in the Neighbourhood of Edinburgh. 189 



vered by them, and by an osseous skeleton, M. Agassiz has at- 

 tributed the remains of two fish which have been found. One 

 of these belongs to his genus Pygopterus, and another to an un- 

 described and extraordinary genus, the Megalichthys. 



This list could no doubt be extended. I am therefore called 

 upon to remark, that, as the entire suite of specimens hither- 

 to collected at Burdiehouse has been submitted to the investi- 

 gation of M. Agassiz, to be illustrated by him in his " Re- 

 cherches sur les Poissons Fossiles," it would only burden the 

 volumes of the Royal Society's Transactions, to enter into a de- 

 scription of all the fish discovered in the quarry For this rea- 

 son, I have proposed to confine myself to such individuals only, 

 as might serve for illustrations of the general character of the 

 limestone, or might involve geological questions of importance. 



NOTES TO SECTION VI. 



Soon after my discovery of the fossil treasures of the Burdiehouse limestone, I 

 was anxious to obtain M. Agassiz's judgment upon them; and, accordingly, very 

 early during the last spring, I wrote to him, with drawings of three of the best mark- 

 ed specimens which had then been found. Since that period many others have been 

 added to the collection of the Burdiehouse specimens, and when, upon the occasion 

 of the British Association of Science meeting at Edinburgh, I had the satisfaction of 

 cultivating a personal acquaintance with M. Agassiz, he promised to favour me with 

 his opinion regarding all such specimens as I might submit to his consideration. 



That I should have consulted M. Agassiz in preference to any other naturalist, 

 however eminent he might have rendered himself in other departments of zoology 

 (and I would add that there are zoologists in Scotland whose memoirs form very 

 valuable portions of the Royal Society's Transactions), cannot create the least degree 

 of surprise among such as are aware of the most imperfect state of our knowledge in 

 fossil ichthyology, and of the great light which is dawning upon this obscure branch 

 connected with geology, by the transcendent researches which are going on under the 

 auspices of the Swiss naturalist. 



To those who may happen to be unacquainted with M. Agassiz or his writings, 

 it is sufficient for me to explain, that he appears before us under two great recommen- 

 dations. 



In the first place, he has taken up the elucidation of a branch of natural history, 



conceded to him as untrod ground by no less an individual than Cuvier himself 



himself a giant in the field of palaeontology. This fact is rendered evident by the 



