ON A CARBONIFEROUS FISH-FAUNA 
FROM THE MANSFIELD DISTRICT, VICTORIA. 
By Arthur Smith Woodward, LL.D., F.R.S. 
I.— INTRODUCTION. 
The fossil fislx-remains collected by Mr. George Sweet, D.G.S., 
from the red rocks of the Mansfield District, are in a very 
imperfect state of preservation. They vary considerably in 
appearance according to the nature of the stratum whence they 
were obtained. The specimens in the harder calcareous layers 
retain their original bony or calcified tissue, which adheres to the 
rock and cannot readily lie exposed without fracture. The 
remains buried in the more ferruginous and sandy layers have 
left only hollow moulds of their outward shape, or are much 
decayed and thus very difficult to recognise. Moreover, the 
larger fishes are represented only by scattered fragments, while 
the smaller fishes, even when approximately whole, are more or 
less distorted and disintegrated. 
Under these circumstances, with few materials for comparison, 
it is not surprising that the late Sir Frederick McCoy should 
have failed to publish a satisfactory account of the Mansfield 
collection. With great skill, he selected nearly all the more 
important specimens to he drawn in the series of plates accom- 
panying the present memoir. He also instructed and supervised 
the artist, so that most of the principal features of the fossils 
were duly emphasised. His preliminary determinations, however, 
published in 1890, 1 are now shown to have been for the most 
part erroneous ; while his main conclusions as to the affinities of 
1 F. McCoy, “Report on Paleontology for the Year 1889,” Victoria. — Ann. Rep. Sec. 
Mines, 1889 (1890), pp. 23, 24. 
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