130 OLD RED SANDSTONE FISHES. 



BOTHKIOLEPIS CRISTATA, Traquair. Plate XXXI. 



1896. Bothriolepis cristata, B. H. Traquair. In Harvie-Brown and Buckley's 



Vert, Fauna Moray Basin, 

 p. 266, pi. ix. 



Specific Characters. — Dorsal surface furnished with an elevated laminar median 

 crest, rising from the posterior half of the anterior median dorsal plate and the 

 anterior half of the posterior median dorsal ; sculpture of plates finely tuberculo- 

 reticulate. 



Description. — Shortly before his lamented death the late Rev. Dr. Gordon 

 showed me a specimen of Bothriolepis from Rosebrae, near Elgin, with the appear- 

 ance of which I was immediately struck. The body carapace with what remained 

 of the head, being removable from the matrix, was in a singularly uncompressed 

 state ; the back, having only received a slight oblique squeeze from left to right, 

 was seen to be more lofty in shape than is usual in the species of this genus, while 

 the matrix showed apparently the impression of an elevated laminar crest rising 

 from the middle line of the dorsal surface. Shortly afterwards Mr. William 

 Taylor, of Lhanbryde, procured from the same quarry two specimens showing 

 the impression of part of the back in such a way as clearly to prove the existence 

 of this singular crest. 



Dr. Gordon's specimen has been already figured by me in Harvie-Brown and 

 Buckley's ' Fauna of the Moray Basin.' It is now in the Elgin Museum, to the 

 Directors of which I am indebted for a second loan of it for the purpose of this mono- 

 graph. Mr. Taylor kindly presented his specimens to the Royal Scottish Museum. 



Fig. 2, PI. XXX 1, shows the specimen first referred to, still in the matrix, and 

 seen from the right lateral aspect, whereby the unusual height (for Bothriolepis) of 

 the sides is brought into view. This is seen to be due to the considerable relative 

 depth of the lateral portions of the anterior and posterior dorso-lateral plates as 

 compared with the condition in such species as /'. major, Canadensis, or liydro- 

 phila. Then on the matrix at C, the impression of the dorsal crest is seen arising 

 from the middle line of the anterior median dorsal (a. m. d.) just behind the centre 

 of the plate, whence it is continued backwards over two thirds of the extent of the 

 posterior median dorsal (p. m. d.) ; the crest itself is highest about the middle third, 

 and falls away gently both in front and behind. 



In Pig. 1 we have the specimen removed from the matrix and seen from the 

 dorsal aspect. Tliis view requires little comment, except that the carapace 

 appears slightly narrower in proportion to its length than is ordinarily the case in 

 Bothriolepis. The head is much injured and presents no points for description. 



