Fossil Fish-remains from Carboniferous Shales at Cultra, Co. Down, Ireland

Abstract

Some time ago I received a small collection of fossil fish-remains collected from the dark carboniferous shales at Cultra, Co. Down, in Ireland, by Mr. Chas. Bulla, of Belfast. The majority of the specimens are somewhat fragmentary and difficult to determine, but there are others which appear to add to the already rich fauna of the Carboniferous series of that country. The latter consists of two spines and a number of bony plates of a species of Cœlacanthus. In 1881, in a paper read at the Geological Society (Quarterly Journal, vol. xxxvii., p. 427), I described a number of spines obtained from the Cannel Coal at Tingley and the Lower Limestone series near Edinburgh. Similar in form to some members of the genus Pleuracanthus, they were readily distinguished by the entire absence of lateral or posterior rows of denticles. For these spines the generic name Anodontacanthus was suggested. They were straight and gradually contract in diameter towards the apex, which is more or less pointed. An internal cavity, wide at the base, extends nearly the whole length of the spine; from its resemblance to the form of the spine of Pleuracanthus, it is probable that the spine of Anodontacanthus was implanted in the same manner, possibly in a similar position behind the occipital region of the head, as in that genus. The fish spines from Cultra possess the generic characters of Anodontacanthus, they are straight and tapering, the internal cavity opens terminally, and they are without denticles. They are much ...