FOSSIL FISH. 409 



long, and three or four broad, which indicates a very elongated 

 fish. The body is attenuated at both extremities ; the head, 

 which is small, is terminated by a mouth, not much cleft, with 

 thick labial bones, but no trace of teeth ; the tail is rather 

 pointed ; the pedicle is long and narrow, and supports a bi- 

 furcated fin, remarkable for its smallness, and having thirty-six 

 rays. The number of vertebrae is extremely considerable, being 

 upwards of seventy-five, thirty-four of which are caudal ; they 

 are, consequently, very short. The abdominal cavity is very 

 large, and the ribs are very fine ; the branchiostegous rays, of 

 which there are ten at least, are very fine ; the pectoral fins are 

 remarkable for their length and narrowness, and especially for 

 the thickness of their first ray, which borders them through their 

 entire length : the others, on the contrary, seem very slender ; 

 the ventral, situated a little beyond one-half of the body, are 

 very small, but five or six rays have been counted in them. 

 There is but a single dorsal fin, placed very low, a little more 

 raised in front, with about twenty rays, and which exactly 

 corresponds to the anal, the form of which is absolutely the 

 same. 



LoRiCARiA. M. de Blainville denies the existence of a fish 

 of this genus among the fossils of Monte Bolca, though 

 M.Volta is desirous of referring to it a tolerably well-pre- 

 served and well-figured impression. It appears evident to 

 M. de Blainville, that it rather comes from a fish with gross 

 head and depressed body, or from some jugular fish, than 

 from loricaria. It may be the same as gobius Smyrnensis, 



The same is pretty nearly the case with the genus Silurus, 

 though the author of the Veronese Ichthyolithology admits 

 four species. His Silurus Bagre cannot belong to this genus, 

 because the impression referred to it, besides being totally 

 different in its general aspect, presents no indication of the 

 first dorsal fin, which is so long, nor of the barbie. His 

 Silurus cataphractus has no character of this species, and it 



