62 



THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. LI 



seem certain that this is the true Cladocyclus of Agassiz ; it may 

 represent a new genus ancestral to the Neotropical Characoid 

 fishes. European ''Cladocyclus" is in any event surely distinct 

 from the Brazilian. The C. strehlensis of Geinitz includes scales 

 approaching those of Potamalosa, but the species is founded in 

 the main on an entirely different type, which is evidently close 

 to the English C. lewesiensis. It is a question what generic name 

 should be used for the lewesiensis-strehlensis type, which must 

 be removed from Cladocyclus. It was formerly included in Hyp- 

 sodon Agassiz, but that generic name appears to belong properly 

 to the fishes usually called Portheus, the type being lewesiensis 

 Mantell = ma,ntelli Newton. The name lewesiensis also belongs 

 strictly to the Portheus, and the English so-called Cladocyclus, 

 if distinct from the Geinitz species, seems to need a new name. 

 These matters will be taken up more fully elsewhere at a later 

 date. Beryx ornaius of Geinitz, properly called Hoplopteryx 

 lewesiensis (Mantell), appears to be a primitive Berycoid type, 

 having scales such as might be expected in an ancestor of the 

 modern Berycidae. Hemilampronites steinlai Geinitz consists of 

 scales differing little from the living Hyporhamphus. The scales 

 figured by Geinitz as those of Macropoma mantelli Agassiz* have 

 no resemblance to that species ; from the fine transverse circuli, 

 basal radii, and apical teeth like those of Pomacanthus, they 

 appear to belong to some Teleost more or less related to the 

 Berycoids. Thus we find that although Geinitz knew little about 

 the affinities of his scales, they had excellent characters, remind- 

 ing us in certain cases of modern genera, and indicating the great 

 antiquity and constancy of peculiarities of scale structure. In 

 1878 Anton Fritsch* undertook to describe the fish-scales of the 

 Upper Cretaceous of Bohemia, and believed that he had a number 

 of the species of Geinitz. His Cladocyclus strehlensis and Cy- 

 clolepis agassizi are perhaps correct, but the others are evidently 

 different from the Geinitzian forms. His Macropoma speciosum 

 Reuss is a genuine species of that genus, with quite characteristic 

 scales. His Macropoma forte, on the other hand, appears to be 

 a Coelacanthus. His Osmeroides lewesiensis has regular trans- 

 verse circuli between the radii, instead of the minute tubercles 

 (markings like the surface of a strawberry) of the Geinitz scales 



based on tho J mio(.^) lewcsienMs of ManteU. ^ (-Mantell), 

 *"Die Reptilien und Fischo dcr bohmischen Kreideformation. " 



