DISTRIBUTION OF FISHES IN TIME. 405 



Mesozoic rocks. Subjoined is an illustration of the " ichthyo- 

 dorulites " and teeth of some of the Palaeozoic Cestraphori. 



The true Sharks are represented in the later Mesozoic de- 

 posits (e.g., by teeth of Notidanus in the Oolites) ; but they are 

 chiefly Tertiary. The teeth of Odqntaspis, Gakocerdo, and 

 Carcharodon, are good examples from the Eocene of the Isle of 

 Sheppey. The true Rays are older than the true Sharks, the 

 Carboniferous fossil, PleuracanthuSjhevng probably the spine of 

 a Ray (fig. 153). Numerous remains of Rays, chiefly in the 

 foroi of the pavement-like teeth, are known, both from the 

 Secondary and Tertiary rocks. The last division of the Elas- 

 mobranchii — viz., that of the Holocephali, is poorly represented 

 in past time by the Mesozoic and Kainozoic Ischiodus, Elas- 

 modus, Ganodus, and Edaphodus. 



III. The Bony or Teleostean Fishes do not make their ap- 

 pearance sooner than the Cretaceous period — that is, towards 

 the close of the Mesozoic epoch. From this time on, how- 

 ever, Bony fishes with cycloid or ctenoid scales are the chief 

 representatives of the whole class, and the order appears to 

 have attained its maximum in our present sea& 



