72 
Foss-il Fishes. 
Fossil 
Fishes. 
Gallery 
No. 6 on 
Plan. 
Wall-oases. 
Ncs. i, 2, 
and 3. 
GALLERIES RUNNING NORTH FROM THE 
REPTILIAN GALLERY. 
There are seven Galleries running at right angles to the 
Reptilian Gallery (see Plan facing p. 108), about 140 feet in 
length ; three of which are forty feet in breadth, and four are 
of half that width. The first narrow gallery is occupied by the 
General Library. 
Class V.— PISCES (Fishes).* 
The first wide Gallery (No. 6, on Plan), is devoted to the 
exhibition of the Fossil Fishes, and contains thirty-two Table- 
cases, and about 260 feet linear of Wall-cases. 
Here are exhibited the finest collection of Fossil Fishes ever 
brought together in any museum. This class was always well 
represented, but it has lately received two splendid additions by 
the acquisition of the famous collection of the Earl of Ennis- 
killen, from Florence Court, Ireland ; and that of the late Sir 
Philip de Malpas Grey-Egerton, Bart., M.P. (Trustee of the 
British Museum), of Oulton Park, Tarporley, Cheshire; both 
obtained in 1882. 
Orders I., II.— PLAGIOSTOMI and CHHYUEROIDEI. 
Wall-cases Nos. 1, 2, and 3 are entirely occupied with the 
Plagiostomatous fishes (sharks and rays) ; the specimens ex- 
hibited comprise a very large series of “ Iclithyodorulites ” (fish 
spines) followed by the Hybodontidce , Gestraciontidce , and more 
modern families of the Order. 
The “ Ichthyodorulites ” include spines of Gyracanthus and 
Gtenacanthus , from the Upper and Lower Carboniferous, and 
Or acanthus, etc., from the Carboniferous limestone. To these 
succeeds a fine series of remains of heads with teeth, spines, 
and the “shagreen” skin of Hybodus and Acrodus, from the 
Lias of Lyme Regis. Many of these show' also the curious 
recurved dermal spines, named Sphenonchus by Agassiz, who 
constituted a distinct genus for their reception. There are tw r o 
on each side of the head, one near the posterior border of the 
orbit, and the second a little further backward. 
Wall-case No. 3 is devoted to the remaining Selachians, the 
most noteworthy of which are the well preserved sharks and 
rays from the Cretaceous formation of the Lebanon. The 
case also contains several specimens of Chimoeroids, including 
the very singular fish named Squaloraj a polyspondyla, from the 
* See also separate Illustrated “ Guide to the Fossil Fishes.” 
