50 
Proceedings of the Royal Society 
Monday, 3 d February 1873. 
Sir EOBEET CHEISTISON, Bart., President, in the 
Chair. 
The following Communications were read : — 
1. On the Anatomy of a new Species of Polyodon, the 
Polyodon gladius of Martens, taken from the river Yang- 
tsze-Kiang, 450 miles above Woosung. Part I., being its 
External Characters and Structure. By P. D. Handy side, 
M.D. 
The position of this new species of Ganoid, under our commonly 
accepted classification, the author gave as follows 
Division ..... Vertebrata. 
1st primary section, . . Ichthyopsida. 
1st class, Pisces. 
3d sub-class, Ganoidei. 
2d order, Chondrostei. 
1st family, Acipenseridm. 
2d family, Polyodontidm. 
Genus, Polyodon. 
1st species, P. folium. 
2d species, P. gladius. 
After referring to the Polyodon folium of Lac^pede (the P. reticu- 
lata of Shaw, the Planirostra spatula of Owen), the paddle-fish or 
spoon-bill sturgeon of the Ohio and Mississippi and their tributaries, 
as a well-known species of the genus in question, Dr Handy side went 
on to state that the new species now to be described was first 
observed on a Chinese fishmonger’s stall at Woosung, 12 miles from 
Shanghai, and had since been found in the Yang-tsze-Kiang, and, 
as was alleged, in the northern Japanese sea. He then sketched 
the history of the Polyodontidae family, and narrated the researches 
of Lac6pede, Von Martens, Blakiston, Kaup, and Dumeril. 
He next exhibited to the Society — first , a small entire specimen 
