BRITISH FOSSILS. 



Decade X. Plate VIII. 



CLIMATIUS SCUTIGER. 



[CLIMATIUS. Agassiz. (Sub-kingdom Vertebrata. Class Pisces. Order Gonio- 

 lepidoti. Family Acanthodei.) Body more or less fusiform. Tail heterocercal, attenuated. 

 Fins membranous, supported by strong conical spines, striated longitudinally. Two dorsal 

 spines ; one anal spine ; two pectoral spines ; and two ventral spines. Three dermal 

 spines on either side, between the pectoral and ventral fins. Dorsal ridge invested with 

 large scutes.] 



^Yi^O^Ym^^.~—Br achy acanthus scutiger. Egerton, Report of Brit. 

 Assoc. 1859, p. 116. Ictinocephalus gramilatus. Page, Report of Brit. 

 Assoc. 1858, p. 105. 



The collection of specimens from the Farnell deposit, exhibited 

 by the Rev. Hugh Mitchell at Aberdeen in 1859, contained, in 

 addition to the Acanthodes, described in the preceding Memoir, 

 several fraoments of a small fish havino- considerable resemblance 

 to the genus DiplacantJms. A closer examination of the best pre- 

 served specimen revealed, however, so many important points of 

 difference that I was induced to assign to it a new generic title. 

 The singularly short and massive character of the spines supporting 

 the fins suggested the name Br achy acanthus. I have since found 

 in Professor Agassiz's Poissons Fossiles du Vieux Gres Rouge," 

 the representation of a spine found at Balruddery, and described as 

 a Placoid Ichthyodorulite, under the name of Climatius reticu- 

 latus, which I have no hesitation in identifying as belonging to a 

 species of the Acanthodean genus under notice, although specifically 

 distinct from the Farnell specimens. The name Brachyacanthus 

 must consequently give way to the prior title Climatius. 



Description.— The interest excited by the exhibition of these 

 beautiful ichthyolites at the Aberdeen meeting gave such an im- 

 petus to the exertions of the explorers of the Farnell deposits that 

 abundant materials shortly repaid their labours, not only for the 

 full elucidation of the genus under notice, but for completing the 



10 E 2 



