On two New Lepidotoid Ganoids from the Early Mesozoic Deposits of Orange Free State, South Africa

Abstract

The fine series of South-African fossils brought to the British Museum in 1883 by Dr. Hugh Exton, F.G.S., Curator of the Bloemfontein Museum, Orange Free State, has already furnished two important novel types of Vertebrata, made known at the meetings of this Society by Professor Sir Richard Owen*. There still remain, however, other interesting forms, adding to our knowledge of the palaeontology of the early Mesozoic strata whence they were derived, and among these are some beautifully preserved examples of a Lepidotoid Ganoid fish. Two specimens of another new Ganoid have also been lately received from the same source, and the affinities of these types have so important a bearing upon the question of the age of the Stormberg Beds of South Africa, that it seems advisable to place on record their discovery and to offer a detailed description of their characters. I. Seminotus capensis, sp. nov.† (Pl. VI. figs. 1-5.) The first series of the fossil fishes in question comprises portions of four individuals displayed upon the surface of a slab of sandstone, mainly in counterpart. Each of these shows more or less of the scaly trunk; and, in addition, one example exhibits the head, pectoral fin, and dorsal fin; another, the dorsal and caudal fins; a third, a nearly complete tail and the anal fin; while the fourth is almost perfect behind a point a little in advance of the pelvic fins. There are thus materials for determining all the more salient features of the