II.—On Campyloprion, a New Form of Edestus-like Dentition

Extract

In the January number of the Geological Magazine for 1886, an elaborate description is given by Dr. Henry Woodward of a peculiar ichthyic structure from the Carboniferous of Western Australia, which is referred by him provisionally to Edestus, under the specific title of E. davisii. Interesting comparisons are drawn between this and other known species of Edestus, and the hypothesis advanced that it is a pectoral fin-spine, resembling in its segmented character the Cretaceous Pelecopterus. This segmentation, which is so conspicuous a feature of Edestus, is attributed by Dr. Bashford Dean in his book on “Fishes, Living and Fossil,” to a metameral origin, and he follows Leidy, Owen, Cope, Newberry, and others in interpreting all this class of remains as dorsal fin-spines.