282 
GEOLOGY OF THE FOURTH DISTRICT. 
131 . 
Besides these, I obtained in a lower situation in the rock a fin and a large number of scales. 
The fin presents a structure differing from any fossil fish of the Old Red sandstone which I 
have seen described, and evidently partakes of the nature of the fish and the Saurian. From 
this character of the fin, I have proposed the name Sauripteris.* 
Genus Sauripteris. 
Provisional characters —Pectoral fin composed of the rudiments of a humerus, the radius 
and ulna, and phalanges ; from the latter of which proceed bony rays. Enamel of the scale 
punctured, as if for the insertion of small bristly points. The surface is slightly corrugated, 
bearing the character of shagreen. 
Sauripteris Taylori (plate 3, figures 1, 2, 3, and fig. 1 of woodcut). — This fossil consists 
of the clavicle with the rudimentary bones just mentioned, from which proceed bony rays. 
Some thick heavy bones, of an apparently cartilaginous structure, occur a little in advance 
of this. These were probably the bones of the head, and one of them contains several teeth. 
The scales were very numerous, and, from being closely connected with the fin, are consi¬ 
dered as belonging to the same animal. No other remains were found in the same situation 
in the rock. 
The remains figured in this plate and the woodcuts above, are all from near Blossburgh, 
Pa., none being found in the Fourth District of New-York in sufficient perfection.! 
* A notice of this fossil was read before the Albany Institute in 1840, in which the name Sauritolepis was proposed, and I 
afterwards published it under this name in the Annual Geological Report. Being at that time desirous of founding the generic 
distinction upon the scales, in accordance with the system of Agassiz, I overlooked the more obvious character of the fin. Since 
this has never before been figured, and the name probably not adopted, it will give rise to no confusion by changing it to Saurip¬ 
teris, from the sauroid character of the fin. 
11 had felt disposed to wait the appearance of the Geological Report of Pennsylvania, by Prof. If. D. Rogers, before giving any 
figures of these fossils ; but on consulting him, he, with his usual liberality, expressed not only a perfect willingness, but a desire 
that they should appear in my report, as they were obtained in extending my examinations beyond New-York, to a more perfect 
exhibition of the Old Red sandstone in Pennsylvania. 
