402 FOSSIL FISH. 



hardly visible ; the caudal is large, probably bifurcated, but 

 incomplete. 



The shortness of the body has caused M. de Blainville to 

 approximate this fossil to the genus Pcecilia of Bloch. The 

 position of the dorsal fin is not the same, and approaches 

 more to that of the same member in the carps. M. de Blain- 

 ville queries, after all, whether it may not be of the fresh 

 water ? 



We shall now speak of the ichthyolites of the basin of the 

 Mediterranean, beginning with those of Monte Bolca, or Ves- 

 tena Nuova, in the Veronese. 



We may premise, that the principal work which has ever 

 appeared on the subject of these ichthyolites was published by 

 a society of S^avans of Verona, of which Count Gazzola was 

 one of the most distinguished members. Unhappily, the 

 scientific execution of it was confided to Dr. Seraphin Volta, 

 brother of the celebrated natural philosopher, who, besides 

 having no collection at his disposal, seems to have been very 

 imperfectly acquainted with this class of animals. In this 

 work are to be found the description of the locality, and of the 

 nature of the stone, and a determination, but a very faulty 

 one for the most part, of the species and their analogues. The 

 figures, however, are extremely good. 



The species of fish hitherto recognized in this locality are 

 extremely numerous, though doubtless all that exist there are 

 very far from being yet enumerated, and the number will 

 greatly augment in proportion as they are better studied. We 

 shall consider them in their genera and species, as we have 

 done the others. 



Squalus. Sp. S. innominatus, De Blain. ; >S. carcharias, 

 Lacepede and Volta. This is rather an incomplete impres- 

 sion, in which no trace of teeth is visible, nor of dorsal fin, nor 

 even the termination of the tail, so that it is not easy to 

 pronounce a judgment upon it. Still the form of the head, 

 the muzzle not much prolonged, the form of the pectoral 



