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THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [Vol. XXXVII. 



introduction of the present order of things ; so that, with the 

 ushering; in of the Tertiary, the world had become utterly trans- 

 formed from the condition it had at the beginning of the Creta- 



In the present paper we are to consider the fishes of the upper 

 Cretaceous period, especially those found in Mount Lebanon, 

 Syria. 



The fishes of the Upper Cretaceous come to us principally 

 from four regions far removed from one another. One of these 

 is in western Kansas, another in the south of Kngland, a third 

 in Westphalia, and the fourth in Syria. Our knowledge of the 

 fish-bearing strata of Kansas is of comparatively recent date ; 

 the other beds have long been known. Davis, who has written 

 an important paper on the fossil fishes of Mount Lebanon, tells 

 us that they were known to Herodotus, 450 years B. C. Trav- 

 ellers within the six hundred years preceding the nineteenth 

 century often expressed their astonishment at finding such per- 



were split open. Accurate and scientific descriptions of these 

 remains have been presented only since the beginning of the 

 nineteenth century. Blainville, Agassiz, Pictet, Humbert, 

 Heckel, Davis, and A. S. Woodward have been the principal 

 writers on the subject. 



While fossil fishes seem to have been found in several locali- 

 ties in Syria, two have become especially famous, Sahel Alma 

 and Hakel. The former is a village about eleven miles north- 

 east of Beirut ; Hakel is situated about twenty-three miles some- 

 what northeast of Beirut, and six miles from Jebeil, the ancient 

 By bins. 



Recently a third locality has been explored. This is near a 

 village called Hajula, situated about six miles south of Hakel. 

 About two years ago, at the instance of Rev. D. Stuart Dodge, 



