Page:VCH Staffordshire 1.djvu/71

 PALAEONTOLOGY In the family Platysomatidae the two recognized representatives of the genus Mesolepis, namely M. ivardi and M. scalaris, were described from Staffordshire specimens, the first alone being known elsewhere, and then but doubtfully. Mesolepis, it may be mentioned, is characterized by the very deeply fusiform contour of the trunk, which is angulated at the back-fin, as is also the head. Finally the type genus Platysomus, in which the body is fully rhomboidal, is represented by P. parvulus, a species named on the evidence of specimens from the Knowles Ironstone Shale of Fenton. Chirodus granulatus is another member of the family of which remains have been obtained from the Staffordshire Carboniferous. Towards the close of his career the late Mr. John Ward, who did so much for the palaeontology of the country, contributed (in conjunction with Mr. J. T. Stobbs) to the transactions of the North Staffordshire Field Club 19 a paper on a newly discovered fish-bed in the Cheadle Coalfield, with notes on the distribution of fossil fishes in that district. The remains occur in a bed overlying the Cobble Coal, and are referable to Acanthodes ivardi, Gyracanthus fumosus, Lepracanthus colei, Pleuracanthus cylindricus, Pleuroplax rankinei, Helodus simplex, Sphenacantbus hybodoides, Ctenoptychius apicalis, Megalichthys hibberti, M. coc cole pis (?), Strep sodus sauroides, Elonichtbys semistriatus, E. aitkini, Platysomus parvulus, and Goelacanthus elegans. All are well-known species, but a few, like Lepra- canthus co/ei, are unknown elsewhere in the county. "Vol. xi,87 (1905-6). 39