XVIII.—On The Structure and Affinities of Tristichopterus alatus, Egerton

Extract

Concerning the affinities and systematic position of this very remarkable Devonian fish, there has hitherto prevailed very great uncertainty. The two original specimens, discovered by Mr C. W. Peach, in the Old Red Sandstone of John O’Groat’s, Caithness, and described by Sir Philip Egerton, left us in complete ignorance as to the osteology of the head and the dentition, while the evidence they afforded as to the structure of the pectoral fins was by no means so clear as might have been wished for. To quote from Sir Philip's description:—“ The bones of the head, with the exception of a small fragment of the operculum, are wanting, but the impressions left upon the matrix show that they were sculptured in rather a bold pattern, not unlike the ornament on some of the cranial bones of some of the Holoptychii, and consequently differing in this respect from the corresponding parts in Dipterus. The pectoral fins are very indistinctly seen. They appear to have had a short obtuse lobe forming the base, and extending therefrom a set of numerous fin-rays more elongated than those forming the pectoral fin in Dipterus.” To Dipterus, however, in Sir Philip Egerton's opinion, its affinities pointed, as far as could be gathered from the structure of the body as displayed in the specimens, his description concluding as follows:—“ The absence of all evidence as to the dental apparatus of Tristichopterus is much to be regretted. On other points the affinities between this genus and Dipterus are so striking that they cannot be classified in separate families. Accordingly he assigned to Tristichopterus a place along with Dipterus in the family of “Cœlacanthi,” the term being used in its former extended sense, not as now restricted to the peculiar genera Cœlacanthus, Undina, Holophagus, and Macropoma.