Beryx Lewesiensis.[559] Wond. p. 351; Petrif. Lign. 90.—This is one of the most common of the Ichthyolites of the Chalk of the South-east of England; it is called "Johnny Dory" by the quarry-men; the specimens are from six to twelve inches long. It occurs also in the Chalk of Westphalia. The outline of the perfect form of this species, Wond. p. 351, by Mr. Dinkel, conveys an accurate idea of its external characters. It has one dorsal fin, with several spinous rays in front of the soft ray. The head is very large, and the opercular pieces are ornamented with sculptured rays; the margins of the jaws are covered with a broad band of brush-teeth. The orbit is large, and often contains the capsule (sclerotica) of the eye. The rays of the gills are short and thick, five are preserved in some examples. The scales are very large; about twenty-five in the median row; their posterior margins have several concentric rows of spines (see [Lign. 185], fig. 3, p. 567). The lateral line is often distinctly apparent, in the form of a tube, contracted behind and expanded in the centre of the scale. The vertebral column is composed of large short vertebræ, with very long apophyses; the ribs are slight.
[559] The fossil discovered by me, and figured in Foss. South D. tab. xxxvi. was the first perfect fish obtained from the Chalk. This fish was first described by me, Foss. South D. tab. xxxv. xxxvi. as Zeus Lewesiensis; M. Agassiz has very properly referred it to the genus Beryx; but he has also substituted another specific name; which is wholly unwarrantable, for that first imposed ought to be retained; see [p. 518], note.
Beryx superbus.—This is a larger species, sometimes thirteen inches long, with very large and broad scales. It has been found in the lower chalk at Lewes. See Dixon’s Foss. Sussex, tab. xxxvi. fig. 5.
Beryx radians. Wond. p. 350.—This species is smaller, and relatively longer, than B. Lewesiensis; it generally occurs in the Chalk-marl, and is invariably of a very dark colour, the scales having a polished or glossy aspect. The scales are small, with a simple row of diverging spines on the posterior edge. The scales of the lateral line are peculiar; the mucous canal is not formed of a series of simple tubular cylinders, as in B. Lewesiensis, but is divided into several branches, as may be seen with a lens of moderate power. There are more than thirty scales in the length of the lateral line.
Beryx microcephalus (Poiss. Foss. tom. iv. tab. ivc.; and Dixon, Foss. Sussex, tab. xxiv. fig. 3).—This fish is distinguished by its slender form, and the extreme smallness of the head, as the name implies. The scales have one row of very thick spines on the posterior margin; they are more elevated, and shorter than in B. radians; those of the lateral line are pierced by an elongated conical tube, and are not ramified as in the last species. This ichthyolite, like the B. radians, occurs in the Chalk-marl, and in a similar state of mineralization.
Smerdis minutus. [Lign. 203].—A pretty ctenoidian fish, from one to three inches long, about the dimensions of a perch a year old, is very common in the marls of Aix in Provence, Wond. p. 260; and many are often found grouped together in every variety of position. This species is characterised by the elevated anterior rays of the dorsal, and the wide and very forked caudal fin.
Several ctenoidian and cycloidian fishes have been found in the north of the Brazils, by Mr. Gardiner, in strata probably of the Cretaceous epoch.
Fossil Cycloid Fishes. (Poiss. Foss. tom. v.)—This order comprises the fishes possessing scales of a cycloid, or circular, form, with smooth margins, and composed of plates of horn or bone, without enamel. It contains numerous families, including the Scaroids, or Parrot-fishes, and the Scomberoids, or Mackerel tribe, which are Acanthopterygians, the Lucioids, or Pikes, Clupeoids, or Herrings, Salmonoids, or Salmon tribe, and the Cyprinoids, or Carps, which are Malacopterygians, as well as other families. The fossil remains of this order are exceedingly numerous, particularly in the Tertiary and upper Secondary deposits. A genus of Salmonidæ, discovered in the White Chalk of Sussex, will serve to exemplify the characters of the fossil cycloidian fishes.
