RHADINICHTHYS BREVIS. 143 



is large and deeply bifiu'cated, but in no case is it well preserved ; its rays are likewise 

 slender and distantly jointed, the articulations, however, becoming closer in the shorter 

 rays of the upper lobe ; the caudal body-j)rolongation is slender. The scales are of 

 moderate size ; their anterior covered area is very narrow ; the keel of the under 

 surface and the articular spine, or peg, well marked. The exposed surface (fig. 2) is 

 ornamented with exceedingly well-marked elevated ridges, which pass across the scale 

 from before backwards with a slight downward ol)liquity, and end in denticulations of 

 the posterior margin. These ridges tend constantly to become broken up into isolated 

 tubercles, or conversely, the ornament may be described as consisting of raised tubercles 

 tending constantly to a linear arrangement and to coalescence into ridges. 



Observations. — Bhadinichthj/s Wardi may be distinguished from all the other species 

 of the genus by its peculiar ridged and tuberculated scale-ornament, co-existent with 

 denticulation of the posterior border. 



It was named by the late Professor Young, of Glasgow, but first described by Mr. 

 Ward himself, which accounts for the somewhat unusual circumstance of an author's 

 name standing as authority for a species which has been named after him. 



Geological Position and Localities. — An Upper Carboniferous fish. Not uncommon 

 in the Coal Measures of North Staffordshire, especially in the " Ash Coal " shale at 

 Fenton and Longton (Ward Collection, British Museum), in the Coal Measures of the 

 neighbourhood of Manchester (collected by the late Mr. John Plant), and in the 

 Lanarkshire Coalfield (Collection of the Geological Survey of Scotland). 



7. Rhadinichthys bbevis, Traqimir. Plate XXXI, figs. 7 — 10. 



RuADiNiCHTiiTS BEEVis, Tncpiaiv. Proc. Roy. Soc. Edinb., vol. ix, 1877, p. 410. 



— — A. S. Woodward. Cat. Toss. Fishes Brit. Mus., pt. ii, 1891, 



p. 103. 



— — Traqualr. Greol. Mag. [1], vol. viii, 1901, p. 111. 



— - — 'i'ratjuair. Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinb., vol. xlvi, pt. i, no. 1, p. 



109, pi. ii, figs. 3-5. 



Specific Characters. — Attaining a length of about 4 inches; form stout and short; 

 distance between the anal fin and the commencement of the caudal less than the length of 

 the base of the anal ; cranial roof-bones ornamented with contorted and rather flattened 

 rugae; flank-scales with a few feebly marked, oblique ridges, and with five or six 

 denticulations on the posterior border. 



Description. — The length of the specimen from Wardie represented in fig. 7 is 3^ 

 inches ; the extremity of the caudal fin is, however, not preserved. Another specimen, 

 more badly preserved posteriorly, must have been a little longer, judging from the size 

 of the head and body. The head is elegantly shaped with bluntly pointed muzzle. 



