The coelacanth fishes from Madagascar
- 213-227p. Illustration
Extract Very little has been written about the Coelacanths from Madagascar, although those from similar formations in East Greenland and Spitsbergen are about the best known members of this group. Smith Woodward (1910) described and figured a single specimen as Coelacanthus madagascariensis, distinguished from other members of the genus by the ornament of closely set tubercles on the operculum. Further specimens were figured by Priem (1924) and attributed to C. madagascariensis, but no attempt at any detailed description was made. Dr. E. I. White, of the British Museum (Natural History), very kindly placed at my disposal a collection of these fish, which he had obtained himself. The material examined during this investigation consisted of these specimens, twenty-eight in number, and the original specimen described by Smith Woodward. The specimens were nearly all external moulds (although in some a certain amount of bone still remained) in ferruginous clay nodules. Very little preparation was necessary except washing. This treatment produced wonderful results in some cases and almost perfect impressions of the head were obtained. So perfect were these casts in many cases that the pores of the lateral line canal were left as small hummocks making parts of this system easy to identify.