AA 2 CLASSIFICATION OF DEVONIAN FISHES 
Thus the parietal bones of Polypterus are much smaller, in pro- 
portion to the frontals, than are those of either Osteolepis or 
Glyptolemus, and with age they unite with one another and with 
the frontals, into a continuous shield, as seems to have been the 
case in Dipterus. 
The upper part of the occipital region is covered by a number of 
more or less irregular plates, which, however, may be readily shown 
to correspond with dismemberments of the three plates found in the 
Saurodipterini, &c. There are neither lateral, nor median, jugulars, 
the teeth have simple pulp cavities; and what is most remarkable, 
the dorsal fin, instead of being double, is incompletely broken 
up into a number of pinnules, which extend for nearly the whole 
length of the back. Furthermore, Polypterus has a spiracle, a 
structure of which I find no trace in any of the fossil genera. 
It may conduce to clearness if, before proceeding farther, I now 
endeavour to put the results of the preceding statements into a 
readily comprehensible and definite form, and show their bearing 
upon the classification of the Ganoids, and more particularly upon 
that of the fossil Ganoidei. To this end I have prepared the follow- 
ing synoptical table :— 
Orvdo GANOIDEI. 
Suporpo I.—Anmrap#&. 
Susporpbo II.—LEPIDOSTEID.®. 
Suporvo III.—CrossopreryGip®. 
Fam. I.—PoOLypTERINI. 
Dorsal fin very long, multifid ; scales rhomboidal. 
Polypterus. 
Fam. 2.—SAURODIPTERINI. 
Dorsal fins two ; scales rhomboidal, smooth ; fins subacutely lobate. 
Diplopterus, Osteolepis, Megalichthys. 
enunciated conclusions nearly similar to my own in the following passage (Ctenodipterinen, 
p. 3) 
*¢Ueberhaupt ist es merkwurdig zu sehen wie Po/yflerus so ganz in den Hintergrund 
“gestellt wird, Herr J. Muller (Ueber d. Bau.) sagt ausdriicklich ‘ Fur den Polypterus kenne 
“ich unter allen fossilen Ganoiden keine analogie.’ Und Herr Pictet wiederholt dasselbe 
‘‘eleichfalls, ‘aucun fossile n’a été rapproché de ce genre remarquable.’ Wir werden in 
“ Zukunft sehen dass wenn man iiberhaupt ein Recht hat, wie es doch wahrscheinlich ist, die 
“‘ausgestorbenen Geschlechter der Devonischen Formation jetzt noch lebenden Fischen an 
“die Seite zu stellen, mehrere durch ihre Zahnbau, durch die grossen Knochen-platten und 
‘sdie Stelle der Kiemenhaut-strahlen, durch den Bau der Kopfknochen, u.s.w., eine 
“ ordssere analogie mit dem Polyfter us als seinen Amerikanischen Zeitgenossen besitzen.” 
In his subsequent memoirs Prof. Pander has not followed out to their logical result the 
views so sagaciously indicated in this paragraph, which I think would be identical with those 
I had arrived at before I read it, and now publish, 
