REMARKS ON CEPHALASPIDES, 
137 
CEPHALASPIDES OF FORFARSHIRE. 
Sir, — The comiminication in your num- 
ber for this month (March) from Mr. Gr. 
Roberts, in which he carefally conducts 
the enquiring geologist over some of the 
most interesting Sikirian and Old Red 
Sandstone districts in England, and 
clearly points out the places where the 
remains of these curious primeval fishes, 
the Cephalaspides, are to be looked for, 
makes me think that a short notice of 
what Forfarshire has done towards better- 
ing our acquaintance with at least one of 
these fishes, the Cephalaspis, may not be 
uninteresting ; for, although, fortunately 
for geology, Scotland has now no mono- 
poly of Old Red Sandstone fishes, yet so 
far as I am aware no really perfect speci- 
men of that fish has been found out of 
this county. In forwarding tliis notice, 
I can assure the reader that I am actuated 
by no desire to have my name in any way 
connected with " a memoir of the earliest 
known fish," or " the history of the first 
appearance of vertebrated life," my sole 
motive being, by giving so far as I can, a 
popular description of what is known of 
the Cephalaspis, to fan the by no means 
flagging zeal of local collectors to com- 
plete onr knowledge of this queer fish, 
and its congeners. 
Although tolerably well - preserved 
specimens of the Cephahc shield which 
covered the head of the Cephalaspis, are 
by no means rare, yet it is very seldom 
indeed that the body is disinterred from 
our rocks ; and as I do not recollect of 
more than the head of this fish having been figured in " The 
Geologist," I prefix a rough pen and ink sketch of a rather com- 
plete specimen from my own collection, reduced to one half the 
natural size. 
The very characteristic strong bony shield which protects the head, 
and from which the creature takes its name (being made up of two 
Greek words signifying a head and a shield), had been covered exter- 
VOL. rv. s 
Cephalaspis in Mr. Po^vrie's 
collection. 
