52 CONNECTICUT GEOL. AND NAT. HIST. SURVEY. [Bull. 



for study. Nevertheless, an attempt was made in this direction 

 by J. S. Newberry, and it is perhaps worthy of note that the 

 material upon which his restorations were based, together with 

 certain unpublished figures and manuscript notes, are now the 

 property of the American Museum of Natural History. For the 

 privilege of studying both the original material and the records 

 of Newberry's interpretation of them, the writer is indebted to 

 the courtesy of his friend Dr. Bashford Dean, Curator of fossil 

 fishes in the American Museum of Natural History in New York. 

 With his permission, two of Newberry's original drawings are 

 reproduced for the first time in Figs. 5 and 6, one rep- 

 resenting the head portion viewed from above and to one side, 

 the other from below. 



With reference to the specimens serving as the basis of New- 

 berry's restorations it may be remarked that the larger and more 

 perfect (the one shown in Fig. 5, Cat. No. 2431) has the head 

 portion preserved in the form of an impression, wherein certain 

 sutural indications are plainly visible, others less clearly so. 

 Three drawings of this specimen occur among Newberry's reli- 

 quiae, all bearing explanatory legends in his handwriting. From 

 a careful collation of these with the original it appears that our 

 author was mistaken in his reading of several parts of the cranial 

 osteology, more particularly as regards the cheek plates and 

 opercular apparatus, and it is a question whether he has not 

 sometimes mistaken grooves of the sensory canal system for 

 suture lines. 



But at the same time it must be admitted that precisely in 

 these particulars, owing to lack of definiteness in the impression, 

 there is room for considerable latitude of interpretation, and 

 that after all a final judgment cannot be based upon this single 

 specimen standing alone, without the aid of well authenticated 

 points of control derived from comparison of a large quantity 

 of material. No single specimen has yet come to light which 

 reveals the lateral aspect of the head in thoroughly satisfactory 

 manner, and any attempt to correct or improve upon Newberry's 

 restoration must proceed from a mosaic built up of overlapping 

 sections. Much effort has been expended by the present writer 

 in this direction, and some progress has been made towards 

 elaborating the complete cranial structure. Yet the work is 



