44 Mr. De la Beche on the South Coast of England. 



might be inferred from this circumstance, that the fish had many of them. 

 The only bones occurring in contact with this fossil, are some which resemble 

 palates or teeth (see Plate IV. figs. 4, 5, 6, 7, S, 9 and 10). Figs. 4 and 5 are 

 two varieties which are rare ; fig. 6 is the most common : all these are mixed 

 with the above-described fin-bones, in a mass of lias which I have in my 

 possession*. 



There is a variety of this bone which differs from figures 1 and 2, only in 

 being much narrower, and covered with tubercles instead of longitudinal 

 grooves. 



Figs. 1 and 2, Plate V. represent the side and front views of a very rare 

 fossil, which appears to belong to the class of the above-mentioned bones. 

 The curved teeth-like processes are placed in the same zigzag manner, but 

 they are larger in proportion, and separated from each other ; there is a single 

 row at the bottom, of the same size as those at top. The two sides of this 

 fossil are covered with small tubercles. This bone is not at all curved. 



These fin-bones, — with palates, and a rough thin and bony substance, stud- 

 ded with minute tubercles, — are the only remains of the animal that have till 

 lately been noticed. But an upper and lower jaw, probably belonging to the 

 same animal, have recently been found containing triple rows of teeth. 

 There are in the collection of Colonel Birch two specimens, which show the 

 position of these teeth and the shape of the mouth. Fig. 3. Plate V. exhi- 

 bits one of the jaws, armed with a triple row of teeth, placed in a manner 

 similar to those of sharks ; both jaws being equally armed. In one of the 

 specimens there are four rows of teeth_, placed with regard to each other as 

 represented in fig. 4. To the localities of the fossil radii I have to add the 

 Oxford clay, in the vicinity of Oxford and Weymouth, and the same clay at the 

 Vaches Noires Cliffs, between Dives and Villers sur Mer, in the department 

 of Calvados, on the opposite coast of France. Professor Buckland has found 

 them also in coral rag and Kimmeridge clay, at Heddington near Oxford. 



The fin-bones vary in length from six to twenty inches : one in my collec- 

 tion measures eighteen inches and a half 



The lias of Lyme contains also various other fossils, among which may be 

 enumerated the following : 



A fish remarkable for having rectangular scales, which is much compressed, 

 seldom more than a quarter of an inch thick, most commonly not exceeding 

 one-eighth. It is a very beautiful fossil, from the jet-black lustre of the 



* The same kind of bone, but of a different species, is found in the mountain limestone of 

 Clifton near Bristol, 



