Mr. De la Beche on the South Coast of England. 45 



scales : when the fish is fractured^ the vertebrae and ribs may be discovered 

 on the inside; the pectoral fins are in general finely preserved. Plate VI. 

 fig. 1, represents one of these fish tolerably perfect ; the bones of the skull, 

 however, are not well preserved. I am indebted to my friend Dr. Leach for 

 the following name and description. 



DAPEDIUM. 



[a §a7r=Sov, pavimentum.] 



Char. Gener. — Mandibulce ; dentibus simplici serie : denies lineares, apice 

 emarginati_, hinc bifidi. Palatum, antice dentibus irregularibus, postice 

 subrotundatis instructum. Pinnce ; dorsalis unica ; pectorales acutae ; 

 caudalis agqualiter furcata ; analis, radiis brevibus ; ventrales breves. 

 Pellis, squamis parallelopipedis armata. 



Dapedium politum. 



The interior of the mouth of one of these fish is represented PI. VI. fig-. 2, 

 and two teeth fig. 3. From one of the short sides of the rectangular scales 

 there is a triangular projection, which fits into a corresponding depression 

 in the scale adjoining it (fig, 4) ; on the outside of the fish this projection is 

 not visible, the interior part only of the scales being thus provided. These 

 fossils are by no means common : they vary from seven to eighteen or twenty 

 inches in length. 



There is another fossil fish, longer considerably in comparison with its 

 breadth than the preceding : the scales are not rectangular except towards 

 the head. These fish are found much compressed, seldom exceeding the 

 thickness of drawing-paper. A specimen of this kind represented Plate VII. 

 fig. 1, is much broader in proportion to its length than those usually found ; 

 they are generally of uniform size, seldom exceeding six or seven inches in 

 length. 



Pine specimens of pentacrinite occur in seams parallel to the strata of the 

 lias, at Golden Cap Hill. 



Fossil wood also is obtained in great variety : there is one kind with a long 

 trunk and branches much compressed, in the marly strata, which is black, splits 

 into small parallelepipeds, is light, and burns with a bright flame and unplea- 

 sant smell ; the other kinds are generally found in the hard lias limestone, are 

 not compressed, are much knotted, and very compact. 



Fossil ferns are but of rare occurrence in the lias near Lyme. The two spe- 



