PREFACE. 
iv 
the trunk being covered with plates, and the mouth being destitute 
of hard parts. Here are placed the earliest-known fossil fishes, the 
anomalous Ptercispidce and Ccphalaspidce , of which the finest ex¬ 
amples have recently been presented by George H. Piper, Esq., 
E.G.S., of Ledbury. These are succeeded by the Asterolepidce (well 
represented by Pterichihys , Bothriolepis , &c.). Then follow the 
Dipnoi, represented by Dipterus , PalcedapJius , Phaneropleuron, 
Ctenodus , Ceratodus , Ac.; and the Arthrodira , proposed to embrace 
the unrivalled collection of Coccosteus , with Dinichthys, Homosteus , 
Heterosteus , &c. 
The Crossopterygian Teleostomi come next, with Holopty chius, 
Bhizodus , Megalichthys, Qiyptopomus , and Ccelacanthus , with (Ju¬ 
dina. Macropoma , and many others. To these succeed Actino- 
pteeyg-ii of the famil) Pcilceoniscidce, with Occygnathus and some 
twenty-five other genera, one of the largest groups represented in 
this Catalogue, and to the determination of which Hr. Traquair has 
devoted so many years of study. The Platysornatidce conclude the 
present volume, with the fine series of Platysomus , Eurynotus, Chei- 
rodus, &c., from the Permian and Carboniferous strata. 
It is hoped that the sixteen Plates and fifty-eight woodcuts will 
prove of assistance to those using the Catalogue, especially at a 
distance from the Museum Collection, and also enable the student 
in Comparative Ichthyology the better to appreciate the points of 
structure indicated in the text. 
The next' volume will contain the modern Chondrostean Acti- 
nopterygii, and the lengthy series of typical Physostomous fishes 
specially characteristic of the Mesozoic and early Tertiary Epochs. 
HEYRY YIQODWA.RD. 
- British Museum, 
Geological Department. 
January 20th, 1891. 
