RHADINICMTIIYS FEROX. 153 



14. RiiADiNicHTiiYs FKKox, Tniqaair. Plate XKXIV, tigs. 1, 2. 



lluADiNicuTHrs FEROX, Traquair. Proe. Hoy. Soc. Ediiib., vol. ix, 1877, p. -135. 

 — — A. S. Woodward. Cat. Fos.s. Fislies Brit. Mus., pt. ii, 



1891, p. 4(39. 



Specific Characters. — Scales of inodcrato size, and ornaiuented with a proniiiieut 

 ridged pattern; the ridges on the lower and anterior part of the exposed snrface being 

 mainly parallel with the inferior and anterior borders of tiie scale, while those on the 

 posterior and upper part pass obliquely downwards and backwards to the hinder margin, 

 which is denticulated. Cranial plates striated ; teeth strong. Fins large ; the distance 

 between the end of the base of the anal and the commencement of the caudal somewlmt 

 extended. 



Description. — The only entire specimen, which is represented in PI. XXXIV, fig. 1, 

 has undergone a twist about the middle of the body, and shows, moreover, only a 

 portion of the caudal fin, so that it is difficult to estimate its original length. As it is, 

 it measures 5f inches in length, but it is quite evident that when alive it must have 

 been considerably longer. 



The head equals If inches in length, and shows superiorly a cast of the greater part 

 of the inner surface of the cranial buckler, with the lines of demarcation between the 

 parietal, frontal, squamosal and post-frontal bones. The opercular bones are not seen, 

 but a portion of the maxilla and the greater part of the mandible are exhibited, the 

 latter bearing sharp conical teeth of different sizes, those externally placed being very 

 small, while one large laniary -j^j inch in length is conspicuous. In another specimen 

 the inq)ressions are seen of the parietal, squamosal, opercular, preopercular and supra- 

 clavicular bones, and of the [)osterior part of the maxilla, these inq)ressions clearly 

 showing that the external sculpture of the bones in question was of a highly ornate 

 character, consisting of sharply-defined, flexuous, branching, anastomosing, and inter- 

 rupted ridges, tending to pass into tubercles at the inner margin of each parietal. 



The scales are of moderate size on the flanks, becoming rather small posteriorly, 

 while on the belly they are low and narrow. Over the whole body their outer surfaces 

 are highly ornate, the ornamentation consisting of fine, sharply defined ridges forming a 

 pattern, which is usually, as it were, divided by a diagonal passing from the antero- 

 snperior to the postero-inferior angle of the scale. On the antero-inferior half of 

 the surface the ridges run parallel with the anterior and inferior margins, impinging 

 posteriorly on the diagonal, while on the postero-superior half they pass obliquely 

 downwards and backwards, mostly parallel with the diagonal, and ending in the 

 denticulations of the hinder margin ; in many cases they are interrupted before reaching 

 that nuu'gin, and replaced by other shorter ones springing up between them. In some 



