DAVIS : FISH-REMAINS IN THE COAL-MEASURES. 49 
well as in the water. Their fossil remains have been found 
in every instance, both in the Lower and Middle Coal Measures 
of Yorkshire, where the remains of fishes have been 
discovered. In nearly all cases, the bones, scales, or teeth of 
the fish and Labyrinthodonts are found mixed up promis- 
cuously, often in a broken or fragmentary condition. 
Occasionally, however, specimens are found which are nearly 
or quite perfect, as, for example, the Pholiderpeton scutigerum, 
described by Prof. Huxley, from the Lower Coal Measures, 
near Bradford ; and appear to have been buried in the mud 
near the place where they died. 
The most remarkable circumstance respecting the cannel 
coal, north of "Wakefield, is the occurrence of the remains of 
fossil fish, not only in the roof of the coal, but in numerous 
instances in the coal itself. The remains consist of spines 
and teeth of Elasmobranchs, and the scales, bones, and teeth 
of Ganoids; but the most important, as well as the most 
frequent fossil found, is that of Ccelacanthus. The remains 
of this fish occur in great perfection, but are nearly always 
broken in getting the coal, so that it is only with considerable 
labour that the specimens can be so joined together as to give 
a clear outline of its anatomy and form. Prof Huxley, in 
the Decades of the Geological Survey,* and others, have 
pointed out the near relationship and the great similarity there 
is between the existing Lipidosiren and Ceratodus,or Mud fishes 
of Africa and Australia, and the extinct genus Ccelacanthus. 
They appear to have existed under very similar circumstances, 
living in swampy or marshy districts liable during certain 
periods to be dried up. When this occurs, we know the 
existing Dipnous fishes are provided with a swim-bladder, 
divided into segments by partitions along whose surface 
innumerable blood vessels ramify, and by means of which 
* Mem. of Geol. Survey." — Decade XII. 
4 
