johns Hopkins Pniversity, ]\rarylan(l Coologieal Survey. 



' 0)1 tli(! striation of Selacliian teeth, see J. Probst, Wiirtl., J((/ircsb., vol. xv, 

 1859, p. 100. 



