FOSSIL AND RECENT 85 



behind the articulatory condyle. The symphysis of the lower jaw is shallow as in 

 the Eocene Protarpon and Promegalops and is unlike the deepened symphysis of 

 Recent megalopids. The lower jaw of Elopoides does not protrude beyond the upper 

 jaw. Wenz describes and figures an area of very small teeth on the lateral surface 

 of the dentary. In this respect Elopoides is very unusual, not only among mega- 

 lopids but also among teleosts in general. It may be that this tooth patch represents 

 a detached tooth plate. 



In the opercular apparatus, there is both similarity with, and difference from 

 other megalopids. The preoperculum is similar in showing very little curvature and 

 no ventro-posterior expansion. The operculum, however, is unusual in being con- 

 siderably deeper than wide, imparting a narrow appearance to the opercular series 

 as a whole. 



Very little is known of the pectoral girdle and thus comparison is difficult. The 

 post-temporal, however, appears to be a wide, plate-like bone as in most other 

 megalopids. The scales are large, deeply overlapping and marked by fine circuli 

 with ornamentation in the form of fine tubercules confined to the exposed field, 

 adjacent to a centrally placed nucleus. This form of scale is characteristic of the 

 Megalopidae. 



The above facts suggest that Elopoides be placed in the Megalopidae, differing 

 from these fishes only in the shape of the operculum. In cranial proportions, rela- 

 tive orbital size and scale morphology Elopoides is more reminiscent of Megalops 

 than Tarpon. 



Genus SEDENHORSTIA White & Moy-Thomas, 1940 



1863 Microcoelia Marck : 48, non Guenee 1852 (Lepidoptera). 

 1940 Sedenhovstia White & Moy-Thomas : 396. 



Diagnosis (emended). Megalopid fishes in which the neurocranial roof is slightly 

 convex. Dilatator fossa broad, shallow and without a roof. Maximum depth of 

 the neurocranium at the occiput. Upper and lower jaws with a single row of small, 

 pointed teeth. Mandible shallow, with a weakly defined, posteriorly situated coro- 

 noid process. Small, hook-shaped ossifications lying in the mid-dorsal line between 

 occiput and origin of the dorsal fin. Scales small, with four to five anterior radii. 

 Exposed field marked by fine granulations arranged in radiating lines. 



Type-species. Microcoelia granulate Marck from the Campanian of Sendenhorst, 

 Westphalia, Germany. 



Material. The following specimens in the B.M.N.H. were examined. Seden- 

 horstia dayi (Hay) as represented by P.13885, P.13893, P.47513, P.47920-21 (part 

 and counterpart), P.13886, all from the Middle Cenomanian of Hajula, Lebanon. 

 The last-mentioned specimen had been prepared in acetic acid. Sedenhorstia sp. 

 represented by P. 9985 from the Middle Cenomian of Hajula. Sedenhorstia orientalis 

 Goody, represented by the holotype P. 9983, an acid-prepared specimen from the 

 Middle Cenomanian of Hajula. Sedenhorstia libanica (Woodward) represented by 

 P. 4865 from the Middle Cenomanian of Hakel, Lebanon. 



