BRITISH FOSSILS. 



Decade X. Plate VI. Figs. 1 and 2. 



ACANTHODES PEACHI. 



[Genus AC ANTHODES. Agassiz. (Sub-kingdom Vertebrata. Class Pisces. Order 

 Goniolepidoti. Family Acanthodei.) Body fusiform. Mouth large, opening upwards. 

 Orbits encircled by four bony plates. Branchia) exposed. Fins membranous, supported 

 by strong spines. One dorsal spine near the tail ; one anal below and slightly in advance 

 of the dorsal ; pectoral spines strong ; ventral spines small. Scales minute.] 



The genus Acanthodes forms the subject of the first article in 

 Professor Agassiz's vohime on the Ganoid fishes. At that time only- 

 one species was known, Acanthodes Bronni, from the Coal-measures 

 of Saarbriich. Before the completion of the work, two others had 

 been discovered, Acanthodes sulcatus, from the Coal-measures at 

 Newhaven, and Acanthodes pusillus from the Old Ked Sandstone 

 near Gordon Castle. . In the description of the latter species, in his 

 later publication on the fishes of the Old Eed Sandstone, Professor 

 Agassiz supplements the characters of the genus given in the former 

 work, with all the information derived from these subsequent dis- 

 coveries. It was reserved, however, for Ferdinand von Komer, of 

 Breslau, to complete the anatomical details of this singular fish, by 

 the examination of hundreds of specimens (as he himself recounts) 

 of a new species, Acanthodes gracilis (Holacanthodes of Beyrich), 

 discovered in the Permian strata of Klein-Neundorf, near Lowen- 

 berg.* Since the publication of this memoir (to which I must 

 refer the reader for the many curious structural details therein 

 described), the Old Ked Sandstone of Scotland has contributed 

 three additional species to this genus. These will be considered in 

 this and the following chapter. Two of these novelties were dis- 

 covered by Mr. Peach, and in recognition of the great services he 



* Ueber Fisch-und Pflanzen-fiihrende Mergelschiefer des Rothliegenden bei Klein- 

 Neundorf unweit Lbwenberg, und im Besonderen iiber Acanthodes gracilis den am haufig- 

 sten in denselben vorkommeadeu Fisch. — Von Herrn Ferd. Roemer in Breslau, 1857. 



