On a Specimen of Eusthenopteron from the Old Red Sandstone of Scotland

Abstract

While examining the collection of Old Red Sandstone fishes in the Royal Scottish Museum, the writer found the frontoethmoid shield of a Crossopterygian fish, from Eoghole, on the Muckle Burn, near the boundary between Elginshire and the county of Nairn. Though imperfect, the skull fragment retains its natural shape, and at once recalled the similar region of Eusthenopteron, from the famous fish-bearing beds of Scaumenac Bay, Province of Quebec, Canada. Further comparison seems to prove the generic identification. The stratigraphical relationships of the find are known with some precision, and the implications are of considerable importance. It is especially opportune that Dr. Erik Jarvik, of Stockholm, has just finished an account of Eusthenopteron species from the Baltic and Russia, with a discussion of the stratigraphy of those localities which yield the fish. Certain features of the Canadian Eusthenopteron are discussed in the present paper for comparison with the Scottish form: this is in no way prejudicial to the monograph on the Scaumenac Bay material, now in preparation by Dr. Jarvik.