236 PERMIAN FOSSILS. 



C(ELACANTHus cAUDALis, Ec/erton. Plate XXVIII, fig. 2. 



There is a charming Httle specimen, in the possession of Lord Enniskillen, 

 of a CcElacanth, which I am inchned to think can scarcely be referred to the pre- 

 ceding species. Its entire length does not equal that of the tail of the smallest 

 specimen of Coelacanthus granulatus I have seen. The latter species is supposed by 

 Agassiz to have been two feet in length : this fish measures only five inches. The 

 head is rather more than a fifth of the total length ; the second fifth includes the first 

 dorsal, the third fifth extends to the back of the second dorsal, and from thence to the 

 end of the tail occupies the two remaining fifths. This large proportion of the caudal 

 region inclines me to adopt the specific name given above. The body is slender, and 

 of uniform size. The first dorsal fin is composed of about eight strong rays : these are 

 carried upon thick interapophyses ; and the corresponding neurapophysial elements of 

 the vertebrae are enlarged to support them. The same arrangement is seen in the 

 second dorsal ; but the fin-rays are more slender and more numerous. The pectoral, 

 ventral, and anal fins are of moderate dimensions and slender structure. The tail is 

 broader, and terminates more abruptly than that organ in Ccelacanthus granulatus. — 

 P. G. E. 



Lord Enniskillen's specimen was found in the Marl-Slate of Ferry-Hill. 



Class Reptilia, Cuvier.^ 



Professor Owen divides the present group into the following orders, — Batrachia, 

 Ophidia, Chelonia, Pterosauria, Lacertilia, Dinosauria, Crocodilia, and Enaliosauria , of 

 which the fifth is the only one as yet known to have been represented during the 

 Permian epoch. 



Order Lacertilia. 



Professor Owen observes, that " among the inferior or squamate Saurians ther6 

 are two leading modifications in the mode of attachment of the teeth, the base of which 

 may be either anchylosed to the summit of an alveolar ridge, or to the bottom of an 

 alveolar groove, and supported by its lateral wall. These modifications are indicated 

 respectively by the terms ' acrodont' and ' pleurodont.' A third mode of fixation is 

 presented by some extinct Saurians, which, in other parts of their organization, adhere 



1 Not being acquainted with the Permian reptiles, — and as the scope of the present work requires some 

 notice to be taken of them, — I have freely availed myself of the materials which Dr. Riley, Mr. Stutchbury, 

 and Professor Owen have already published thereon. 



