248 Fish-remains in South Devon^ <^x. 



Pteraspis (Archceoteuthis) Dunensis from the Lower Devonian of the 

 Eifel (preserved in the British Museum), and vi^ith M'Coy's figures 

 of the Cornish specimen ^ — we fully concur in Mr. Salter's identifi- 

 cation of M'Coy's genus Steganodictymn with the Pieraspidian plate 

 in Mr. Wj'^att-Edgeirs collection, and consider that they must both 

 be referred to the genus Scaphaspis (see Brit. As. Kept. 1864, and 

 Geol. Mag., 1864, Vol. I. p. 292) ; and, further, that the Cornish 

 specimens cannot at present be separated specifically from Eoemer's 

 Pteraspis (ArchcEoteutJiis) Dunensis. As M'Coy's specific name, Cornu- 

 hicum, however, bears date 1851 (Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 2nd ser., 

 vol. viii.), and Eoemer's name, Dunensis, was given in 1855 (Palaeonto- 

 graphica, Dunker and von Meyer, vol. iv. p. 72, tab. xiii.), the name 

 to be adopted should be Scaphaspis Cornubicus. The late Dr. S. P. 

 Woodward called attention to the ichthyic character of Eoemer's 

 supposed Archceoteuthis in his Manual of Mollusca, 1856, p. 417. 



Henry Woodward. 

 P.S. Since the above was written, Professor Huxley informs me 

 that Mr. Leonard Lyell brought to him for examination (some six 

 weeks ago) specimens of the so-called Steganodictyum of McCoy, from 

 South Devon and Cornwall, from the cabinet of W. Pengelly, Esq., 

 F.E.S., of Torquay, which he at once pronounced to be true cephalic 

 plates of Pteraspis. H. W. 



1 See Sedgwick and M'Coy's Palaeozoic Fossils (Tab. 2a. fig. 1, 3). It is highly 

 probable that Steganodictyum Carteri^ M'Coy, from the Devonian of Cornwall (Tab, 2a. 

 fig. 4), is founded on a fragment of a cephalic plate of Ccphalaspis. 



Aerolitic Shower. — Poggendorff's Annalen (Band cxxxiii.) contains a 

 notice of a recent great fall of Meteoric Stones, of which the following is a sum- 

 mary : — On the 30th of January of the present year, a number of Stone Aerolites 

 fell at Sielce and Gostkow, near Pultusk, in Poland. Many details of the fall are 

 yet wanting ; but, according to the accounts which have already reached us, the phe- 

 nomena accompanying it appear to have been of tbe usual kind. A large fire-ball 

 was seen about seven o'clock in the evening, passing rapidly from the North- West to 

 the South-East, with a constantly increasing brilliancy, and at last exploded with 

 a great noise, scattering a shower of stones in the immediate vicinity of the above 

 places. This fire-ball was visible in Silesia, Prussia, Posen, etc. Professor Eber- 

 hard Fuggcr, of Stockerau, Austria, under the date of February 7th, gives the fol- 

 lowing account of the meteor as seen at that place. It may be premised that the 

 distance between Stockerau and Pultusk is nearly 400 miles as the crow flies. " On 

 the 30th of January of this year, a brilliant meteor was observed here. About ten 

 minutes before seven in the evening, a blue flaming ball showed itself, which ap- 

 peared to come from the moon ; it travelled towards the South-East, becoming 

 during its progress larger and more brilliant, a blue light at the same time spreading 

 itself over the neighbourhood. The ball gradually disappeared behind the moun- 

 tains on the right bank of the Danube, decreasing in size, and, after it had com- 

 pletely disappeared, a sudden crack like thunder was heard. When the meteor was at 

 its greatest size, it did not appear to be higher from the ground than double the height 

 of a church-tower. This phenomenon lasted for fifteen seconds, and was visible at 

 Eriinn and other places. A similar meteor was observed in Stockerau on the 21st of 

 January of this year, at 7.40 p.m." A stone as large as a child's head is reported to 

 liave fallen at Baden-Baden, at eleven o'clock on the same evening as those near 

 Pultusk, some fragments of which are said to have been received by the Dantzic 

 astronomer, Kayser. Several of the Sielce and Gostkow stones, ranging from a few 

 ounces to 71bs. in w^eight, have been forwarded to the British Museum. The interior 

 of these stones is of a bluish-grey colour, somewhat similar to those which fell at 

 L'Aigle, in France, in April, 1803 ; and the crust is of a dull black and brown colour, 

 and of varying thickness. T. D. 



