98 UPPER CRETACEOUS TELEOSTS 
Paired fins, median fins and tail. A post-temporal bone of modest dimensions lies 
above the operculum, posterior to the occiput, and is composed of two limbs joined 
posteriorly. The dorsal limb is the more robust of the two. The supracleithrum is 
absent in both of the specimens and the cleithrum is also poorly preserved. The 
pectoral fin is enormous, arising well up on the flank while below its base a slight 
backward projection of the coracoid is visible. The fin consists of approximately 
14 rays and is as long as, if not longer than, the entire length of the head (without 
the operculum). 
The pelvic fin is much reduced and positioned about midway between the origin 
of the pectoral fin and the beginning of the anal fin. The exact number of pelvic 
fin rays could not be ascertained but it is obviously small. The rays themselves 
are very feeble. 
The very small dorsal fin arises behind the origin of the anal fin, and appears 
to consist of g rays. The first ray is shorter than the subsequent ones and is un- 
branched. The second ray is the longest and the remainder decrease in length 
posteriorly. All of the fin rays are segmented and most, if not all, are branched. 
The anal fin is greatly extended, its origin being a little over half way back along 
the body while it terminates close to the caudal fin. Forty-seven rays are visible in 
the fin, but there may possibly be a few more present (50). As in the dorsal fin the 
first ray is shorter than the rest and is unbranched. 
The caudal fin is large, deeply cleft and consists of 19 principal rays, 17 of which are 
branched and segmented. Shorter, unbranched accessory rays are present both 
epaxially and hypaxially, there being 14 in all. The composition of the caudal 
skeleton was undeterminable. 
Vertebral column. The body is considerably elongated and there appear to be 73 
vertebrae, of which approximately 33 are precaudal. The individual centra are 
mesially constricted and longer than they are deep, although at the posterior end of 
the column the length of each centrum is reduced so that they present practically a 
square outline. Each centrum bears a neural arch and a neural spine, the latter 
arising from the middle of each of the neural arches. In the anterior precaudal 
region the neural spines are straight, but more posteriorly the spines show a marked 
backward curvature. The presence of a persistent notochord is shown by a con- 
tinuous perforation throughout the length of each centrum. The precaudal verte- 
brae bear fine elongated pleural ribs which taper gradually to points. Haemal 
arches and spines characterize the caudal region, the arches arising from the anterior 
region of each centrum. Intermuscular bones, both epineurals dorsally and epi- 
pleurals ventrally, occur in continuous series along practically the entire length of 
the body. 
Scales. The body is devoid of scales except for a row of dorsal scutes in the mid- 
line behind the occiput. There may be as many as 5 or 6 of these scutes and each 
one is ornamented with radiating bony ridges. No traces of lateral line scales were 
found in either specimen. 
