LOWER CARBONIFEROUS ROCKS OF THE FIFESHIRE COAST. 395 
scales of some species of Palzeoniscus, and one good specimen of an Amblypterus, 
which seems to be the A. status. There were teeth and scales also of a Holop- 
tychius ; some of the latter more than an inch in diameter, and their resemblance 
to the figures of the H. Portlockwi, published in the Report of the Irish Survey, 
seemed to be complete. If the fish remains at Ardross are thus not devoid of in- 
terest, those on the west side of the basin near Kinghorn are still more important. 
It was in connection with these that I obtained one of the most striking proofs of 
the identity of the corresponding beds on the two sides of the basin. Beginning 
at Inverteil, or rather at Tyrie, 1 had traced the strata backwards and downwards 
through every link of the series, to that level on which the fish occur on the east. 
The limestone bed was there, its corals and shells agreed, but at first there 
seemed no trace of fish. The point was important, the opportunity for search 
was good, for the beds lay open, intercalated between two sheets of trap. Begin- 
ning at the top, and resolved that nothing should escape, I had nearly gone over 
the whole, when, about three inches above the lowest trap, I caught the glitter of 
a ganoid scale, and laying open the spot, a very slight effort disclosed a whole 
array of fish remains—spines, plates, teeth, scales, &c., in singular abundance. 
I was reminded of the famous bone-bed at Ludlow, described as resembling a 
mass of broken beetles. This was obviously a similar formation of the carboni- 
ferous system. About an inch in thickness, imbedded among shale with a few 
shells, and charged with its abundant fish remains, all disjointed, but in beauti- 
ful preservation, I could trace it, running at its own level for fifty yards, till lost 
at low-water mark in its course seawards. All the fish I had found at Ardross 
were there, with additional species ; but there was one new and most noticeable 
feature, the abundance of Cestraciont teeth—the crushing teeth of ancient 
sharks. Would it not be possible to find these fossils also on the eastern side of 
the basin? Returning to Ardross, I sought for them in the bed F, but in vain. 
In the bed E, [also failed in finding them; but at-last the limestone D, and espe- 
cially a bed of underlying shale, yielded a considerable number of specimens. The 
links of connection between these beds, separated at a distance of some twenty 
miles, were thus made clear, and it was also established that fish remains were 
diffused through the Jower half of these six marine limestones. 
The disjointed state of the remains from the fish-bed renders it difficult to 
identify the species. There are head-plates and scales of Rhizodus Hibberti. 
There is a well-preserved jaw undetermined, and scales of Amblypterus. Besides 
these there is a spine of Ctenacanthus, which Sir P. Eazrvon considers as hitherto 
undescribed, and among the teeth there are several fine specimens belonging to 
the genus Cochliodus, also marked by him as new to science.* More than by all 
these, however, my attention was attracted by some plates belonging to the great 
* It was through the kindness of Sir R. Murcuison that the specimens were submitted to Sir 
’ P. Ecerton, our highest authority in fossil Ichthyology. 
