but a careful examination of the fossils, and comparison with the examples of 
I*rlstisomus, wliich undoubtedly possess such scales, seem to demonstrate that 
in tile species under discussion the markings arc deceptive, and due to 
accident in preservation. 
HemarJis . — This s^iecies can only l)e compared with D. illustrans, from 
which it differs in the more rolnist proportions of the trunk, and the greater 
extent of the dorsal and anal fins. 
(iii)— Caudal fm diphycercal. 
Farnilu. — BELONORHYNCHIDiE. 
Fa7ii. Char. — Body long and slender; snout much elongated and pointed; 
notochord persistent, the liases of the arches expanded; paired fins moderately 
developed ; dorsal and anal fins large, nearly equal, and ojiposite, very 
remote ; caudal fin distinct, symmetrical, fan-shaped; fulcra minute or absent. 
No continuous sqnamation, but sometimes, at least, isolated longitudinal series 
of dermal scutes. 
Ohs. — The tyiiical genus of this family (Belonorhynclius) has hitherto 
been compared with the Ganoid Belonostomus^ and the Teleostean Belone imA 
Fistularia,\ while Liltkenl and Zittel§ have ventured to assign it a place 
in the peculiar Cretaceous family of Iloplopleuridie. The Hawkesbury fossils 
described below, however, demonstrate that all these conclusions are founded 
upon imperfect evidence ; and the fish truly occupies a much loAver position 
in the zoological scale than at present supposed. 
Particularly noteworthy, for example, are the dorsal and anal fins, 
in which the interspinous bones are inncli fewer in number than the 
dermal rays they support (PI. IX, Pigs. 3, 4; PI. X, Pig. 2) — a primitive 
character never retained in such specialized groups as the “ Lepidosteoidei ” 
and tlie Teleostei. Appearances are also suggestive of the presence of a 
series of cartilages at the base of the pelvic fins (PI. IX, Pig. 3; PI. X, Pig. 4), 
though the point is not actually proved ; and one example of 13. slrlolatus in 
the British Museum (P. 966) exhil)its a pair of triangular bones in front 
* n. Gr. Bronn, “ ]?eiti'iige zui- triasisclien Fauna und Flora der bitiiminoscn Scliiefer von Raibl,” Xeues 
Jabrb.. 1858, p. 12. Also Smith Woodward, “Note on the Early Mesozoic Ganoid, Belonorhynchus’’ Ann. Mag. 
Nat. Uist., 1888, [G] Vol. i, p. 35fi. 
f E. Kner, “Die Fische der bituminosen Scliiefer von Raibl in Karntlien,” Sitzungsb. math.-naturw. Cl. 
k. Akad. Wiss., Vol. liii. Ft. i, 1866, pp. 189-196, FI. vi. 
X C. F. Ltitken, “ Frot'essor Kner’s Classification of the Ganoids,” Geol. Mag., X808, Vol. v, p. 432. 
§ K. A. von Zittel, Handbuch der l^ala-ontologie, 1888, Vol. iii, p. 2G5. 
