263 
grey colour, having somewhat of a pearl-like lustre. On this being 
examined with a lens, it was found to be an exceedingly fine mem- 
brane, which, on being touched with the finger, was immediately 
removed, and with it the rugae with which the surface had been origi- 
nally marked. On being suffered to dry, the surface became of a dead 
white, and marked the fingers, the rugae being nearly effaced. 
A portion of flat bone, about afoot in length, and four inches broad, 
bearing a general resemblance to the saw of the saw-fish ( PristisJ 
with apertures or sockets for the lateral teeth, very distinct along each 
side, from Gloucestershire, was exhibited in the Leverian, and, since, 
in the London Museum. 
In the neighbourhood of Bath is found a fossil proboscis, or jaw, of 
some unknown animal, of a curious form. It is long and tapering ; 
seldom, however, exceedingsix inches in length, of adark brown colour, 
or nearly black : it is flat, and fluted on its two broader sides : and, on 
one of its edges, has a series of small teeth disposed in a straight line. 
Not the least curious of the weapons of the finny tribe is a spear- 
formed bony substance, of a dark brown colour, found in the Isle of 
Shepey, which I purchased from the collection of Mr. Strange. It is 
of a conical form, tapering nearly to a point ; eight inches in length, 
and three inches in width, at its largest part. It appears to have 
been the proboscis of some unknown fish. 
The scales of fishes are frequently found in a state of high preser- 
vation in the pyritous clay of Shepey, sometimes possessing even a 
metallic lustre. They are also sometimes, but more rarely, found in 
the masses of chalk, and very rarely indeed in the flint nodules. 
Plate XVIII. Fig. 13, is a curiously-formed scale, found in the Kentish 
chalk-pits ; and in Plate XVIII. Fig. 9, is shown a single scale, with 
its processes for attachment, found in a lump of calcareous matter, in 
Dorsetshire. This scale seems to differ only in size from those which 
are described Page 250, and figured Plate XVI. Fig. 12. 
The bodies of the vertebra are very frequently found both in pyritous 
