S(K-X()IM':A (iKANDIS. 
31 “) 
Ciciius SOCNOP^A, St roiiicr. 
[Neucs -Talirl). 1004, vol. i. (Al)li;uulliii)o’(>n) O.'] 
4’his genus was founded hy Stroiner for tlic reception of a single species of large 
Siluroid from the Qasr-el-Sagha beds. The basioccij)ital is said to bear paired 
])rocesses for union with the post-temporal, as in Bagrus, to which this form is 
])robably nearly related. 
Socnopaea grandis, Stromcr. 
1004. Socnopera grandis, Ern-t Stronier, Neue.s Jalirb. vol. i. (Abliandhingen) pp. 6-7, pi. i. 
fig. 3. 
Ti/pe Specimen. — An imperfect skull; Palmontological Museum, Munich. 
'I'his species seems to have attained a very large size. The sculpturing of the skull- 
roof differs widely from that of Fajnmia, and consists of numerous small tubercles 
arranged in longitudinal lines, there being no rows of specially enlarged tubercles at 
tlie sides of the median depression. This latter is long and sharply defined ; into it 
there open two fontanelles, one near its anterior eird, the other near the middle. The 
supraoccipital region projects considerably behind the rest of the skull. 
Form. & Loc. — Qasr-el-Saglia beds (Middle Eocene) : north of Birket-el-Qurun. 
C. 10199. Skull and large part of the skeleton of a very large individual. The principal parts 
preserved are : — (1) Skull, somewhat incomplete towards the outer angles of its 
anterior end, showing the characteristic scn]})ture ; (2) portions of the mandible and 
hyomandibnlar ; (3) part of the vertehral column, including the anterior complex 
vertebra and a series of about nineteen others ; (4) the interneiu-al jdate wdth the 
dorsal spine ; (5) portions of the two halves of the shoulder-girdle with the pectoral 
spine. This s])ecimen shows that these Eocene Siluroids attained a large size, the skull 
being about 65 cm. long, about 21 cm. wide posteriorly, and 32 cm. wide in front; the 
length from the basioccipital to the tij) of snout is 5(5’5 cm. The complex vertebra 
is about 15 cm. in length, and the vertical diameter of the anterior end of its centrum 
about 5*7 cm. The arrow-head-sha])ed interneural plate is large, its length in the 
mid-dorsal line being 11 cm., length to posterior angles 17 cm., greatest width upwards 
of 12 cm. Its dorsal surface is covered with an ornamentation of rounded tubercles 
arranged more or less in lines, and rather larger and more prominent than those on the 
skull-roof. The posterior notch is occupied by the small su{)porting s[iine of the usual 
form, and behind this by the large dorsal spine; tliis was probaldy about 20 cm. long 
and curved backwards ; it seems to have had a tuberculate anterior border and sides 
marked by fine irregular rirlges. The width of the base of this s])ine from side to side 
is 4'3 cm., the width of its middle region from before backwards about 2’5 cm. The 
2s2 
