STORY OF THE DINICHTHYS. 126 



In the study of animal development tliroiigh 

 geology more than one "missing link" has, at 

 various times, excited the interest and research 

 of the student. The science is still so immature 

 and discoveries are so constantly being made, 

 the unbiased mind holds itself in readiness for 

 new revelations. 



In the line of relationship between the ba- 

 trachians and fishes, the lepido siren, or mud- 

 fish, discovered in 1837 by Dr. Natterer, in the 

 Amazon Eiver, has held a controverted posi- 

 tion, some systematists ranking it as the high- 

 est of fishes, while others class it with the rep- 

 tiles. This curious animal is the only living 

 representative of what at one time was a large 

 and powerful class of creatures. 



Mr. Hertzer, breaking into fragments the 

 huge septaria of the Huron shale, so abundant 

 in Delaware County, though one of the tough- 

 est and most intractable of the stony forma- 

 tions, wias rewarded by finding the fossil bones 

 of some creature to him then unknown. 



Several of these bones were taken by him 

 to the meeting of the American Scientific Asso- 

 ciation at Buffalo in 1866. There they were 

 submitted to Prof. Newberry, who recognized 

 them as belonging to the huge Ganoid fishes, 

 altogether new to science. 



Mr. Hertzer, with renewed interest in his 



