PALEOZOIC FISHES 225 



ooveries of Upper Silurian fish faunas in northern France (Leriche), in 

 Australia (Chapman), in Portugal (Priem), and Upper Devonian in 

 Colorado (Eastman). 



We record also new fossiliferous localities in classical horizons in 

 Scotland. The beds which have yielded the -.ITgper Silurian fishes, 

 Thelodus, Lanarkia, and their kindred, have been traced further afield, 

 and from the new localities novel and better material of these important 

 forms may shortly be forthcoming. In the Upper Devonian of Wildun- 

 gen an extraordinary fish fauna has been developed, and all ichthyologists 

 will await impatiently the publication of Dr. Jaekel's collected studies 

 upon them. In India, South Africa, Madagascar, and Australia fossil- 

 iferous localities have been discovered which yield early Teleostomids ; 

 but up to the present time no forms of extraordinary interest are de- 

 scribed. Nevertheless we have reason to expect that these localities will 

 provide better results in the next years. So, too, the continued develop- 

 ment of the localities in the Scottish Carboniferous (Traquair), Mazon 

 Creek (Eastman), Indiana limestone (Branson), and Albert shales of 

 New Brunswick (Lambe) may be expected soon to yield discoveries of 

 greater significance. Among these we await data both as to morphology 

 and distribution; in the latter regard they may be expected to furnish 

 excellent documents for the better understanding of the earth's history. 



The Eiddles of the Eelationships of Fishes 



It is in this field, where most is sought, least is apt to be found. Old 

 localities which bring to light each year hundreds of specimens rarely 

 produce one which shows critical structures. So, too, it is a general ex- 

 perience that new localities must long be worked before really good fossils 

 are forthcoming. Even with aid of the best material, results are some- 

 times dubious. It is safe to say that the studies of the past decade have 

 not solved even one of the greater problems in the descent of fishes. In 

 fact, in several cases later studies show not merely that earlier results are 

 untenable, but that no safe conclusions in other directions can as yet be 

 drawn. Thus it is in the case of Palceospondylus. This small "fish," 

 elaborately studied in the eighteen nineties, is now the theme of a still 

 more laborious study by Sollas, who, on the evidence of serial sections, 

 concludes that the fossil was a selachian. Palceospondylus is indeed 

 frail and fugitive to bear the weight of ancestral honors which have 

 been heaped upon it. It has been described heretofore as a fossil lamprey, 

 lungfish, chimaeroid, teleostome ; it now completes a vicious circle by 

 becoming a shark ! The fact is that in such a case we are hardly justified 

 in spending good time on bad material; if the same number of hours 



