Notice of a Fossil Fish, 



83 



The posterior border is nearly square. The ventrals are placed op- 

 posite to the anterior border of the sub-operculum, these fins are 

 otherwise indistinctly preserved. 



These notices, together with the plates, may aiford an idea of the 

 care and exactness with which the subject is executed. 



(To he contimied.) 



Notice of a Fossil Fish, — the supposed Rana diluvii testis, 

 or " Fossil Batrachiari' of Dr. Cantor. By J. M'Clel- 

 LAND. PI. IX. 



The return to Calcutta on his way to Europe of Dr. Falco- 

 ner, Superintendent of the Botanic Garden at Seharanpore, 

 with collections of plants and animals as well as fossils, re- 

 minds us of the progress made in India during the last ten 

 years, in scientific researches and discoveries connected with 

 Geology, and Fossil Zoology. The portion of Dr. Falconer's 

 collection of fossils which he was kind enough to open for in- 

 spection previous to his departure, was the fossil fishes from 

 the rich locality of the Sivalick Hills. These remains consist 

 chiefly of the fragments of spines, external bony plates, verte- 

 brae, and skulls of Siluridae, together with heads more or less 

 perfect of fossil fishes allied to the living genus Ophicepha- 

 lus ; and with these the opercula and pectoral region of a large 

 specimen, probably of the family Cyprinidae. A careful exami- 

 nation of these fragments would be necessary to determine 

 the species exactly ; but from the inspection we have had of 

 them, we are quite satisfied that these remains refer to extinct 

 species. Dr. Falconer seems to be of opinion that they are 

 recent forms. They all appear to have been fresh water 

 species, and may, or may not have belonged to existing ge- 

 nera. These fishes, like the fossil mammalia of the same 

 beds, are all tropical forms. Some of them may perhaps be 

 found to correspond with genera now existing in the rivers 

 of India, but like the mammalia found in the same locality, 



