506 
ACTINOPTERYGII. 
Genus SlVUiRDIS, Agassiz. z 7 <rK 
< J. <1^ ik ,^o 
[Poiss. Poss. vol. iv. 1833, p. 32.J ^ ^ 
An extinct genus closely resembling Lates^ but with two or three 
fewer divided rays in the dorsal and anal fins, and the caudal fin 
forked. Preoperculum with gently rounded angle; its serrations 
largest at the angle, rapidly decreasing both upwards and forwards, 
and all retrorse on the lower limb. Yertebrge 10 in the abdominal. 
14 in the caudal region. 
Smerdis minutus (Blainville). 
1818. Perea minuta, H. D. de Blainville, Nouv. Diet. d’Hist. Nat. 
vol. xxvii. p. 370. 
1836. Sinerdis minutus, L. Agassiz, Poiss. Foss. vol. iv. pp. 39, 54, 
pi. viii. figs. 5, 6. 
Type. Imperfect fish; Paris Museum of Natural History. 
The type species, attaining a length of about 0*07. Length of 
head with opercular apparatus somewhat less than the maximum 
depth of the trunk, which equals about one third of the total length 
to the base of the caudal fin. Anterior dorsal fin with 7 spines, 
posterior dorsal with 1 spine and 9 articulated rays, its termi¬ 
nation further from the caudal fin than its origin from the occiput; 
the second dorsal spine much the largest, its length nearly equal¬ 
ling the depth of the trunk at its insertion, the following five 
spines gradually decreasing in length. Anal fin with 3 spines and 
7 articulated rays, about equal to the posterior dorsal in extent; 
the second anal spine much stouter and slightly longer than the 
third. Caudal fin considerably forked. 
Form. ^ Log. Lower Oligocene: Aix-en-Provence.^ 
21529. Three specimens, one distorted. Purchased, 1847. 
28401-03. Three fine specimens. Mantell Coll. 
P. 1929-30. Three distorted typical specimens, and three immature 
fishes. One shows the small retrorse serrations on the 
lower limb of the preoperculum. Egerton Coll. 
^ Distorted fragmentary specimens from the Lower Miocene of Unterkirchberg 
near Ulm, Wiirtemberg, are referred to this species by H. von Meyer, 
Palaontogr. vol. ii. (1851), p. 109, pi. xvi. figs. 1-4. It is also recorded from 
the Lower Miocene of Chiavon, N. Italy, by J. J. Heckel (Sitzungsb. k. Akad. 
Wiss., math.-naturw. Cl. vol. xi. 1854, p. 327), and F. Bassani (Atti B. Accad. 
Sci. Napoli [2] vol. iii. 1889, no. 6, p. 55). 
