BUFFALO SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCES 



137 



E 2482 Portion of the body of a large shark with the ventral fins, 

 in counterpart (fig. 48). One of these is exquisitely pre- 

 served, and exhibits for the first time in this species the 

 narrow posterior prolongation of the web. The base of 

 the ventral measures 16 cm. (including the web to its 

 posterior end); its greatest height is 9 cm.; the span 

 across the ventrals is 34 cm. Our identification of the 

 species as C. kepleri, is based on the large size of the shark 

 and on the robustness of the fin-rays. There are 13 pri- 

 mary rays, 5 secondaries, but no tertiaries. 



Fig. 48. Cladoselache kepleri. Ventral Fins, X f . p, pelvic 

 fin-support. E 2482. (See PI. 50) 



This specimen exhibits one of the most perfectly preserved ventral 

 fins ever found. There are only two other examples of ventral fins 

 known that compare with it — one in the American Museum,^^ the 

 other in the British Museum.®^ Both of these are ventrals of Clado- 

 selache fyleri, and neither shows the details of structure quite so 

 clearly as the present specimen. In the American Museum specimen 

 there is no cartilaginous rod extending into the posterior prolongation 

 of the fin-web. In the British Museum specimen it is present, but not 

 so clearly demarcated posteriorly. Prof. Jaekel terms it the ' 'Haupt- 



52 No. 7oig Amer. Mus. Mem. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., ix, 224, figure ig^igog. 

 52 Jaekel, 0.: Ueber die Beurteilung der paarigen Extremitaten. 

 Wiss., xxvi, 707-724, 1909. See especially pp. 713-714, and figure 5. 



d. k. Preus, Akad. 



