ttftft 
 
PETRIFACTIONS 
 
 AND THEIR TEACHINGS. 
 

 LONDON : 
 R. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD STREET HILL. 
 
PETRIFACTIONS AND THE1E TEACHINGS; 
 
 OR, 
 
 A HAND-BOOK 
 TO THE GALLERY OF ORGANIC REMAINS 
 
 GIDEON ALGERNON MANTELL, ESQ. LL.D. T.R.S. 
 
 ' THOUGHTS O1 ANIMAIXULKS," 
 ETC. 
 
 , FROM STONESFIBLI 
 
 rage 403. 
 
 1 Grand monuments of Nature, which mark the past revolutions of the Globe. 
 Sir H. Vary. 
 
 WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 
 MDCCCLI. 
 
PALEONTOLOGY LIBRAR^ 
 Gift of C. A. Kofoid 
 
RIGHT HONOURABLE AND HONOURABLE 
 
 THE TRUSTEES OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM, 
 
 HIS GRACE JOHN BIRD LORD ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, 
 THOMAS LORD TRURO LORD HIGH CHANCELLOR, 
 
 RIGHT HON. CHARLES SHAW LEFEVRE SPEAKER OF 
 THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, 
 
 THIS ATTEMPT TO RENDER 
 THE GALLERY OP ORGANIC REMAINS 
 
 MORE INTERESTING AND INSTRUCTIVE TO THE PUBLIC IN GENERAL, 
 AND MORE CONDUCIVE TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF 
 
 SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE, 
 
 BY CONNECTING THE GEOLOGICAL HISTORY 
 
 OF THE MOST IMPORTANT SPECIMENS WITH DESCRIPTIONS 
 
 OF THEIR ORGANIC CHARACTERS AND RELATIONS, 
 
 IS MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 
 BY 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 11 Ih October, 1851, 
 
 CHESTER SQUARE, 
 
 PIMLICO, LONDON. 
 
" If we look with wonder upon the great remains of human works, such as the 
 columns of Palmyra, broken in the midst of the desert; the temples of Pyestum, 
 beautiful in the decay of twenty centuries ; or the mutilated fragments of Greek 
 sculpture in the Acropolis of Athens, or in our own museums, as proof's of the 
 genius of artists, and power and riches of nations now past away ; with how much 
 deeper feeling of admiration must we consider those grand monuments of nature 
 which mark the revolutions of the Globe ; continents broken into islands ; one 
 land prodnced, another destroyed ; the bottom of the ocean become a fertile soil ; 
 whole races of animals extinct, and the bones and exuviae of one class covered 
 with the remains of another, and upon the graves of past generations the marble 
 or rocky tomb, as it were, of a former animated world ; new generations rising, 
 and order and harmony established, and a system of life and beauty produced out 
 of chaos and death; proving the infinite power, wisdom, and goodness of the 
 GKEAT CAUSE of all things ! " SIR H. DAVY. 
 
M3 
 
 TO THE HEADER. 
 
 THIS work is designed to answer the twofold purpose* 
 of a Hand-book for the general visitors to the GALLERY 
 OF ORGANIC REMAINS OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM, and 
 an Explanatory Catalogue for the scientific observer. 
 
 With this view the specimens in each Room are 
 described in a separate chapter, and a ground-plan of 
 the Cases, and a Synopsis of their contents, are given in 
 the first part or section of each division, to serve as 
 a guide-book for those whose time is limited, and are 
 desirious of obtaining a general idea of the collection. 
 
 The palaeontologist will, it is hoped, find all the infor- 
 mation in these unpretending pages that can reasonably 
 be expected within the prescribed limits of a work of 
 this nature, which is divested as much as possible of 
 technical language to render it acceptable to the unsci- 
 entific reader, and intended to direct attention to the most 
 important specimens, and invest them with an interest 
 they would not otherwise present to persons unacquainted 
 with this branch of natural knowledge. 
 
Vlll TO THE READER. 
 
 
 My excellent and lamented friend, the late CHARLES 
 KONIG, Esq., who for nearly half a century presided 
 over this department of the National Collection, and 
 whose scientific friendship I had the privilege of enjoy- 
 ing from my early years, looked forward with much 
 pleasure to my completion of a task which I should 
 never have attempted, had he not assured me that 
 neither himself nor any other officer of the Museum 
 would undertake it. His sudden death has deprived 
 me of the gratification of inscribing my labours to one 
 so capable of appreciating them, and I can now only 
 offer this unavailing, but sincere tribute of respect to 
 his memory. 
 
 In extenuation of any errors or omissions, I would 
 beg to remind the Courteous Reader that the Author is 
 unconnected with the British Museum, and that this 
 volume, like its predecessors, has been composed during 
 the brief and uncertain intervals of arduous professional 
 duties. 
 
 G. A. M. 
 
 19, CHESTER SQUARE, 
 Oct. 11, 1851. 
 
DESCRIPTION OF THE FRONTISPIECE. 
 
 (Extracted from Mr. Gould's " Birds of Australia?) 
 
 NOTORNIS MANTELLJ. 
 
 "THE acquisition of a new species is always a matter of great interest; but 
 when, as in the present instance, it is of one so nearly extinct as to be only known 
 to us previously by its fossil remains, the interest becomes enhanced in the highest 
 degree. It is well known that the existence of the celebrated Dodo is all but tradi- 
 tionary, a fate which, but for MR. WALTER MANTELL'S fortunate acquisition of a 
 living example, would probably have been shared by the present bird, the characters 
 of which were first made known to us by PROFESSOR OWEN, from the fossil bones 
 previously discovered and sent home by the talented explorer after whom it is 
 named : those relics are now in the British Museum. (See p. 124.) 
 
 u That few living examples remain, is evident from the fact that the mounted 
 specimen in DR. MA>~TELL'S possession is the only one that has yet been seen : all 
 the information respecting it that has been obtained is comprised in the account 
 communicated by Dr. Mantell to the Zoological Society of London, and published 
 in their ' Proceedings' for 1850. (See p. 126.) 
 
 " Upon a cursory view of this bird it might be taken for a gigantic kind of 
 Porphyrio, but on examination of its structure it will be found generically distinct. 
 It is allied to Porphyrio in the form of its bill, and in its general colouring, and 
 to Tribonyx in the structure of its feet, while in the feebleness of its wings, and 
 in the form of the tail, it differs from both. From personal observation of the habits 
 of the two recent genera above named, I may venture to affirm that the habits 
 and economy of the present bird more closely resemble those of the former than 
 of the latter; that it is doubtless of a recluse and extremely shy disposition; that 
 being deprived by the feeble structure of its wings of the power of flight, it was 
 compelled to depend upon its swiftness of foot for the means of evading its natural 
 enemies ; and that, as is the case with Tribonyx, a person may be in its vicinity for 
 weeks without even catching a glimpse of it. From the thickness of its plumage 
 and the great length of its back-feathers, we may infer that it affects low and 
 humid situations, marshes, the banks of rivers, and the coverts of dripping ferns, 
 so abundant in its native country ; like Porphyrio, it doubtless enjoyed the power 
 of swimming, but it would seem from the structure of the legs to be more terres- 
 trial in its habits than the members of that genus. I have carefully compared the 
 bill of this bird with that figured by Professor Owen under the name of Notornis 
 Mantetti, and have little doubt that they are referable to one and the same species. 
 
 " Head, neck, and breast, upper part of the abdomen and flanks, purplish blue ; 
 back, rump, upper tail-coverts, lesser wing coverts, and tertiaries, dark olive 
 green, tipped with verditer green; at the nape of the neck a band of rich blue 
 separating the purplish blue of the neck, from the green of the body ; wings rich 
 
 b 
 
deep blue, the greater coverts tipped with verditer green, forming crescentic bands 
 when the wing is expanded; tail dark green; lower part of the abdomen, vent, and 
 thighs, dull bluish black; under tail-coverts, white ; bill and feet, bright red. 
 
 " Total length of the body, 26 inches ; bill, from the gape to the tip, 2i ; from 
 tip to posterior edge of the plate on the forehead, 3 inches ; wing, 8* ; tail, 3| ; 
 tarsi, 3 ; middle toe, 3 ; nail, f ; hind-toe, f ; nail, f. 1 
 
 " I cannot conclude these remarks without bearing testimony to the very great 
 importance of the results which have attended the researches of MR. WALTER 
 MANTELL, in the various departments of science to which he has turned his 
 attention, nor without expressing a hope that he may yet be enabled to obtain 
 some particulars as to the history of this and the other remarkable birds of the 
 country in which he is resident." 
 
 EXPLANATORY. 
 
 Plan of the Work. To ensure the permanent utility of this Hand-Book, a specific 
 notation of the Cases has been adopted in the ground-plan of each Room ; and to 
 facilitate a reference to any particular cabinet or fossil, so far as the present 
 arrangement of the Gallery of Organic Kemains will permit, the letters and 
 numbers affixed to the respective Cases are inserted between brackets, and placed 
 after the letters and figures of the plan ; for example, in page 11, letter A refers 
 to the ground-plan, and [1, A, B, c,] are the numbers and letters painted on the 
 Wall-case containing the fossil Alga, Fuci, &c. 
 
 Minerals. The description of the mineralogical collection is not within the 
 scope of this volume ; but for the convenience of the mineralogist who may not 
 possess MR. KONIG'S excellent Synopsis, a brief notice of the contents of the 
 Table-cases is inserted. 
 
 Fossi Invertebrate/. Of this part of the collection, a very general description 
 only is given, for tlie objects are too numerous, and too small, to be particularized 
 in a hand-book of this nature. Several of the Table-cases of fossil shells are 
 admirably arranged and named by MR. WOODWARD, and cannot fail to prove 
 highly interesting to the Geologist, and instructive to the student in Conchology ; 
 to the latter I would commend, in the strongest terms, Mr. Woodward's " Manual 
 of the Mollusca, or a Rudimentary Treatise on Recent and Fossil Shells" with 
 numerous illustrations, 1 vol. price 2^. published by Weale, as incomparably ttic 
 best and cheapest introduction to this branch of Natural History in the English 
 language. 
 
 Models of Fossils. Models of some of the most remarkable fossils in the 
 National Collection (a list of which is published in the " Synopsis of the British 
 Museum ") may be purchased of the Formatore. 
 
 Casts of the teeth, and of several bones, of the Tguanodon (formerly in my 
 possession) may be obtained of Professor Tennant, 149, Strand. 
 
 * The plate accompanying this description represents the Notornis in two posi- 
 tions, of the natural size, and accurately coloured. 
 
XI 
 
 CONTENT S. 
 
 CHAP. I. Part 1, Synopsis of Room I. p. l.Part 2, Fossil Vegetables, p. 22. 
 Part 3, Ornithichnites, p. 61. 
 
 CHAP. II. Part 1, Synopsis of Room II. p. 75. Part 2, Stelleridae, p. 81. 
 Part 3, Fossil Birds of New Zealand, p. 90. 
 
 CHAP. III. Part 1, Synopsis of Room III. p. 136. Part 2, Fossil Reptiles, 
 p. 147. Part 3, Batrachians and Saurians, p. 160. Part 4, Geology of the 
 S.E. of England, p. 203. Part 5, The Iguanodon, p. 225. Part 6, Wealdeu 
 Reptiles,p, 314. Part 7, Plesiosauri, p. 339. Part 8, Mammalia of Anvergne, 
 p. 333. 
 
 CHAP. IV. Part 1, Synopsis of Room IV. p. 361. Part 2, Ichthyosauri, p. 367 
 Part 3, Fossil Ruminants, p. 389. Part 4, Carnivora of the Caverns, p. 397. 
 Part 5, Stonesfield Mammalia, p. 401. Part 6, Fossil Shells, p. 406. 
 
 CHAP. V. Part 1, Synopsis of Room V. p. 4fi>lPart 2, Ganoid Fishes, p. 417. 
 Part 3, Ctenoid, Cycloid, and Placoid Fishes, p. 440. Part 4, Rhinoceros, 
 Elk, Sivatherium, p. 454. Part 5, Cephalopoda, p. 457. 
 
 CHAP. VI. Part 1, Synopsis of Room VI. p. 461. Part 2, Sewalik Mammalia, 
 p. 468. Part 3, Mastodons and Elephants, p. 471. Part 4, Tertiary Mam- 
 malia, p. 474. Part 5, Edentata, p. 476. Part 6, Cave Mammalia, p. 480. 
 Part 7, Fossil Human Skeleton, p. 483. 
 
 ' APPENDIX, p. 487. 
 

 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS; 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY 
 
 A VISIT TO THE GALLERY OF ORGANIC REMAINS IN THE 
 BBITISH MUSEUM. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 A DISTINGUISHED Essayist has eloquently and truthfully re- 
 marked, that " everything in nature is engaged in writing its 
 own history : the planet and the pebble are attended by their 
 shadows, the rolling rock leaves its furrows on the mountain 
 side, the river its channel in the soil, the animal its bones in 
 the stratum, the fern and the leaf inscribe their modest epitaphs 
 on the coal, the falling drop sculptures its story on the sand 
 and on the stone, not a footstep on the snow or on the 
 ground, but traces in characters more or less enduring the 
 record of its progress." 1 On the correct interpretation of 
 these autobiographies, inscribed on the rocks and strata by the 
 countless myriads of beings which have successively inhabited 
 the earth, through periods of incalculable antiquity and dura- 
 tion, and whose races are now extinct, is based that most 
 interesting department of natural history which has recently 
 acquired the rank of a distinct branch of modern science, 
 under the title of PALEONTOLOGY. 2 
 
 As the remains of animals and plants imbedded in the earth 
 are found in different states of preservation, and more or less 
 
 1 Emerson's Essays. JBohns Edition. 
 
 2 From three Greek words, signifying a discourse on ancient beingg. 
 
 B 
 
 i* 
 
2 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. 
 
 altered in appearance and composition by mineralization,, the 
 epithets figured stones, petrifactions, fossils, organic remains, 
 &c., are commonly employed to denote the various conditions 
 in which such relics occur. To avoid confusion it is, there- 
 fore, necessary to define the sense in which these terms are 
 used in the following pages ; especially as the words " petri- 
 factions/' and " fossils," are very generally regarded as syno- 
 nymous, even by well-educated persons. 
 
 And here we must premise that the state of preservation of 
 an organic body, and the chemical changes which it may have 
 undergone in the mineral kingdom, have no necessary relation 
 to its antiquity ; for in comparatively modern deposits fossil 
 remains of animals and plants often have acquired a stony 
 hardness, while in rocks of the most ancient epochs they are 
 sometimes as little changed as if they had been entombed in 
 the strata but a few centuries. 
 
 1. Fossils, may be denned as the durable parts of animal 
 and vegetable structures imbedded in rocks and strata by 
 natural causes at a remote period ; thus wood in the state of 
 lignite, bog-wood, and coal, or of siliceous or calcareous stone, 
 is fossil wood ; and bones or shells, whether in an earthy and 
 decaying state, or permeated by calc-spar, flint, or iron, and 
 converted into a hard mineral substance, are alike fossil bones 
 or shells. 
 
 2. Petrifactions, are the remains of animals and vegetables 
 in which the original structure is converted into stone, or, in 
 other words, is petrified; l such are the silicified stems of trees 
 from Antigua and Germany, and the bones and shells in the 
 Oolitic and Wealden limestones. Such petrifactions may be 
 correctly termed fossil plants, bones, or shells ; but similar 
 organic remains, though of equal antiquity, which have not 
 undergone such changes, are not petrifactions in the proper 
 meaning of that term, 
 
 3. Incrustations, are neither fossils nor petrifactions, but 
 simply durable parts of animals or vegetables invested with 
 
 1 The process by which petrifaction is effected is still involved in 
 obscurity ; mineral solutions have permeated the original tissues, and 
 the organic molecules have been replaced by mineral molecules, but how 
 this transmutation is produced is not understood. Mr. Dana's observa- 
 tions and Mr. Jeffery's experiments have, however, elucidated the process 
 of silicification. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 3 
 
 travertine or calcareous deposit, -which is often compact and of 
 crystalline hardness, but does not permeate the structure of 
 the enclosed substances ; such are the so-called petrified eggs, 
 skulls, nests, branches, &c., formed by immersion in the in- 
 crusting springs of Derbyshire and other localities. 1 
 
 These preliminary remarks will suffice for our present pur- 
 pose, and prepare the observer to find many of the fossil shells, 
 corals, bones, &c. in the collection, presenting but little differ- 
 ence in appearance from similar objects collected on the sea- 
 shore, or from the beds of streams and rivers ; while others will 
 be seen to resemble masses of rock, having only the forms of 
 organic bodies. Certain peculiar conditions in which animal 
 and vegetable remains occur will be explained in the course 
 of our investigations, as well as those indications of former 
 beings observable on the surfaces of rocks and slabs of stone, 
 though all vestiges of the original structures have perished. 
 
 And here it will be necessary to remind the reader that the 
 objects we are about to examine possess a twofold interest; for 
 they are to be regarded not merely as relics of extraordinary 
 types of animals and vegetables which nourished in the earlier 
 ages of our globe, and have long since become extinct, but also 
 as natural records of the condition of the earth and its inha- 
 bitants, affording indications of the extent and duration of 
 the lands and seas, and of climatorial temperature, &c., 
 through vast periods of time, in ages long antecedent to the 
 creation of the existing species and genera, and the establish- 
 ment of the present order of animated nature. 
 
 In contemplating the principal objects that will come under 
 our examination, it will, therefore, be requisite occasionally to 
 refer to the geological characters of the strata in which they 
 were imbedded, and describe the particular locality whence 
 certain fossils were obtained ; these digressions will, I trust, 
 increase the interest of our survey, and prove alike attractive 
 and instructive. 
 
 The reader who is wholly unacquainted with the principles 
 of Geology should refer to some elementary work on the 
 science, if he would fully comprehend and enjoy the marvellous 
 histories of the past which will be placed before him in the 
 
 1 See "Medals of Creation ;" or, "Wonders of Geology," vol. i. p. 75. 
 (6th edit.) for details. Impressions of leaves on travertine are figured 
 in Pict. Atlas, pi. iii. fig. 2. 
 
4 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. 
 
 course of this investigation. As, however, the arrangement 
 adopted in the Gallery is botanical and zoological, not geolo- 
 gical, the uninitiated visitor will have no difficulty in under- 
 standing the general descriptions of the most important 
 specimens submitted to his notice. 
 
 To remind the observer of the relative age and position of 
 the deposits, and the meaning of certain geological terms which 
 we shall sometimes have occasion to employ in the following 
 narrative, a brief table of the British strata 1 is subjoined. 
 
 A TABLE OF THE FOSSILIFEROUS DEPOSITS OF GREAT 
 BRITAIN. 
 
 MODERN OR HUMAN EPOCH. 
 ALLUVIAL and VOLCANIC deposits. 
 
 POST PLIOCENE OR DILUVIUM.2 
 DRIFT; BOULDER-CLAY, &c. 
 
 TERTIARY EPOCHS. 
 
 PLIOCENE ; the upper and newest Tertiary. (Norwich Crag.) 
 MIOCENE; or middle Tertiary. (Suffolk Crag.) 
 
 EOCENE : the lowermost or most ancient Tertiary. (London, Hants, and Isle of 
 Wight. Paris basin.) 
 
 SECONDARY EPOCHS. 
 
 IU r Ch Ik 'th fl'nt (S ut h an( * nor ^i Downs of Sussex, 
 Chalk marl and firestone; or Upper Green Sand. (Godstone, 
 Undercliff of Isle of Wight.) 
 Gait or blue chalk marl. (Folkstone.) 
 (Shanklin Sands, (Kentish-Rag. Kent. Isle of 
 Green sandJ Wight.) 
 (.Atherfield or Neocomian beds. (Isle of Wight.) 
 
 (Weald clay, and Sussex and") Wealds of Sussex and Kent, and 
 WEALDEN ) Petworth marbles. V the South coast of the Isle of 
 
 FORMATION. j Hastings sands and clays. ) Wight. 
 VPurbeck strata. (Isle of Purbeck.) 
 
 1 Strata are sedimentary deposits that have been formed in the beds 
 of lakes, rivers, and seas, and have subsequently been displaced and 
 elevated above the water by physical causes. A series, or group of 
 strata, is termed a, formation ; and the fossil remains found in one series 
 or formation differ more or less completely from those of another. 
 
 2 Called also the Quaternary or Diluvian period : these deposits can- 
 not be definitively separated from those of the Modern or Human epoch. 
 The gravel beds near Geneva, which closely resemble the newest tertiary 
 drift in materials and position, abound in bones of animals, almost all 
 of which belong to existing species. See M. Pictet's " Palceontologie." 
 
INTRODUCTION. 5 
 
 SECONDARY EPOCHS (continued.) 
 
 Portland beds. (Isle of Portland. Swindon.) 
 l> Bucks) 
 
 I-, . , ,, /Coral rag. (Wilts. Gloucestershire, &c.) 
 OOLITIC \ mi( lie> \0xford clay. (Christian Malford. Trowbridge, Wilts.) 
 
 or ) /Cornbrash. (Wilts. Gloucestershire.) 
 
 JURASSIC } I Forest marble; Bradford clay. (Bradford, Wilts.) 
 
 FORMATION.] T ._-_ /Great oolite. (Bath.) 
 
 I lj wer -\ Inferior oolite. (Cheltenham.) 
 
 IFluvio-marine intercalations. (Scarborough. Stonesfield, Ox- 
 \ \ fordshke. Collyweston. Brora, Scotland. 
 
 AJpper Lias. (Lyme Regis, Dorset.) 
 LIASSIC J Lias marlstones. 
 
 FORMATION. j Lower lias clays, shales, and limestones. (Gloucestershire. 
 V Somersetshire.) 
 
 fVariegated marls, red sandstones, &c. (Liverpool.) 
 
 IRIAS c ) Gypseous marls; beds of rock salt. 
 
 ) Fawn-coloured limestones. (Upper Bunter, and Muschelkalk, 
 FORMATION. (^ of Germany.) 
 
 PALAEOZOIC EPOCHS. 
 Lower red sandstones. 
 
 T, \ Magnesian limestones. (Zeichstein. Lower Bunter, Keuper- 
 
 fE i*. i 
 
 FORMATION I { Schiefer or Copper Schist of Mansfeld, Germany. County 
 . Marl slates, and brecciated limestones. 
 
 {Coal measures. (The principal depositories of the flora of the 
 Palaeozoic epochs.) 
 Millstone grits. 
 Mountain or carboniferous limestone. (Derbyshire.) 
 
 P. ' fRed and yellow sandstones and Quartzose conglomerates. 
 
 (Devonshire. Cornwall. Herefordshire. Forfarshire, &c.) 
 (or OLD RED) ( Cornstones ^ marls . 
 FORMATION. ^ T ii es tones. 
 
 (Ludlow rocks and Aymestry limestone. (Herefordshire and 
 /Yr ) Shropshire.) 
 
 SILURIAN u PP er - \ Wenlock or Dudley limestone. 
 VShales. 
 f Caradoc sandstones. 
 
 FORMATION^ VShales. 
 
 T *~ 
 M.ower. Llandeilo fla g s . (Caermarthenshire.) 
 
 CUMBRIAN (Slaty rocks with few traces of organic remains. (Cumber- 
 FORMATION. \ land.) 
 
 1 The separation of the strata now termed Permian from the Triassic 
 group, with which they were formerly classed, was first proposed by Sir 
 Roderick Murchison, and is based on the fact that the fossils hitherto 
 discovered are entirely distinct from any that occur in the Trias and 
 subsequent formations : it is, therefore, inferred that after the deposition 
 of the so-called Permian strata, a complete change took place in the 
 faunas and floras of the lards and seas, and the Trias is regarded as the 
 dawn of a new system of organic beings.* 
 
 * The reader interested in this subject should refer to an able "Mo- 
 nograph on the Permian Fossils of England," by Professor William 
 King, of Queen's College, Galway, recently published by the Palaeonto- 
 graphical Society of London; 1850. See also Sir Charles Lyell's 
 " Manual of Elementary Geology," 1851, p. 301. 
 
6 PETKIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. 
 
 The subdivisions of the strata are chiefly founded on the 
 differences observable in the faunas and floras that is to say, 
 in the assemblages of animals and plants which, according to 
 the present state of our knowledge, characterise the respective 
 series of deposits. A few localities are inserted because they 
 will be referred to hereafter. I will only remark that many 
 of the details in the above classification must be considered as 
 arbitrary and provisional ; but " hard lines are admissible in 
 Science, whose object is not to imitate Nature, but to interpret 
 her works." ' 
 
 1 Mr. Greenough. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION GENERAL DESCRIPTION OP THE GALLERY OP ORGANIC RE- 
 MAINS PLAN OF ROOM I. SYNOPSIS OP CONTENTS OP ROOM I. FOSSIL 
 VEGETABLES MINERALS METEORITES. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. The extensive and admirably classified 
 Museum of Zoology, presided over by that eminent natu- 
 ralist, JOHN EDWARD GRAY, Esq., through which the visitor 
 approaches the Gallery of Organic Remains, presents a rich 
 assemblage of the principal types of animated nature which 
 now inhabit the earth, and forms an appropriate and instruc- 
 tive introduction to the suite of apartments, in which are 
 preserved the vestiges of the extinct races of Animals and 
 Plants, that successively tenanted our planet during the in- 
 numerable ages which intervened between the earliest dawn 
 of organic existences, and the creation of the human race. 
 
 The Gallery of Organic Remains is situated on the north 
 side of the north wing of the Museum, extending from east 
 to west in a suite of six rooms, nearly 400 feet in length by 
 36 in width. The large specimens are for the most part 
 placed in upright cases affixed to the south wall ; and as the 
 rooms are lighted by side-windows, instead of by sky-lights 
 as in the Zoological department, nearly half the wall space 
 is rendered unavailable for cabinets. The complete and 
 excellently arranged Mineralogical Collection is distributed 
 in a series of 60 table-cases, occupying the floors of the Rooms 
 I. to V. ; the other tables contain various organic remains, 
 as bones, shells, corals and other zoophytes, echinoderms, &c. 
 
 The arrangement of the Fossil Animals and Vegetables is 
 still incomplete : several cases are almost empty, and the con- 
 
8 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. I. 
 
 tents of others are but provisionally placed. This circum- 
 stance has rendered it necessary to introduce' an arbitrary 
 notation in the subjoined plans of the rooms which I have 
 drawn up for the present work. 
 
 The classification of the Organic Remains is botanical, and 
 zoological j but in consequence of the want of space, and 
 the continual additions which have been made of late years 
 to various departments, the arrangement is necessarily some- 
 what irregular. 
 
 The Fossil Vegetables are placed in Room I, and occupy 
 the wall-cases: the collection commences with the Crypto- 
 gamia, which are deposited in the cases on the right 
 hand of the entrance, and terminates with the Conifera, 
 of which there are examples of large petrified stems in the 
 window-recesses. The wall-surface over the upright cases is 
 for the most part vacant and bare ; and the visitor who has 
 previously strolled through the Egyptian Saloon and Gallery, 
 the walls of which are adorned with paintings illustrative of 
 the archaeological treasures they contain, will doubtless feel 
 surprise and regret that a suite of rooms devoted to objects 
 of such surpassing interest, and which especially require pic- 
 torial illustrations to render them intelligible to the unin- 
 structed observer, and that present a variety of subjects 
 suitable for such decorations, should be suffered to retain 
 their present uninviting and cheerless aspect. If on the 
 walls over the cases in which the coal-plants are placed there 
 were figures of the trees which nourished during the carbo- 
 niferous epoch, as for example, the Lepidodendra and Sigil- 
 larise, with their foliage, and fruits, and roots; and above 
 others, representations of Arborescent Ferns, Palms, Conifers, 
 Cycadese, <fec., how greatly would the pleasure and instruction 
 of a visit to this Gallery of " Organic Remains of a former 
 World," be enhanced ! The same observation applies to the 
 other apartments, in each of which there are unoccupied 
 spaces, that at a small cost might be rendered pleasing to 
 the eye, and instructive to the mind, if restored figures of 
 the animals whose remains are in the cabinets, or sections 
 and sketches of the strata and localities whence they were 
 obtained, were painted or suspended on the walls. 1 
 
 1 This method was adopted in the Author's Museum at Brighton, and 
 proved highly attractive and useful 
 
INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 In Room II. commences the Fossil Fauna; but the assem- 
 blage of relics of various classes and orders, provisionally 
 deposited in the cases, forbids a general description. The 
 unique and highly interesting collection of the Fossil Remains 
 of Birds from New Zealand, is the most important feature of 
 this apartment. 
 
 Rooms III. and IV. are chiefly appropriated to the Fossil 
 Reptiles. This is indeed a noble collection, unrivalled for its 
 extent and importance: most of the specimens are from 
 various parts of England, and many of them are unique. 
 
 The collection of Fossil Fishes constitutes the grand fea- 
 ture of Room V. It is very extensive, and is admirably 
 arranged and named, according to the nomenclature of M. 
 Agassiz. A fine skeleton of the extinct gigantic Elk of 
 Ireland forms a conspicuous object in the centre of this 
 room. 
 
 Room VI. The coup d'ceil of this part of the Gallery, 
 which is chiefly devoted to Fossil Mammalia, is very im- 
 posing. Immediately opposite the entrance is the model of 
 the skeleton of the Megatherium, or colossal Sloth of South 
 America, from Buenos Ayres ; and beyond it, the skeleton of 
 the Mastodon of the Ohio, from North America ; between them 
 is placed a most extraordinary specimen, the skull and tusks, 
 (fourteen feet long,) of the Elephas Gfanesa, from India. 
 
 In the wall-cases is an unrivalled series of the crania and 
 jaws and teeth of Mastodons and Elephants of numerous 
 species, in a marvellous state of preservation. They have been 
 cleared from the very compact incrustation which originally 
 surrounded them, with great skill and labour by Mr. Dew. 
 The greater number are from the Sewalik or Sub-Himalayan 
 Mountains of India, and were collected by Major Cautley 
 and Dr. Falconer. Some very fine specimens of the Mas- 
 todon Ohioticus are from Big-bone Lick, in Kentucky, United 
 States of North America. 
 
 This room also contains many choice examples of the 
 crania, teeth, and bones of the Megatherium, Dinotherium, 
 Sivatherium, and other extinct genera of Mammalia; and 
 the celebrated Fossil Human Skeleton in limestone, from 
 Guadaloupe. 
 
 With these cursory observations, I would introduce the 
 reader to Room I., requesting him to notice on the lobby, to 
 
10 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIE TEACHINGS. 
 
 PLAN OF ROOM I. 
 
 NORTH GALLERY OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 
 East End. 
 
 Room II. 
 
BOOM I. SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS. 11 
 
 the left of the doorway, an admirable model (executed by 
 Mr. Dew, the palaeontological modeller and sculptor of the 
 Museum) of the carapace, or shell of a young individual of 
 the extinct Colossal Tortoise of India (Colossochelys Atlas), 
 of which there are many fossil remains in the collection. 
 This specimen is ten feet long, twenty-five feet in horizontal 
 circumference, and fifteen feet in girth in a vertical direction ; 
 gigantic as are these proportions, they are one-third less 
 than those of the adult original. 
 
 ROOM I. 
 
 (53 feet long, Wfeet wide.) 
 
 SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS. 
 
 ORGANIC REMAINS. 
 
 WALL-CASES. Fossil Vegetables, Chiefly on the south and 
 west sides of the room. The arrangement is botanical ; the 
 simplest forms of vegetable structure, the Algce, &c. are in 
 the first case, to the right of the entrance. 
 
 A. [1. A, B, c.] Algce and Fuel (Fossil sea-plants). With 
 these are several vegetables whose characters are not accu- 
 rately determined j they belong to a higher group, as Aster o- 
 phyllites, Annularia, Pilularites, &c. 
 
 B. [2. B, c, D, E.] On the upper shelves are the Equi- 
 setacece, i.e. plants allied to the Equisetum, or Mare's-tail 
 (Calamites). On the lower division are Filicites, or fossil 
 ferns, of many species and genera. 
 
 On the top of this case there are stems of several species 
 of Calamites, from the Coal formation. 
 
 C. [3. A, B, c, D, E, F.] On the shelves of the upper division 
 are many beautiful specimens of the flattened stems of 
 Sigillarice, and of Lycopodiacece or Club-mosses, from the 
 Coal strata. 
 
 The lower compartment contains numerous species of ferns, 
 in clay-slate or shale, from similar deposits ; and others from 
 the Oolite. 
 
12 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. I. 
 
 The lowermost shelf is devoted to silicified stems of trees 
 allied to the Palms (called Psaronia by M. Cotta), many 
 of which are polished in transverse sections, to show the 
 structure. 
 
 On the top of this case there are portions of large stems 
 of fossil Palms, from Chemnitz, and from the State of Ohio. 
 
 D. [4.] This case is chiefly allotted to the fossil Club- 
 mosses, or Lycopodites, some slabs of which are very fine : 
 the fruits of these trees, termed Lepidostrobus, are arranged 
 on the lower shelves. There are many fine, specimens in 
 ironstone nodules, from Colebrook Dale. 
 
 E. [5. A, B, c. D.] The Sigillarice and Lycopodiacece occupy 
 the upper division ; the lower contains fossil plants allied to 
 the Cycadeacece (labelled Asphodelece) : among these are Stern- 
 bergia ; and Claihraria, Endogenites, and Draccena, from the 
 Wealden formations of Sussex and Kent. 
 
 On one of the shelves there are a few fruits from the 
 London Clay of the Isle of Sheppey, belonging to plants 
 allied to the Palms (Nipa) ; with leaves and stems of Palms 
 from other localities. 
 
 Above cases D and E, are placed a silicified stem of a tree 
 from the Isle of Portland ; and several large specimens of 
 Endogenites erosa, from, the Wealden strata at Hastings. 
 
 In the narrow compartment of this case, on the left of the 
 doorway, there is a fine palm-leaf (Palmacites Lamanonis), 
 from the Tertiary strata of Aix, in Provence : (formerly in 
 the author's collection). 
 
 On the left of the doorway, on the ground, there is part 
 of a petrified stem of a Palm, from the Valley of the Nerbudda, 
 in India. 
 
 On the right, a slab of Lias limestone, from Dorsetshire, on 
 which is lying, in relief, a leafless branch, four feet long, of a 
 coniferous tree. 
 
 F. [6. A, B, c, D.] The shelves of the upper division con- 
 tain fossil Coniferce (A and D), and many fine specimens of 
 the vegetables termed Stigmarice, under the general name of 
 EuphorUacew (B and c). There are several interesting fossil 
 Coniferce,^ Pinus, Araucaria, Thuytes, Voltzia, &c. and fir- 
 cones from the Crag of Norfolk. 
 
 The lower division comprises examples of leaves, fruit, and 
 stems, of extinct plants allied to the Cycadece (Pterophyllum) 
 
ROOM I. SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS. 13 
 
 and Zamice (Ctenis), chiefly from the fluvio-marine strata of 
 the Oolite of Scarborough, in Yorkshire. 
 
 In this case are specimens of the extinct Cycadeous plants 
 of the Isle of Portland (named by M. Brongniart, Mantellia) ; 
 and on the top of this case several fine examples, some of 
 which are cut and polished, of similar plants from the same 
 celebrated locality (collected by the author in 1825). 
 
 On the lowermost shelves there is an extensive series of 
 silicified trunks of coniferous trees; many are cut trans- 
 versely and polished, to exhibit the organic structure, which 
 is beautifully preserved. 
 
 On brackets between the east windows there are busts of 
 Henry VIII. and of his daughter Mary, sculptured in 
 brown jet. 
 
 Meteoric Iron. On a pedestal between the windows there 
 is a mass of Meteoric Iron from the Gran Chaco, in South 
 America ; collected and presented by Sir Woodbine Parish. 
 It weighs 1,400 pounds, and is supposed to be part of that of 
 Otumpa, described by Rubin de Celis, in the Philosophical 
 Transactions for 1783. 
 
 SMALL TABLE CASES, ETC. 
 
 a. Under the window at the east end of the room. Fine 
 masses of fossil wood from Van Diemen's Land, by Mrs. 
 Howley : some of these are very beautiful examples of opal- 
 ized wood. In the recesses of the windows there are portions 
 of trunks of trees in a similar state of mineralization, from 
 New Holland ; presented by the late Sir Francis Chantry. 
 
 b. (Unoccupied,) 
 
 c. A fine slab of jet, from Whitby. 
 
 (The tables of minerals under the windows are not 
 numbered.) 
 
 d. A splendid example of the footprints of bipeds, sup- 
 posed to be those of Birds, (hence named Ornithichnites,) on 
 triassic sandstone, from Turner's Falls, Massachusetts, United 
 States of North America. This slab is 8 feet by 6, and 
 contains the foot-tracks of ten or twelve individuals of various 
 sizes, which must have been impressed on the stone when it 
 was in the state of plastic mud, and capable of retaining the 
 imprints of the feet till it became indurated. It was ex- 
 
14 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. I. 
 
 tracted from the rock with great labour and care by Dr. 
 Deane of Greenfield. In the window recess on the right, 
 there is a slab with two imprints of a colossal biped, the 
 locality of which is unknown. l 
 
 On the recess of the window between d and e, there is 
 a large slab with foot-tracks of a supposed reptilian quadruped 
 to which the name of Chirotherium has been provisionally 
 given, from the hand-like form of the imprints ; in Triassic 
 sandstone, from Storton quarries, near Liverpool. Presented 
 by J. Tomkinson, Esq. 
 
 e. Two slabs placed upright in a case affixed to the wall, 
 with footmarks of a similar character. These are from the 
 triassic deposits at Hildburghausen in Saxony. 
 
 f3F In the recess of the window, between c and d, there 
 is a fine mass of the mineral called Subsulphate of Alumina 
 or Websterite, from the Plastic clay at Castle Hill, near New- 
 haven, in Sussex. (Collected and presented by the author. 
 An account of the only known locality of this substance is 
 given in the " Fossils of the South Downs.") 
 
 In the centre of the room, at the spot indicated by the 
 circle in the plan, on an elegant table inlaid with choice 
 marbles and minerals, there is a beautifully sculptured tortoise 
 in Nephrite or Jade. This curious specimen of Indian art 
 was found on the banks of the Jumna, near the city of 
 Allahabad in Hindostan, and brought to England by Lieut.- 
 General Kyd. Presented by Thomas Wilkinson, Esq. 
 
 MINERALS. 
 
 The mineralogical arrangement adopted by Mr. Konig is 
 that of Berzelius, founded upon the electro-chemical theory 
 and the doctrine of definite proportions. The detail of the 
 arrangement is indicated by the running titles on the out- 
 sides of the cases, and the labels attached to the specimens 
 within. 2 
 
 The cases containing the minerals are numbered and 
 arranged in order, the first thirty in the Rooms I. to V. on 
 
 1 These specimens were purchased for 60. 
 
 " An electro-chemical arrangement, in accordance with the princi- 
 ples laid down by the great Swedish chemist himself not long before 
 his death, in a memoir on this subject, has been given by Prof. Ptam- 
 melsberg, in his ' J. J. Berzelius' Neues Mineral System, Nurnberg, 
 
ROOM L MINERALS. 15 
 
 the south side, and the other thirty in a reversed direction on 
 the opposite side. The affixed numbers are here inserted 
 between brackets. 
 
 TABLE CASE 1. [60.] Organico-chemiccd minerals Salts : Mellite or 
 honey-stone, found in brown coal at Artern in Thuringia, (see Pictorial 
 Atlas of Organic Remains, pi. L fig. 2.;) oxalate of iron: struvite ; 
 Resins: amber, of which there are beautiful specimens from Prussia 
 and from the muschel-sandstone of Lemberg in Gallieia, many with 
 insects and portions of vegetables ; fossil copal from London Clay, High- 
 gate ; Retinasphalt, from Bovey ; Idriolite. Bitumens : mineral pitch, 
 asphalt and jet ; Dapeche ; Hatchettine ; varieties of coal. 
 
 (1.) Meteorites. In this case, and in a small table adjoining, are 
 deposited a very rich collection of native iron and meteorolites. The 
 origin of these substances is so mysterious, as to invest them with a 
 high degree of interest, and I therefore subjoin from Mr. Konig's 
 Synopsis, the following chronological list of those in the Museum whose 
 history is authenticated. 
 
 Meteorites or aerolites, i.e. stones that fall from the higher regions of 
 the atmosphere, appear to be unquestionably foreign to our planet, and 
 there seems every reason to conclude that these substances originate 
 from small cosmical bodies, having orbital motions through space, and 
 which are occasionally drawn within the sphere of the earth's attrac- 
 tion. Baron Humboldt states that " their direction and enormous 
 velocity of projection render it more than probable that these masses, 
 enveloped in vapours, and reaching the earth in a high state of temper- 
 ature, are small heavenly bodies which the attraction of our globe has 
 caused to deviate from their previous path. The aspect of these aero- 
 lites, and the analogy to minerals contained in the crust of the earth, is 
 very striking. They afford the only experimental knowledge we pos- 
 sess of any of the specific properties or qualities of matter not belonging 
 to our own planet." Meteorites appear to have fallen in the earlier 
 ages of our globe ; Sir C. Lyell cites the discovery of a mass of native 
 iron and nickel weighing seventeen pounds, in the auriferous alluvium 
 of Altai, at a depth of thirty feet ; and other instances are stated to have 
 been observed in the Carpathian mountains. 
 
 2. Native Iron. These masses consist of upwards of 90 
 per cent, of pure iron, with a small proportion of nickel, cop- 
 per, cobalt, <fcc. Native iron, of undoubtedly terrestrial origin, 
 is of very rare occurrence, almost all the insulated masses of 
 this metal hitherto fouod having proved to be meteoric ; and 
 of these the following specimens are deposited nearly in the 
 order of their discovery, or of the first mention made of them. 
 
 1847,' and will, if circumstances allow it, be hereafter adopted for the 
 collection contained in the Table Cases; the present arrangement 
 remaining nearly as we find it in the 4th ed. of Berzelius' work on the 
 Use of the .Blowpipe, published in 1824." Mr. Konig's Synopsis. 
 
 
16 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. I. 
 
 A portion of the celebrated mass of iron of the descent of which, at 
 Agram, in Croatia, on the 26th of May, 1751, detailed official accounts 
 were drawn up by the authorities of that place, who presented it to the 
 Roman Emperor, Francis I., and to the Empress Maria Theresa. 
 
 Fragment of the iron from the Upper Senegal, in Africa, discovered 
 between the years 1760 and 1770. 
 
 A large piece detached from the celebrated mass of Siberian native 
 iron, which was discovered in 1772, by Pallas, on the summit of a moun- 
 tain between Abakansk and Belskoi Ostrog, on the banks of the Jenisey, 
 where it was considered by the Tartars as a sacred relic: the mass, 
 which originally weighed about 1,680 pounds, is in the Museum of the 
 Imperial Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg. 
 
 Specimens of the native iron from Otumpa, in the Gran Chaco 
 Gualamba, in South America, found, in 1783, by Don Rubin de Celis, 
 who estimated the weight of the mass to be about 300 quintals, or 15 
 tons. 
 
 A large specimen of the Brazilian iron, found at the Bemdego rivulet, 
 Capitania of Bahia, in 1784, described in 1816. 
 
 Some of the Mexican meteoric iron supposed to be from that of Xiqui- 
 pilco, first brought into notice in 1784. 
 
 A large piece (presented by John Parkinson, Esq.) of the iron of Zaca- 
 tecas, Mexico, known time out of mind, but first described in 1792 ; and 
 a small one of that found in the province of Durango, described by Baron 
 Alexander von Humboldt (this has by some been confounded with that 
 of the preceding locality). 
 
 Two pieces of the Cape meteoric iron, found in 1793, and first made 
 known in Barrow's Travels in Southern Africa: the mass is now in the 
 cabinet of Haarlem. 
 
 A portion of the mass, originally weighing upwards of 3,300 pounds, 
 found at Bitburg, in the Eifel, N. of Treves, in 1805, but which, from 
 ignorance, was committed to the smelting furnace. 
 
 A portion of the mass from Texas (Red River), found 1808, described 
 1845. 
 
 Three specimens of iron from Rasgata, N.E. of Santa F6 de Bogota, 
 South America; found in 1810, and described about twenty-four years 
 afterwards. 
 
 A piece from the large mass (originally weighing 191 pounds, of 
 which upwards of two-thirds came to the Imperial Collection at Vienna) 
 of the iron of Elbogen, near Carlsbad in Bohemia, where from time 
 immemorial it had been known by the popular and legendary appel- 
 lation of the Enchanted Burgrave (der verwiinschte Burggraf) ; its 
 meteoric origin ascertained in 1811. 
 
 Small portions of the meteoric iron from Texas, known to the scien- 
 tific world since 1814. 
 
 Two specimens of the mass of iron found at Lenarto in Hungary, in 
 1814, one of which, being polished and treated with acid, exhibits the 
 outlines of imperfect crystals. 1 
 
 \ The delineations thus produced are known by the appellation of 
 Widmannsted figures. 
 
ROOM I. MINERALS METEORITES. 17 
 
 A mass of iron from Lockport, New York ; found in 1818, described 
 in 1845. 
 
 A specimen of the iron from Burlington, in the Otsego County, New 
 York, found in 1819. 
 
 An Esquimaux knife and harpoon (from Davis's Straits, Lat. 76 12' 
 N., Long. 53) the iron of which is meteoric (mentioned in Capt. Ross's 
 voyage, 1819, and presented by the Lords Commissioners of the Ad- 
 miralty). 
 
 Small portions of the iron from Guildford County, North Carolina, 
 discovered in 1820. 
 
 A mass of iron from the province of Atacama, republic of Bolivia, 
 resembling that of Siberia, and, like it, containing much of an olivine- 
 like substance within its cells; described in 18^:7, and presented by Sir 
 Woodbine Parish. 
 
 A mass from the N.E. corner of Walker County, Alabama, found 
 in 1832. 
 
 A specimen of the iron which was seen to fall, July 31st, 1835, in 
 Dickson County, Tennessee. 
 
 A portion of that of Ashville, Buncombe County, N. Carolina, found 
 and described in 1839. 
 
 A ponderous piece of iron from Crosby's Creek, in the S. W. part of 
 Cocke County, Tennessee, found 1839 (with this is placed a mass of 
 graphite found in it, weighing 830 grains). 
 
 A smaller piece from Greenville, Green Countv, Tennessee, found 
 in 1842. 
 
 The greater part of the mass of iron found in the Sevier County, 
 Tennessee, in 1840. 
 
 Three characteristic specimens, one containing much graphite, of the 
 iron from Arva, in Hungary, discovered in 1843. 
 
 A polished piece of the iron found in the Otsego County, New York, 
 in 1845. 
 
 Mass of iron from Smithland, Livingston County, Kentucky, found 
 in the same year. 
 
 A considerable portion of the mass of iron, weighing 280 pouncs, 
 found in the same year at Carthage, Smith County, Tennessee ; as was 
 that of Hommoney Creek, near the base of Pisgah Mountain, Buncombe 
 County, North Carolina. 
 
 A portion of the iron ploughed up about seven miles from Chester- 
 ville, Chester County, S. Carolina, described 1849. 
 
 Another of that which was seen to fall at Braunau, in Bohemia, July 
 14th, 1847. 
 
 A portion of that found in the same year near Lake Lsesgen, in Bran- 
 denburg. 
 
 Also, the greater portion of the mass discovered at the close of the same 
 year near Murfreesboro', Rutherford County, Tennessee. 
 
 Of Meteoric stones, or Meteorites, (classed with native iron, 
 because they all contain this metal, generally alloyed with 
 nickel,) the following are placed in chronological order : 
 
 CASE 1*. A large fragment of the stone which fell at Ensisheim, in 
 
 C 
 
18 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. I. 
 
 Alsace Nov 7th 1492, when the Emperor Maximilian, then King of the 
 Romans, was on the point of engaging with the French army ; this mass, 
 which weighed 270 pounds, was preserved in the cathedral of Lnsisheim 
 till the beginning of the French Revolution, when it was conveyed to the 
 
 PU Meteor?c a stone whi&ftU at Reichstadt, in Bohemia, June 22d, 1723. 
 
 One of the stones which fell, July 3d, 1753, at Plan, in the circle of 
 
 Bechin, Bohemia, and which contains a great proportion of attractable 
 
 ^Portion of a stone which fell at Maurkirchen, in Bavaria, Nov. 20th, 
 A meteorite which fell at Bobric, government of Charkow, Ucraine, 
 
 Specimens of those that were seen to fall at Barbotan, at Roquefort, 
 and at Juliac, in the Landes of Gascony, July 24th, 1790. 
 
 One of a dozen stones, of various weights and dimensions, that fell at 
 Sienna in Tuscany, June 16th, 1794. 
 
 The meteoric stone, weighing 56 pounds, which fell near Wold Cot- 
 tage, in the parish of Thwing, East Riding, Yorkshire, Dec. 13th, 1795. 
 
 Fragment of a stone of 20 pounds, which fell in the commune of Sales, 
 near Villefranche, in the department of the Rh6ne, March 12th, 1798. 
 
 Specimens of stones that fell near the city of Benares, in the East Indies, 
 Dec. 19th, 1798 ; presented by Sir Joseph Banks and W. Marsden, Esq. 
 
 Entire and broken specimens of the meteoric stones of which a shower 
 was seen to descend at Aigle, in the department of the Orne, April 26th, 
 1803. 
 
 Meteorite which fell at Fossil, near Glasgow, April 5th, 1804. 
 
 Fragment of that which fell, June 27th, 1807, near Timochin, Smo- 
 lensk, Russia. 
 
 Fragment of one of those that were seen to fall at "VVeston, in Con- 
 necticut, Dec. 14th, 1807. 
 
 Fragment of one of several meteorites that fell, April 19th, 1S08, at 
 Casiguano, near Borgo St. Domino, in the Duchy of Parma. 
 
 Two of the meteorites with shining black surfaces, fallen, May 22d, 
 1808, at Stannern, in Moravia; one of them presented by H.I.M. the 
 Emperor of Austria. 
 
 Two fragments of the Tipperary meteorite which fell in August, 1810 ; 
 it contains quartz globules of a green colour, owing to oxide of nickel. 
 
 A fragment from one of those of Berlanguillas, in Catalonia, July 8th, 
 1811. 
 
 A fragment of one weighing 66 pounds, which fell, August 5th, 1812, 
 near Chantonnay, between Nantes and La Rochelle, Department of the 
 Vendee. 
 
 Fragment of the meteoric stone which fell at Adare, in the county of 
 Limerick, Ireland, September 10th, 1813. 
 
 Fragment of the stone which fell, in March 1814, in the vicinity of 
 Wiburg, in Russian Finland. 
 
 Fragment of one of those which fell, Sept. 5th. 1814, at Agen, in the 
 Pyrenees. 
 
 A portion of the meteorite of Chassigny, near Langres, Dep. of the 
 Upper Marne, which fell on the 3d of October, 1815. 
 
ROOM I. MINERALS. 19 
 
 One of those that descended at Jonsae, in the Department of the 
 Lower Charente, the 13th of June, 1819. 
 
 Fragment of the largest of those that fell at Juve"nas, Dep. of the 
 Ardeche, 15th of June, 1821. 
 
 A portion of the meteorite which descended at Nanjenoy, in Mary- 
 land, February 10th, 1825, formerly in the possession of the Author, to 
 whom it was presented by Professor Silliman. 
 
 Fragment of one of the meteorites which fell, May 9th, 1827, at 
 Drake's Creek, Nashville, Tennessee. 
 
 Another of that of Richmond, Chesterfield County, Virginia, observed 
 to fall June 4th, 1828. 
 
 Another which was seen to fall at Aldsworth, 12 miles E. of Ciren- 
 cester, August 4th, 1835. 
 
 A meteorite, weighing about four pounds, which fell at the village of 
 Akburpoor, in the district of Saharanpore, April 18th, 1838; presented 
 by Major Cautley, Bengal Artillery. 
 
 . A fragment detached from one of the three stones which, on June 
 6th, 1838, simultaneously fell at three villages, about a mile distant 
 from each other, in the valley of Berar (situated Lat. 21 N., Long. 77 
 20' E.), in the East Indies. 
 
 Two of those that were seen to fall, October 13th of the same year, at 
 Old Bokkeveld, at the Cape of Good Hope ; the larger presented by Sir 
 John Herschel, Bart., the smaller by E. Charlesworth, Esq. 
 
 A fragment of that which fell at Little Piney, Missouri, February 
 13th, 1839. 
 
 Two large portions of the stone that fell, June 12th, 1841, at Triguerre, 
 Canton of Chateau-Eenard, Department of the Loire. 
 
 A large fragment of the remarkable meteoric stone that fell at Bishop- 
 ville, S. Carolina, in March, 1846, and another of that which descended 
 February 25th, 1847, near Marion, in Linn County, State of Iowa, North 
 America, and of which an account has been published in a late number 
 of Silliman's American Journal. Mr. Konig's Synopsis. 
 
 3. [59.] Contains the chlorides : viz. chloride of sodium, ammonium, 
 lead, copper, silver, mercury, &c. 
 
 4. [2.] Native silver, of which there are some very rich and beautiful 
 forms; native mercury, platinum, &c. ; palladium and osmiridium in a 
 wrought state; irite from the Ural Mountains. 
 
 5. [58.] Fluorides; fluor spar; chlorophane ; fluoride of calcium, 
 yttrium, and cerium. 
 
 [58 A.] Silicates containing fluorine. Saxon, Brazilian, and Siberian 
 topazes, some imbedded in rock crystal ; pyrophysalite from Fahlun in 
 Sweden ; choridrodite from New Jersey. 
 
 6. [3.] Native gold, pure and alloyed ; electrum from Schlangenberg 
 in Siberia. 
 
 " In this case (continued to case 12 of the minor notation) begin the 
 electro-negative metallic substances called metalloids, and their non- 
 oxidized combinations/' Mr. Konigs Synopsis. 
 
 Tellurium and tellurets ; native antimony ; antimonial silver. 
 
 7. [57.] Various phosphates. Phosphate of iron, manganese, copper, 
 
20 PETBIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. I. 
 
 yttria, and phosphates of alumina, as wavellite, arurite, the calaite or 
 real turquois from Persia, 1 &c. 
 
 [57 A.] Phosphates combined with chlorides. Pyromorphite ; arse- 
 niates of lead, &c. 
 
 [57 B.] Phosphate of lime combined with chloride of calcium. Bare 
 crystallizations of apatite. Chloro-carbonate of lead. The unique suite 
 of crystals is from Cromford Level, near Matlock Dale, Derbyshire. 
 
 8. [4.] Native arsenic, with nickel and with cobalt. In the opposite 
 half of this case, substances belonging to the orders carbon and selenium. 
 Diamonds ; several illustrations of the various crystalline forms of this 
 pure state of carbon ; diamonds imbedded in siliceous breccia, in com- 
 pact brown ironstone ; and a specimen of the alluvial rock called cascal- 
 hao, in which diamonds occur in the East Indies and the Brazils. An- 
 thracite. Graphite. Seleniurets of lead, copper, mercury, cobalt, &c. 
 Sulphur from the Lipari Isles. A medallion in selenium of Berzelius, 
 the discoverer of this metal. 
 
 9. [56.] Arsenious acid, and arseniates of lime, iron, copper, cobalt, 
 nickel, &q. 
 
 10. [5.] Splendid crystallisations of sulphur from La Catolica in Sicily. 
 These are succeeded by the sulphurets, which occupy half of this, and 
 seven of the next following table cases, according to the museum nota- 
 tion. Sulphuret of manganese, zinc or blend, &c. 
 
 11. [55.] Sulphates of magnesia, zinc, iron, copper, lead, &c. Sulphate 
 of uranium, oxide or johannite, very rare, from Bohemia. Sulphates of 
 alumina. Websterite from Sussex and Halle. Beautiful series of examples 
 of lazurite or lapis lazuli. 
 
 12. [6.] Sulphurets of iron, or iron pyrites. Sulphuret of cobalt, of 
 nickel, of cadmium, &c. 
 
 1 The oriental turquois is an hydrate of aluminum coloured by oxide 
 of copper and iron ; it is found in amorphous masses in alluvial clay, 
 and in irregular veins in flinty slate, in Persia and Siberia. The com- 
 mon or accidental turquois is fossil ivory or bone stained by blue phos- 
 phate of iron or carbonate of copper. 
 
ROOM I. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 PART II. FOSSIL YEGETABLES. 
 
 FOSSIL VEGETABLES PETRIFIED VEGETABLES CARBONIZED VEGETABLES 
 
 COAL AMBER JET DIAMOND FUCOIDES ASTEROPHYLLITES EQUI- 
 
 SETACE.E CALAMITES FILICITES SIGILLARIA STIGMARIA ERECT 
 
 SIGILLARIA LYCOPODIACEJE LEPIDODENDRON CARBONIFEROUS FLORA 
 
 PSAROLITES CLATHRARIA ENDOGENITES DRAC^NA FOSSIL PALMS 
 
 NIPATITES CONIFERS CYCADEACE.E ZAMLJ* PETRIFIED FOREST OF 
 
 PORTLAND MANTELLIA FOSSIL TREES OF NEW HOLLAND. 
 
 FOSSIL VEGETABLES. Vegetable remains occur in the 
 mineral kingdom in various states of preservation, and under 
 very different conditions; in some cases, they are but little 
 changed in aspect and composition; in others, they are so 
 completely metamorphosed that their vegetable nature can 
 only be detected by the aid of the microscope. It will suf- 
 fice for our present purpose to consider two principal 
 states in which the fossil remains of trees and plants are 
 preserved. 
 
 1st. Petrified Vegetables : In this state the organic structure 
 is permeated by mineral matter, and oftentimes the original 
 vascular tissues are transmuted into stone : it may be calca- 
 reous, as in some of the fossil woods from the Lias ; or siliceous, 
 as in the wood from New Holland, and the palm-stems from 
 Saxony ; or partly calcareous and partly siliceous, as the trees 
 from the Isle of Portland, &c. Iron is a frequent constituent 
 in the petrifaction of vegetable substances ; and the sulphuret, 
 or iron pyrites, is very constantly present in wood, fruits, 
 leaves, <fec., imbedded in argillaceous deposits ; often impart- 
 ing a most beautiful metallic lustre to the organic structures, 
 as in the fossil fruits from the Isle of Sheppey. 
 
22 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. I. 
 
 2cL Carbonized Vegetables : The other state in which ve- 
 getable substances are found is that of carbonization that 
 peculiar transmutation which dead vegetable structures un- 
 dergo when buried in the earth, and subjected to heat and 
 moisture : a specific fermentation or putrefaction (the bitu- 
 minous) then takes place, and either bog-wood, lignite, brown 
 coal, jet, or true mineral coal, containing combustible 
 oils, is the result, accordingly as the necessary conditions are 
 more or less perfectly fulfilled ; for the formation of coal ap- 
 pears to depend on the engulfing of large quantities of recent 
 vegetable substances beneath deposits of clay, mud, silt, and 
 sand, which shall exclude the air, and prevent the escape of 
 the gaseous elements, when released by decomposition from 
 their organic combination. Such has been the origin of the 
 immense accumulations of fossil fuel, or coal, in various 
 parts of the world ; and of the delicate fern-leaves and 
 other foliage, which appear as pellicles or films of carbona- 
 ceous matter adherent to the surfaces of the slabs of 
 slate and stone in the cases A, and B, before us : these are 
 the leaves of vegetables converted into carbon or charcoal ; 
 some of these leaves even retain their flexibility, and may 
 be removed from the surface, like the specimens in a hortus 
 siccus. 
 
 COAL. But though the vegetable origin of all coal is un- 
 questionable, yet evidence of the original structure of the 
 plants or trees whence it was derived is not always attainable. 
 The most perfect coal seems to have undergone a complete 
 liquefaction, and if any portions of the vegetable tissues 
 remain, they appear as if imbedded in a bituminous mass. 
 The slaty coal generally preserves traces of cellular or vascu- 
 lar tissue, and the spiral vessels and dotted cells of coniferous 
 trees may often be detected by the microscope. In many 
 instances the cells are filled with an amber-coloured resinous 
 substance ; in others the organization is so well preserved, that 
 on the surface of a block of coal cracked by heat, the dotted 
 glands may be observed. Some beds of coal are wholly com- 
 posed of minute leaves or disintegrated foliage, and if a mass 
 recently extracted from the mine be split asunder, the ex- 
 posed surfaces will be found covered with delicate lamina? of 
 carbonized leaves and fibres matted together, and flake after 
 flake may be peeled off through a thickness of many inches. 
 

 ROOM I. AMBER JET DIAMOND. 23 
 
 Rarely are any large trunks or branches of trees observable 
 in the beds of coal ; the general appearance of the carbon- 
 iferous mass is that of an immense deposit of delicate foliage 
 which has been shed and accumulated in a forest, and conso- 
 lidated by great pressure, while undergoing that peculiar pro- 
 cess by which vegetable matter is converted into carbon. In 
 fine, a gradual transition may be traced from the peat-wood 
 and submerged forests of modern times, in which leaves, 
 fruits, and trunks of indigenous trees are preserved, to those 
 vast deposits of mineral coal, formed by the bitumination of 
 the now extinct plants and trees of the floras which flou- 
 rished in the earlier ages of the globe. 
 
 AMBER, JET, DIAMOND. Table-cases 1, and 8. Before de- 
 scribing the fossil plants whose stems, foliage, and fruit, are 
 displayed in the wall-cases of this room, we must direct atten- 
 tion to the table-cases that contain a fine suite of specimens 
 of Amber [60], Jet, and Diamond 8, [4], for these substances 
 are unquestionably of vegetable origin. 
 
 Amber, so remarkable for its electrical properties, and 
 so much in request for ornamental purposes, is a fossil resin, 
 the product of an extinct species of pine (Pinus succinifer), 
 most nearly allied to Pimis abies, and P. picea, but essen- 
 tially distinct. The Amber in the European markets is 
 principally collected from the shores of the Baltic, between 
 Memel and Konigsberg, being washed out of submerged beds 
 of lignite, and thrown up on the strand by the waves. Amber 
 is occasionally found on the eastern and northern shores of 
 England. The forests of Amber-pines appear to have been 
 situated in the south-eastern part of what is now the bed of 
 the Baltic, in about 55 north latitude, and 37 to 38 east lon- 
 gitude, and were probably destroyed at the commencement 
 of the diluvial period. Insects, spiders, small crustaceans, 
 leaves, and fragments of vegetable tissue, are often imbedded 
 in amber ; and a few hairs and feathers of mammalia and 
 birds have been detected : these organic bodies must have 
 become immersed in this substance when it exuded from the 
 trees in a soft or viscid state, for they are often preserved as 
 fresh and beautiful as if recently embalmed in the liquid 
 resin. Upwards of 800 species of insects have been dis- 
 covered, chiefly Aptera, Diptera, Neuroptera, Coleoptera, Li- 
 bellula, &c. ; by far the greater part belong to extinct forms. 
 
24 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. I. 
 
 The vegetable remains comprise four species of pine, and 
 species of cedar, cypress, juniper, yew ; and of oak, poplar, 
 beech, ash, &c. ; and a few ferns, mosses, liverworts, con- 
 fervee, and fungi. The amber appears to have chiefly exuded 
 from the root-stock, but also from the bark and the wood, as 
 is the case with the Copal and Anime, which are resinous sub- 
 stances obtained from certain trees in India and America, 
 and largely employed for varnish : these resins are often sub- 
 stituted for true amber, especially when they contain insects, 
 &c.; but these are always of the existing indigenous species 
 of the country. There are many examples of copal and 
 anime, containing insects, placed in the case with genuine 
 fossil amber, for comparison. The difference observable in 
 the colour of the various species of amber, is attributable to 
 accidental chemical admixtures. 
 
 Jet. This substance is so evidently wood in a carbonized 
 state (many species showing coniferous structure), that it is 
 only necessary to direct attention to the specimens in 
 dase 1. Some of the most productive beds of this fossil 
 in England are those in the Lias shale, near Whitby, in 
 Yorkshire. 
 
 In this case there is an interesting example of Hessian 
 brown lignite passing into bituminous coal. 
 
 Diamond. In Case 8 [4] there are many varieties of the 
 precious gem the diamond illustrating its varied colours 
 and crystalline forms ; among these are diamonds imbedded 
 in siliceous breccia, and in brown ironstone, and an octa- 
 hedral crystal with alluvial gold; and models of some 
 of the largest diamonds. The diamond, as is now gene- 
 rally known, is nothing more than carbon or charcoal in a 
 pure crystalline state ; of its vegetable origin there is no doubt. 
 At a heat less than the melting point of silver it burns and 
 is volatilized, yielding the same elementary products as char- 
 coal. By voltaic action it has been converted (by Jacquelin, 
 Faraday, Gassiott) into a substance possessing the appear- 
 ance, physical characters, and electrical properties of coke or 
 graphite, losing its insulating power, and becoming a conduc- 
 tor : its ordinary specific gravity is 3.368 ; when changed into 
 coke, 2.679. The diamond, like amber, is probably a vege- 
 table secretion, and has acquired its crystalline structure by 
 electro-chemical action. In Southern India and in the 
 
ROOM I. ALG-E FUCOIDES. 25 
 
 Brazils diamonds occur in breccia, composed of quartzose and 
 opaline pebbles, united by an arenaceous ferruginous cement ; 
 in Bundel Kaand, in sandstone, supposed to belong to the 
 Triassic deposits, for there are strata of that age 400 feet in 
 thickness beneath the lowest diamond beds, and indications of 
 coal underlying the whole. 1 
 
 ALG^, Fuci, <fcc. Case A. Remains of several kinds of 
 vegetables of the simplest structure, as Fuci, Algae, Fungi, 
 
 LlGK 1. FOSSIL FCCtJS IX M AIM-ROCK, BIGKOR, SUSSEX. 
 
 Fucoides Targionii. 
 
 (NAT. SIZE.) 
 
 <tc., occur in a fossil state, and even some minute parasitical 
 species have been detected on the leaves of fern in coal shale. 
 
 1 See " Wonders of Geology," 6th edit. pp. 703706, for an account 
 of Amber, Diamond, Bitumen, Petroleum, Anthracite, Plumbago, &c^ 
 " Medals of Creation," vol i. p. 83. 
 
 A most important acquisition has very recently been made to the 
 Cabinet of Diamonds ; an unique series of crystallized specimens, 
 purchased of Professor Tennant, comprising upwards of sixty examples 
 of rare modifications of form, and of various colours. It formed part 
 of the celebrated cabinet of precious stones formed with great taste and 
 judgment, and regardless of expense, by the late Henry Phillip Hope, 
 Esq. Of the cubic crystal there are six ; of the octohedron, sixteen or 
 eighteen ; of the hemitrope, or macled crystals, four ; of grouped crys- 
 tals, thirty. This most interesting suite of gems includes also several 
 fine specimens of what are termed "diamonds of nature," which are 
 diverging fibrous concretions of this crystalline substance. A model of 
 the matchless Indian diamond, known as the Koh-i-noor, or Mountain 
 of Light, and now exposed to public view in the Great Exhibition, by 
 Her Majesty's gracious permission, will shortly be added to this unri- 
 valled collection. 
 
26 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. I. 
 
 The case, A, contains several species of Algse and Fuci, 
 and many fossil plants belonging to a higher class, but 
 whose natural affinities are not accurately determined. Much 
 of the space is occupied by fossil ferns, and specimens of 
 a common and elegant tribe of coal-plants (named Aster o- 
 phyllites, Annular ia, &c.), whose verticillate foliage is too 
 remarkable to escape notice, and is often seen on the slabs of 
 coal-shale associated with ferns. 
 
 Fucoides. Of fossil fuci there are specimens from Big- 
 nor, in Sussex, of a species peculiar to the firestone of the chalk 
 formation, the Fucoides (Chondrites) Targionii ; and an 
 elegant species named Fucoides arcuatus. With the fucoides 
 are specimens of fossil algse, labelled Spherococcites, which are 
 sea-weeds with thick membranous and coriaceous fronds, 
 divided into digitated lobes, wide or narrow, often irregular 
 and elongated, without nervures, and with a smooth surface, 
 bearing irregular tubercles ; from the Oolite of Solenhofen. 
 
 On the shelves there are pieces of ironstone with vestiges 
 of carbonized vegetables, from the Wealden (of Heathfield, 
 Sussex), some of which are probably referable to fresh-water 
 aquatic plants ; others to trees allied to the yew or cypress 
 (Thuyites). 
 
 Asterophyllites. 1 Case A. The specimens of elegant foli- 
 age on slabs of coal-shale, labelled Asterophyllites, Annularia, 
 and Sphenophyllum, belong to a tribe of extinct dico- 
 tyledonous plants, which, like the existing Cycadese, had 
 their seeds exposed ; hence the name of the order, Gymno- 
 sperms, or naked seeds. 
 
 The Asterophyllites, so named from the star-like disposition 
 of their foliage, had branched articulated stems, with verti- 
 cillate leaves arranged perpendicularly to the branches which 
 supported them ; but as the foliage is in most examples par- 
 tially imbedded and concealed in the stone, the natural ap- 
 pearance of the plant is but seldom observable. The fossils 
 known as Volkmannia are now ascertained to be Asterophyl- 
 lites in fructification. 
 
 The Annularia were herbaceous plants, with verticillate 
 foliage, like the former ; but the whorls were arranged on 
 
 > Figured in " Medals of Creation," p. 152; and "Wonders of Geo- 
 logy," 6th edit. p. 717. 
 

 ROOM I. 
 
 EQUISETUM ANNULARIA. 
 
 27 
 
 the same plane with the stems whence they proceeded, and, 
 in consequence, their remains present a very elegant appear- 
 ance when expanded on the schist. 
 Each whorl is composed of from 
 twenty to thirty linear lanceolate 
 leaves, which are united at their 
 base, so as to form a zone around 
 the stem: it is supposed that they 
 were aquatic, or marsh plants, the 
 stems and leaves floating on the 
 surface of the water. 1 Both these 
 extinct types of plants are common 
 in the carboniferous strata. 2 
 
 1 2 3 
 
 LIGN. 3. EQTTISETUM LYELLII. POUNCEFOKD. 
 Fig. 1. Stem \vith two sheaths, and a head at the lowermost joint. 
 
 2. Stem of a young plant, pyritified. 
 
 3. Stem with the cryptogamous head. (Nat. size.) 
 
 EQUISETACE^;. Case A. Fossil plants allied to the Equi- 
 setum (Mare's-tail). The family of the Equisetacese comprises 
 
 1 See " Tableau des Genres de Yggetaux Fossiles." Par M. Adolphe 
 Brongniart. Paris, 1849. 
 
 2 Plate V. of "Pictorial Atlas of Organic Remains" contains coloured 
 figures of both genera. 
 
28 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. I. 
 
 but one genus, the common species of which (Eq. fluviatile) 
 abounds in marshy tracts, and on the banks of our ditches 
 and rivers. It has a jointed stalk, encircled by elegant 
 cylindrical dentated sheaths, and garnished with verticillate 
 linear leaves. In a fossil state several species of this genus 
 are known, of which there are specimens in Case A. Those 
 of the Equisetum Lyellii, from Pounceford in Sussex, were 
 collected by the Author in 1825. This species is peculiar to 
 the Wealden deposits; it has a cylindrical and articulated 
 stem, the articulations of which are embraced by regularly 
 dentated sheaths. It was a slender elegant plant, of the 
 proportions of the common existing Mare's- tail. 1 
 
 EQUISETITES. Case E. These are the stems of gigantic 
 equisetaceous plants, which, though allied by their general cha- 
 racters to the diminutive existing Equisetum, differ in some 
 essential particulars. They are named by M. Brongniart, the 
 eminent botanist, Equisetites. These stems are from twenty 
 to thirty feet in height, and from ten to fourteen inches in 
 diameter. The surface is smooth, not striated, and is not im- 
 pressed by the denticulations of the sheath, as in the Mare's- 
 tail. The fructification is unknown. These plants, of which 
 there are many specimens in Case B. (of Eq. columnare, Eq. 
 later ale, &c.), are common in the inferior oolite of Yorkshire, 
 and are frequently discovered in an upright position. Exten- 
 sive areas covered by the roots and erect stems, apparently 
 occupying the spots where they originally grew, have been 
 laid bare in the Cleveland Hills. A few freshwater bivalves 
 are the only fossil-shells observed'in the laminated sandstone 
 in which the stems are imbedded. 
 
 CALAMITES. Case , Upper Shelves. These large stems 
 belong to a tribe of plants which abounded in the carboni- 
 ferous epoch, and must have constituted an impdrtant fea- 
 ture in its flora, for their remains are abundant in the coal 
 deposits of every country. * Though bearing a general re- 
 semblance to the Equisetacese, they are entirely distinct; 
 their stems are articulated and regularly striated, and some- 
 times arborescent; the articulations are in general marked 
 with annular depressions, and studded with tubercles; in 
 
 1 Pounceford, near Burwash, in Sussex, is an interesting locality of 
 the Wealden. See " Geology of the South-Eabt of England," p. 221. 
 
ROOM I. 
 
 CALAMITES. 
 
 29 
 
 some examples, there are remains of a stellate sheath en- 
 circling the joints, but this is altogether different from the 
 
 Lies. 4. CALAMITES, FROM THE COAL FORMATIOK. 
 Fig. 1. Calamites radiatus. (^ not. size.) 
 
 2. Stem with roots. (^ not. size.) 
 
 3. Calamites approximates. (| not. size.) 
 
 cylindrical sheath of the Equisetacese. The stems 
 attain a height of forty or fifty feet, and a diameter of 
 one to three feet. When specimens are lying in the sam 
 plane with the lines of stratification, they are generally 
 pressed flat; but when found in an erect position, they re- 
 tain their natural cylindrical form. The bark, in the state 
 of a carbonaceous crust, frequently invests the stem; but I 
 have not been able to detect any traces of internal structure. 
 The axis of the stem appears to have perished, and its place 
 is occupied by clay or sand. Yestiges of the roots are some- 
 times preserved. 1 The case comprises several species: as 
 Calamites approximatus, C. canniformis, C. nodosus, 0. deco- 
 ratus, &G. 
 
 1 Specimens are figured in "Medals of Creation," p. 110; and seven 
 species in "Pictorial Atlas of Organic Remains," PI. XIII. XVII. 
 p. 43. 
 
30 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. I. 
 
 FILICITES, OR FOSSIL FERNS. Cases A. B, C. [1, 2, 3.] This 
 numerous and interesting tribe of vascular cryptogamous 
 plants, the living species of which confer a peculiar elegance 
 on the flora of the countries in which they abound, prevailed 
 in great numbers and variety during the carboniferous period ; 
 several hundred extinct species, belonging to many genera, 
 have been determined. Ferns are distinguished from other 
 vegetables by the peculiar arrangement of the veins of the 
 fronds, and the development, in most species, of the fructifi- 
 cation on their leaves. Although the largest British species 
 scarcely exceeds four or five feet in height, many of the tribe 
 peculiar to hot climates are arborescent, and attain an altitude 
 of thirty or forty feet ; their stems are cylindrical and 
 without branches, and the foliage spreads out from the sum- 
 mit of the tree and expands into an elegant canopy. The 
 leaves on the stems are not persistent, and the petioles soon 
 become detached from their base, and leave permanent cica- 
 trices, or scars, on the trunk ; and these imprints are so 
 durable, and so symmetrically arranged, as to afford characters 
 by which the stem of a tree-fern may easily be recognised in 
 a fossil state ; for though the stem may be pressed quite flat, 
 and its foliage entirely wanting, the configuration and dis- 
 position of the scars afford a certain means of identification. 
 The leaves are characterised by the form, regularity, and 
 peculiar mode of subdivision of the segments, and by the 
 delicacy, evenness, and distribution of the veins or nervures. 
 ^f rom the elegance and diversity of form of the foliage, fossil 
 ferns are the most remarkable and attractive vegetable re- 
 mains in the ancient strata and in the collection before us, 
 a considerable number of the most important and cha- 
 racteristic species are exhibited. The greater part are from 
 the coal deposits, the fern-leaves generally occurring in the 
 schists or shales that form the roof of the beds of coal. 1 
 Many of the strata of shale are made up of carbonized fern- 
 leaves and stems closely pressed together. The roof of a coal 
 mine, when newly exposed, often presents the most interesting 
 appearance from the abundance and variety of leaves, branches, 
 and stems, that appear sometimes in relief, sometimes im- 
 
 1 See " Wonders of Geology," Sixth Edition, pp. 666677 : " On the 
 nature of Coal Deposits." 
 
ROOM I. 
 
 FOSSIL FERXS. 
 
 31 
 
 pressed, on the dark shining surface. When the shale or 
 stone is of a light colour, the contrast of the black carbonized 
 foliage increases the striking effect of these subterranean 
 floras of the ancient world. The specimens in coal-shale 
 exhibited in Cases B and C, are for the most part from the 
 coal-shales of Great Britain ; the series comprises a con- 
 siderable number of the genera, and many of the species that 
 have been identified by M. Brongniart, Sternberg, Lindley, 
 Hutton, and other eminent botanists. (Pecopteris, Pachyp- 
 teris, Sphenopteris, Cyclopteris, Neuropteris, Glossopteris, 
 Odontopteris, Phlebopteris, &C. 1 ) 
 
 LlGN. 5. LOKCHOPTERIS MANTELLI. WEA1DEK. 
 
 Figs. 1 and 2. Leaflets magnified to show the venation. 
 
 FERNS of the WEALDEN. Case B, There are here speci- 
 mens of two species of fern which require especial notice, be- 
 cause they were obtained from the ancient freshwater deposits 
 of the south-east of England the Wealden associated with 
 the reptilian remains of which we shall have occasion to treat 
 hereafter. 
 
 Lonchopteris. One of these, named Lonchopteris (L. Man- 
 telli), from the spear-shaped fronds, is characterised by the 
 peculiar reticulation of the venation. There are three fossil 
 
 1 See "Medals of Creation," TO! i. pp. 113124, for figures and de- 
 scriptions of these genera of fossil ferns. Several kinds are represented 
 in the " Pictorial Atlas," pp. 4, and 2832 inclusive. 
 
 
LIGN. 6. SPHENOPTEHIS 
 
 MAN TELL i. WEALDEN. 
 
 (Natural size.) 
 
 32 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. I. 
 
 species of this genus, and these resemble 
 the living ferns of the genera Lonchitis 
 and Woodwardia ; two occur in the Coal 
 deposits ; the other, the one under con- 
 sideration, in the Wealden and Green- 
 sand. The latter appears to have been 
 a delicate plant, for though vestiges of 
 the carbonized foliage are very generally 
 distributed through the Wealden de- 
 posits, it is rarely that any considerable 
 portion of a frond can be obtained. 
 Sphenopteris. The other character- 
 istic Wealden plant is the Sphenopteris 
 (S. Mantelli), or wedge-leaf fern, re- 
 markable for its elegant and simple 
 fronds, as shown in the annexed figure. 
 (Lign. 6.) 
 
 ANOMOPTERIS MOUGEOTTI. Case B. On the front of one 
 
 of the middle shelves, on 
 a block of fawn-coloured 
 sandstone, are remains 
 of the foliage of a large 
 species of fern, labelled as 
 above. These fossil leaves 
 are remarkable for their 
 peculiar structure and 
 great size : some speci- 
 mens are estimated to 
 
 \ V//A V,/A7*/ have been three or four 
 
 feet in length ; they are 
 supposed to be the foliage 
 of an arborescent fern. 
 Thisspeciesis only known 
 in the Triassic formation 
 of the Yosges. The spe- 
 cimen in the Museum 
 shows the fructification, 
 2 and was collected and 
 LIGN. T.-ANOMOPTERIS MOUGEOTTI. THE TRIAS, presented to me by the 
 
 NEAR SALTZBURGH. Iat6 M 
 
 Fig. 1. Portion of a frond in fructification. , 
 
 2. A part of the same magnified. burg. 
 
ROOM I. 
 
 SIGILLARIA, 
 
 33 
 
 FERN-STEMS (Caulopteris). Case D. Flattened stems, 
 marked with discoidal, oblong, or ovate scars, arranged longi- 
 tudinally ; these are in all probability the trunks of the 
 arborescent ferns whose foliage abounds in the carboniferous 
 deposits. 
 
 SIGILLARIA. Case C. Upper Shelves. Among the most 
 common and striking objects that arrest the attention of a 
 person who visits a coal-mine for the first time, and examines 
 the fossil vegetable remains which lie profusely scattered 
 among the heaps of shale, are long, flat, narrow slabs, with a 
 black glossy surface, fluted longitudinally, and uniformly 
 pitted with deep symmetrical imprints, disposed with great 
 
 LlGX. 8. SlGTLLARIA SAULLII. COAL DEPOSITS. A PORTION OF A FLATTEHED 
 
 STEM. 
 
 a. External surface marked by the scars of the petioles. 
 
 b. The inner surface exposed by the removal of the bark. 
 
 regularity between the grooves. There are many fine speci- 
 mens on the upper shelf in Case 0. These slabs are commonly 
 from half-an-inch to an inch in thickness, and have similar 
 markings on both sides. They are the flattened trunks of 
 large trees covered by the bark in the state of coal, the 
 markings on the surface being the scars left by the separation 
 of the leaf-stalks, like the cicatrices on the stems of arborescent 
 ferns. The name Sigillaria has been given to these trees from 
 
 D 
 
34 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. I. 
 
 the uniformity of the imprints suggesting the idea of impres- 
 sions made by a seal. The stems vary from a few inches to 
 several feet in diameter, and attain a length of fifty or sixty 
 feet. They are often found erect, and uncompressed ; in 
 general, all vestiges of internal. structure are lost, the cylinder 
 of carbonized bark being filled up with clay or sand, and 
 giving rise to large cylindrical casts of stone, slightly im- 
 pressed with the longitudinal furrows and leaf-pits. A few 
 examples of silicified stems have been discovered, and by 
 sections, and a microscopical examination of these fossils, the 
 internal organization of these remarkable extinct types of 
 vegetation has been ascertained. The Sigillariee were tall 
 erect trees, with a regular and cylindrical stem, having no 
 side branches, but becoming dichotomous at the summit. 
 Their superficial bark was hard and durable, channelled longi- 
 tudinally, bearing leaf -scars that are of a rounded form above 
 and below, and angular at the sides, often oblong in relation 
 to the stem, and having three vascular pits, one central and 
 small, and two lateral of a larger size. The internal structure 
 bears most analogy to that of the Cycadese, and the foliage 
 consisted of long linear carinated leaves. The Sigillarise, 
 therefore, differ essentially from the arborescent crypto- 
 gamia, which they somewhat approach in having scalari- 
 form vascular tissue, symmetrical and regular leaf-scars, and 
 branchless trunks. More than fifty species have been deter- 
 mined. 1 
 
 Sigillaria (or Sagenaria) caudata. Case O. On the front 
 of the middle shelf of this case, immediately above the label 
 Filicites there is a sandstone cast of an uncompressed Sigil- 
 laria, deeply imprinted with the cicatrices left by the petioles, 
 which is remarkable for the extraordinary sharpness of 
 the scars, and the geological position ascribed to it. It 
 was discovered (as I was informed by the Dean of West- 
 minster, when examining, with him the fossil plants in this 
 case) in the Greensand, which is the lowermost group of the 
 chalk formation. Now, as the Sigillarise are peculiar to the 
 carboniferous epoch, no other instance being known of any 
 vestiges of this tribe of vegetables in subsequent deposits, it is 
 
 1 Figures of Sigillariae in "Wonders of Geology," p. 719 ; "Medals 
 of Creation," p. 129, PL V.; " Pictorial Atlas," PI. XIX., XX., XXIV. 
 
ROOM I. 
 
 STIG MARIA. 
 
 important that the habitat of this fossil should be ascertained, 
 and its geological age determined. 
 
 STIGMARIA. Cases E, F. On the upper shelves of 
 these ' cases are deposited numerous specimens of certain 
 fossil vegetables which are abundant in most coal fields, 
 and are commonly known as Spotted-stems, or Stigmarise. 
 These bodies, when uncompressed, are of a cylindrical form, 
 from one to six or seven inches in diameter, and of great 
 length sometimes twenty or thirty feet gradually lessening, 
 and dividing and subdividing, as they extend. The surface 
 is marked with distinct pits or areolse, which are either oval 
 
 LlGN. 9. SriGMARIA FtCOIDES. COAL DEPOSITS. 
 
 Fig. 1. Portion of a root. (\ nat. size.) The internal axis is seen at a. 
 
 2. One of the rootlets, with a tubercle, to show the mode of articulation. 
 
 or circular, with a slight elevation or tubercle in the centre of 
 each ; they are disposed around the stem in a quincunx order 
 somewhat regularly. When these fossils are observed in situ, 
 or are compressed and imbedded in shale or stone, as in some 
 of the specimens in Case F, long, tapering, subcylindrical 
 fibres, are seen to proceed from the pits or depressions with 
 which the surface is studded, each being attached by its base 
 to the tubercle or eminence in the centre of the areola. When 
 
36 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. I. 
 
 broken transversely, a small cylindrical core or axis is found 
 extending longitudinally throughout the stem like a medullary 
 column, \a, Lign. 9.) and there is generally a depression or 
 furrow running parallel with it on the outer surface. 1 
 
 The nature of these fossil vegetables was long a perplexing 
 question, for no specimens had been found in connexion with 
 any of the stems, branches, or foliage, that abound in the 
 coal deposits. At length, the discovery of a dome-shaped 
 mass, from which radiated numerous stigmariae, seemed to 
 afford a clue to the solution of this botanical problem, and it 
 was concluded by the eminent Authors of the " Fossil Flora of 
 Great Britain," that the original belonged to a tribe of plants 
 which inhabited swamps, or still and shallow lakes, and were 
 characterised by a low truncated stem, having long horizontal 
 branches beset with cylindrical, and, probably, succulent 
 leaves, that either trailed on the surface of the swamp, or 
 floated in the water. 2 , 
 
 But within the last few years, the occurrence in various car- 
 boniferous deposits, of erect stems of Sigillarise, has shown that 
 the Stigmariae are nothing more than the roots of these and 
 other congenerous trees ; an opinion maintained by the Rev. 
 H. Steinhaur more than thirty years ago, and subsequently 
 affirmed by M. Adolphe Brongniart, who found, on examining 
 microscopically the internal structure of a silicified specimen 
 in which the vascular tissue was preserved, that the organiza- 
 tion bore as close an analogy to that of the Sigillarise, as 
 exists between the roots and trunks of certain dicotyledonous 
 trees. 3 
 
 Upright stems of Sigillarice, with Stigmaria-roots. To the 
 sagacity and persevering researches of Mr. Binney of Man- 
 chester, science is indebted for the establishment of this highly 
 interesting fact. In 1844, Mr. Binney discovered at St. 
 Helen's, near Liverpool, an erect trunk of a Sigillaria nine 
 feet high, to which were attached ten roots that extended 
 several feet into the under clay, in their natural position, and 
 
 1 Figured in " Medals of Creation/' p. 140, PI. III. fig. 1 ; " Pictorial 
 Atlas," PI. XXI. XXIII. 
 
 2 It is to be regretted that this erroneous conjecture is reprinted from 
 Dr. Buckland's Essay, in the recent work of Messrs. Chambers on the 
 British Museum, p. 251. 
 
 3 See " Medals of Creation," p. 143. 
 
ROOM 
 
 SIGILLABIA. 
 
 37 
 
 these roots were unquestionable Stigmariae ; the tubercles with 
 the attached rootlets (the supposed leaves), being clearly 
 
 This stem is a solid cast in claystone, the carbonized bark retaining the character- 
 istic markings, only remaining in a few places. 
 
 c, the decorticated part of the stem, which is covered with minute scales as far as 
 the point k, which is a few inches below the first ramification of the roots. The car- 
 bonaceous crust that enveloped the roots was thick at the upper part, but gradually 
 became thinner towards the extremities, and at a, and b, was a mere pellicle that fell 
 off on the slightest touch. 1 
 
 Journal of the Geological Society of London, 1847 and 1849. 
 
38 
 
 PETRIFACTIONS AHD THEIR TEACHING. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 laid bare a magnificent trunk of a Sigillaria, with Stigmaria- 
 roots extending upwards of twenty feet in the clay. 
 
 In the Pictou coal-field of Cape Breton, in Nova Scotia, 
 many similar instances have been brought to light ; the re- 
 markable phenomenon existing in that locality, of successive 
 
BOOM I. STI&MARIA. 39 
 
 carboniferous deposits containing scores of erect trees with 
 their roots spreading into their native soil, presenting peculiar 
 facilities for verifying the observations made in England. In 
 an interesting memoir on the coal-fields of Nova Scotia, Mr. 
 Richard Brown has given a detailed account of numerous 
 examples of stems of Sigillariee, and of Lepidodendra, (a tribe 
 of gigantic club-mosses of which we shall treat in the sequel,) 
 with the roots attached ; these roots having, in every instance, 
 the character and structure of Stigmariae. The annexed 
 figure (Lign. 10) represents an erect trunk of Sigillaria 
 alternans, with roots (Stigmarise) extending into the surround- 
 ing clay. 
 
 In another example (Lign. 11.) discovered by Mr. Brown, the 
 stem of the tree was broken off close to the roots, and the hollow 
 cylinder of bark (a,) was bent down and doubled over by the 
 pressure of the surrounding mud, so as effectually to close up 
 the aperture, and leave only a few irregular cicatrices con- 
 verging near the apex ; the structure, arrangement, and 
 number of the tap-roots, as well as the horizontal ramifications, 
 were similar to those in Lign. 10. This fossil explains the true 
 nature of the " dome-shaped" plant figured in the Fossil Flora, 
 and in Dr. Buckland's Essay. 1 
 
 I subjoin another sketch from the same memoir in illustra- 
 
 Roof of Shale full of leaves, &c. 
 
 Main coal seam, 6 feet thick. 
 
 Under Hav with Stigmariae. 
 
 LIGN. 12. STEM OP A LEFIDODENDRON, WITH STIGMARIA-ROOTS. 
 (From Mr. Brown's Memoir.) 
 
 tion of this subject : the stem of a Lepidodendron with roots, 
 which are Stigmarise. 
 
 The stems and the roots of this tree were similar t 
 
 1 See " Pictorial Atlas of Organic Remains/' pp. 198202. 
 
40 
 
 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 fossils in Cases D, E, and F, which are respectively labelled 
 Lepidodendron, and Stigmaria. 
 
 Besides the fine specimens of Stigmarise in the cases above 
 referred to, there is an instructive example of these trailing 
 
 LlON; 13. PORTION OF A BRANCH OF LEPIDODENDRON: IN COAL SH4LE, 
 NEWCASTLE. 
 
 Fig. 2. A scar of a petiole. (Nat. size.) 
 
 roots, twenty-six feet long, attached to a board, placed over 
 the doorway of Room I. at the entrance from the Zoological 
 Gallery. 
 
 Calamitia.Case E. On the left hand of the lower com- 
 partment, there are placed on some shallow ledges, many spe- 
 cimens of the silicified stems named Calamitia by M. Gotta 
 
ROOM I. LEPIDODENDRON. 41 
 
 ind Calamodendron by M. Brongniart. These are tbe re- 
 mains of plants altogether different from any known living 
 vegetables in their internal organization. The disposition of 
 the ligneous cylinder and of the medullary rays, indicate a 
 dicotyledonous structure ; but the vascular tissue approaches 
 that of the gymnosperms, and is still more analogous to 
 that of the Sigillariae. 
 
 LYCOPODIACE^J (Lepidodendron, Lepidostrobus, Lepido- 
 phyllum). Cases C, b, E. The upper compartments of these 
 cases [marked 3, 4, and o, in the 
 room] contain a rich assemblage of 
 the stems, leaves, and fruits, of a = 
 gigantic tribe of club-mosses (or 
 Lycopodiaceae), named Lepidoden- 
 dron (or scaly-tree), from the tri- 
 angular scars of the petioles with 
 which the surface of the stem is 
 covered. These plants rivalled in 
 number and magnitude the Calamites 
 and Sigillariae, and their remains 
 are profusely distributed in the coal- 
 shales, occurring, like the stems of 
 the former, both erect and cylin- 
 drical, and prostrate and compressed, 
 as in the examples before us. Some 
 of these trees have been discovered 
 almost entire, from their roots to the 
 topmost branches. Near Newcastle 
 in the Jarrow coal-mine, a tree was 
 laid bare that measured forty feet in 
 height, and above thirteen feet in 
 diameter at the base ; it divided 
 towards the summit into about 
 twenty branches. The foliage (Lepi- 
 dophyllum) of these trees consisted 
 of simple linear leaves, spirally 
 arranged around the stem ; and these 
 
 appear to have been shed from the LEPIDODEXDRON STEHNBERGU. 
 
 base of the trunk by age. The scars ^S?&S3l 
 
 produced by the attachment of the castle. 
 
 petioles were persistent, and are . seldom obliterated in the 
 
42 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. I. 
 
 fossils ; the branches and twigs are generally covered with 
 foliage. 1 
 
 Lepidostrobus. Case D. The seed-vessels are cylindrical 
 cones composed of winged scales, their axis being tra- 
 versed by a longitudinal cavity or receptacle, and terminating 
 in rhomboidal disks, imbricated from above downwards. 
 They occur of various sizes from two to six inches long, 
 and one or two inches in circumference. These fruits, like 
 the fronds of ferns, often form the nuclei of the ironstone 
 nodules so abundant in the carbonaceous clays, and are fre- 
 quently mineralized by brilliant pyrites, and galena or sulphuret 
 of lead. There is a beautiful suite of these fossils (the greater 
 part from the Author's collection) in Case D : they were 
 obtained from Coalbrook Dale. When imbedded in the rock, 
 the cones are often fringed with linear-lanceolate bractese. 
 
 Notwithstanding the great disparity in size between the 
 existing family of club-mosses or Lycopodiacese, most of which 
 trail on the ground, and none exceed three or four feet in 
 height, and the Lepidodendra, M. Brongniart, Dr. Joseph 
 Hooker, and other eminent botanists, concur in regarding these 
 gigantic trees of the coal flora as belonging to the same tribe, 
 and only generically distinct. 2 
 
 The visitor's attention should be directed to the beautiful 
 specimens of Lepidodendron selaginoides on coal-shale, on the 
 upper shelf of Case D ; and of L. punctatum. 
 
 Ulodendron, Boihrodendron, ffalonia, Megaphyton. Case 
 E. The specimens to which these names are attached, are the 
 stems of plants belonging to the same family as the Lepidoden- 
 dra, but supposed to be generically, or sub-generically, distinct. 
 The Bothrodendron (pitted-stem) is remarkable for two vertical 
 rows of deep oval depressions, on opposite sides of the stem, 
 which more resemble the attachment of the bases of cones, 
 than of leaves. In Megaphyton the stem is not furrowed, the 
 leaf-scars are very large and of a horse-shoe form, and dis- 
 posed in two vertical rows on each side. 3 
 
 1 Figured in "Medals of Creation," pp. 146, 149 ; " Wonders of Geo- 
 logy," p. 718; "Pictorial Atlas," PI. I. III. IX. XXVI. XXVII. XXXIII. 
 
 2 The botanical reader interested in .the subject is referred to " Me- 
 moirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain," vol. ii. ; and "Diet. 
 Univ. d' Hist. Nat.," Article, " Tableau des Genres de Vggetaux Fos- 
 siles," Paris, 1849. 
 
 3 "Pictorial Atlas," PL XXV. 
 
ROOM I. -' CARBONIFEROUS FLORA. 43 
 
 On the uppermost shelves are the Halonias; these fossils are 
 sandstone casts with a thin carbonaceous crust, of cylindrical 
 stems, which are beset with large elevated knobs or projections 
 disposed in quincunx ; these are not produced by the attach- 
 ment of petioles, but are sub-cortical protuberances : the bota- 
 nical affinities of these plants are not satisfactorily determined. 1 
 
 iSternbergia ; Artesia. Case E. The fossil stems thus 
 labelled are on the shelves below the Halonise ; they are sup- 
 posed to be the carbonized medullary axis of a genus of plants 
 distinct from the Lepidodendra, and named Lepidophloios by 
 Count Sternberg. 2 
 
 THE CARBONIFEROUS FLORA. Although there are vestiges 
 of many coniferous trees, and of some endogenous plants, in 
 the coal-strata, yet as the vegetables we have cursorily exa- 
 mined constitute the essential features of the flora of the 
 carboniferous epoch, a few general remarks on the subject will 
 not be irrelevant in this place. 
 
 The peculiarity of this flora is the great number of the 
 vascular cryptogamous plants, which amount to two-thirds 
 of the species of vegetables discovered in the carboniferous 
 deposits. With these are associated a few palms, coniferee, 
 cycadeee, and some dicotyledons, allied to the cactese and 
 euphorbiacese. The magnitude and numerical preponderance 
 of plants analogous to the Ductulosce, but differing in 
 species and genera from existing forms, constitute, therefore, 
 the most striking botanical feature of the flora of this epoch. 
 Thus we have trees allied to the equisetaceee, thirty or forty 
 feet high, and eighteen inches or more in circumference 
 (Catamites) ; arborescent club-mosses (Lepidodendra), attain- 
 ing an altitude of sixty or seventy feet : and zamia-like 
 coniferse (Sigillarice), fifty feet high. Of these ancient 
 and extinct types, the latter tribe is especially remark- 
 able in consequence of the peculiar circumstances under 
 which the erect stems and roots occur, and which it will 
 here be necessary to consider, as the phenomenon is highly 
 interesting, and bears strongly on the question as to the 
 mode in which the tads of coal, clays, and shales, that 
 
 1 Figured in " Medals of Creation," p. 150. 
 
 2 See M. Brongniart's "Tableau de Veg. Foss." p. 43; "Pictorial 
 Atlas," Pi. XVIII. 
 
44 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. I. 
 
 constitute the deposits termed coal-measures, were accumu- 
 lated. Every coal-field (as a group of these strata is generally 
 termed) is composed of a succession of a triple series of 
 beds ; viz. firstly, the lowermost : a tough argillaceous 
 earthy stratum, termed under-clay, on which the bed of coal 
 invariably rests; and it is in this deposit that the roots 
 (Stigmaria3) of the trees are always found, and commonly 
 parallel with the pkne of the strata ; these are generally the 
 only vegetable remains contained in this bed, though the clay 
 is occasionally black from an intermixture of carbonaceous 
 matter. Secondly, the coal, which is composed of the stems 
 and foliage of trees transmuted into a bituminous carbon- 
 ized mass : large stems, branches, or leaves, are but seldom 
 found in it. Thirdly, the roof, or overlying stratum, con- 
 sisting of slaty clay, and water-worn detritus of other rocks 
 transported from a distance, and full of detached leaves, and 
 flattened and broken trunks and branches : it contains layers 
 and nodules of ironstone enclosing leaves, insects/ and crus- 
 taceans. In some localities beds of fresh-water shells as 
 mussels, in others marine shells, are intercalated : finely 
 laminated clays, micaceous sand, grit, pebbles of limestone and 
 sandstone, are sometimes imbedded in it. Thus it seems 
 probable that the under-clay is the natural soil in which the 
 coal-trees grew, the roots often remaining in their original 
 position and spreading out from the trunk : the coal is formed 
 of the carbonized stems and foliage ; and the roof, or upper 
 bed of shale and clay, is composed of the leaves and branches 
 of a forest that was overwhelmed and engulfed beneath an 
 accumulation of transported detritus. 1 
 
 PSAROLITES or PsARONius. Cases C, D, E. Lower Shelves. 
 [3 to 5.] On these shelves is an extensive series of sili- 
 cified stems, many of them cut transversely and polished ; 
 the specimens labelled as above are chiefly from the Triassic 
 or New Red Sandstone deposits of Chemnitz, near Hillersdorf, 
 in Saxony. They are portions of petrified trunks of trees 
 allied to the arborescent ferns and club-mosses, and possess a 
 remarkable internal structure, that is exquisitely preserved in 
 many of the petrifactions before us. The transverse sections 
 
 1 For a fall consideration of this subject see " Wonders of Geolo^v," 
 pp. 669, 718, 731 : "Pictorial Atlas of Organic Remains," p. 181. 
 
BOOM L PSAROLITES. 45 
 
 exhibit the arched bundles of vascular fibres which compose 
 the ligneous cylinder, surrounded by the cellular tissue. 
 From the stellated markings produced by sections of the 
 vessels that compose the tissues, and are visible to the 
 unassisted eye, these fossils have obtained the popular name 
 of Staar-stein or Star-stones. 
 
 Recent investigations have shown that these stems consist of 
 two distinct parts ; namely, an inner axis, surrounded by a zone 
 composed of numerous cylindrical bundles of vessels, which are 
 supposed to be roots that proceeded from the stem near its base. 
 In the exterior portion the air-foots have a vascular tissue, 
 but there is in many examples a delicate interstitial cellular 
 tissue. In the axis, the vessels form zigrag or vermiform 
 bands resembling those in ferns, and which are entirely com- 
 posed of barred or scalariform vessels. The Psarolites are 
 therefore considered by M. Adolphe Brongniart to be the 
 bases of the trunks of lycopodiaceous trees ; while M. Cotta 
 and others regard them as true arborescent ferns. The 
 external surface of the specimens I have examined has a lig- 
 neous structure, and is of a dark reddish brown ; internally 
 they are of a dull red colour mottled with various tints of 
 blue and yellow, from the infiltrated chalcedony with which 
 the vessels of the tissues are more or less permeated-* 
 
 ASPHODELE^ (Clathraria, JZndogenites, Dracaena). Case 
 E. On the lower shelves of this case there are specimens 
 of three remarkable fossil plants; two of which were first 
 discovered by the Author in the Wealden deposits of Tilgate 
 Forest ; the other by Mr. Bensted in the Kentish-rag near 
 Maidstone. They are placed under the name Asphoddeve. 
 
 CULTHRARIA (C. Lyettii). Case E [5]. The Clathraria (lat- 
 ticed-etem), so named from the appearance of the cicatrices 
 left by the petioles, is a remarkable tribe of terrestrial 
 plants allied to the Cycadeae, that flourished during the period 
 when the Wealden beds of the south-east of England, and the 
 lowermost and middle cretaceous strata were deposited; for 
 remains of these plants occur in the greensand and chalk marl 
 
 All the specimens in the Case were collected by the Author 
 
 1 Beautiful coloured figures are given in K Pictorial Atlas of Organic 
 Remains," PL VIH. M. Cotta has published an able work on the sub- 
 ject, in which nearly thirty species are described. See also M. Brong- 
 niart's " Tableau des Genres de Teg. Foss." p. 44. 
 
PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 from the calciferous grit of Tilgate Forest ; and they form 
 a highly instructive series, comprising portions of stems 
 scored with the imprints of the petioles, the internal im- 
 bricated axis, leaf-stalks, and indications of the foliage and 
 flower-buds. 
 
 The stem of the Clathraria 
 is composed of an axis or in- 
 ternal column, the surface of 
 which is covered with reticu- 
 lated fibres. The large branched 
 fossil lying on a slab of stone 
 in the middle of the case, is 
 the finest specimen of this part 
 hitherto obtained: it was dis- 
 covered, with bones of the 
 Iguanodon, in a quarry near 
 Cuckfield, Sussex, in 1820. 
 The axis is invested with a very 
 thick bark formed of the con- 
 solidated bases of the leaf- 
 stalks, the insertions of which 
 are rhomboidal and transverse. 
 The outer surface of the bark is 
 in consequence marked with elevated lozenge-shaped cicatrices, 
 separated from each other by a marginal furrow, which is 
 suiTounded by a parallel ridge or band of a fibrous structure. 
 The cortical portion of the stem is in general converted into a 
 cylinder of stone, which in some instances will separate from the 
 axis. There is a beautiful specimen of this kind in the case ; and 
 likewise one in which the axis projects, and is surrounded by 
 the bark. 1 The axis is solid, and has its surface strongly 
 marked with interrupted reticulated ridges. This surface has 
 generally patches of vascular tissue adhering to it ; and on 
 some parts there are deep pits or lacunae, which probably con- 
 tained a resinous secretion. I have spared neither trouble 
 nor expense in endeavouring to detect the organization of this 
 plant ; scores of sections of stems have been made and exa- 
 mined microscopically, but very few specimens exhibit any 
 
 LIGN. 15. WATERWORN SPECIMEN, 
 SHOWING THE EXTERNAL SURFACE 
 OF THE STEM OF CLATHRARIA L\ r - 
 ELLII. WEALDEN. 
 
 (| nat. size.) 
 
 1 This, and the large branched specimen of the axis, were first 
 described and figured in my " Fossils of Tilgate Forest," PI. I. 
 
ROOM I. 
 
 CLATHRARIA. 
 
 47 
 
 traces of structure ; and in those which retain some vestiges of 
 organization, the siliceous mass into which the vascular tissue 
 is transmuted, is not sufficiently transparent to yield satis- 
 factory results ; it can only be inferred that in their internal 
 organization, as in their external characters, the Clathrarise 
 were most nearly allied to the Cycadeae or Zamise. A remark- 
 
 LTGN. 16. CLATHKARIA LYELLII. CHALK MARL. 1 
 (J not. size.) 
 
 The summit of a stem garnished with petioles; the lower part shows the cicatrices 
 left by the removal of some of the petioles : a, the internal axis. 
 
 able specimen discovered in a stratum of chalk marl near 
 Bonchurch, in the Isle of Wight, throws much light on 
 these interesting plants : and I insert a figure, to illustrate 
 the fossils in the case before us. It consists of the summit 
 
 This specimen is in the collection of Captain Ibbetson, F.R S. 
 
48 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. I. 
 
 of a stem garnished with persistent petioles or leaf-stalks ; 
 it is fifteen inches in length, is perfect at the top, and 
 at the fractured end the internal axis, surrounded by 
 the false bark formed by the confluence and consolidation 
 of the bases of the petioles, is exposed. (See Lign. 16, 
 a). The stem at the lower part is bare, and exhibits the 
 characteristic lattice-like scars. The petioles are for the most 
 part entire ; some of them are abortive, and others which have 
 supported leaves are marked on the summits with vascular 
 pits, indicating that the foliage was shed naturally. 1 
 
 There is a fragment of an internal axis, about six inches in 
 length, that is placed near the large slab, which will interest 
 the botanical observer, and requires a passing notice. This 
 specimen is naturally separated transversely into two por- 
 tions; the lower one is convex on the upper part, and is 
 traversed by fibres, which extend from the outer surface 
 across to the opposite side ; the corresponding face of the 
 other portion is concave, and closely adapted to the convexity, 
 leaving on one side an oval hollow, which denotes the origin 
 of a floral axis or panicle, as is proved by the direction of 
 the fibrous structure. 2 
 
 From the obscure traces of leaves that have been observed 
 in some examples, it seems probable that the foliage resembled 
 that of the Yucca. Small kernels or seed-vessels somewhat 
 resembling those of certain palms, as for example the Areca, 
 are often associated with the stems of Clathrarise, and may 
 have belonged to those plants. The remains of these vege- 
 tables are generally deposited among gravel, or sand, with 
 water-worn bones of reptiles ; and are occasionally imbedded 
 in the fluviatile conglomerate of the Wealden. 
 
 Endogenites Erosa. Case E. The stems thus labelled are 
 also from the Wealden deposits ; they often occur in the 
 layers of lignite which traverse the clay-beds in some parts of 
 Sussex. These stems are from one to eight inches in diame- 
 ter, and five or six feet in length, and of a very irregular 
 shape ; there are no indications of branches. Some are 
 subcylindrical in the middle, and gradually taper to a point 
 
 1 See "Medals of Creation," p. 182 ; "Wonders of Geology/' p. 395; 
 " Geology of the Isle of Wight," p. 292. 
 
 2 Figured in " Medals of Creation," p. 183. 
 
ROOM I. WEALDEN PLANTS. 49 
 
 at each end ; others are of a depressed clavated form, like 
 some of the Cacteae or Euphorbise. These fossils are gene- 
 rally transmuted into a hard and fine siliceous grit, and, 
 when in situ, are invested with a friable carbonaceous bark of 
 a glossy lustre, which soon falls to pieces on exposure to 
 the atmosphere ; so that cabinet specimens seldom retain 
 any vestiges of this integument. When this crust of coaly 
 matter is removed, the surface of the silicified stem is seen to 
 be traversed by numerous fine meandering grooves, and deep, 
 tortuous, tubular channels, disposed in an irregular manner 
 in a longitudinal direction. These channels or vessels, which 
 are generally lined with quartz crystals, give the surface 
 that eroded appearance whence the specific name erosa was 
 derived : they are not, however, the effect of erosion, but of 
 the original structure of the plant ; they traverse the sub- 
 stance of the stems, and although no symmetrical arrange- 
 ment is apparent, this anomaly is probably attributable to the 
 changes which the vegetable organization has undergone during 
 its mineralization. In one instance (a specimen from the Weal- 
 den of the Isle of Wight), bundles of vascular tissue, ar- 
 ranged in a flexuous zone round the margin of the cylinder, 
 are observable in polished sections under the microscope ; 
 the structure approaches more nearly that of the Cycadese 
 than of the Euphorbiacese, with which some botanists have 
 associated these enigmatical plants of the Wealden flora. 1 
 
 DRACAENA (D. Benstedi). Case E. In the lowest depart- 
 ment of the same case are fragments of a large fossil stem 
 allied to the Draccena, or Dragon-blood Tree, discovered by 
 Mr. W. H. Bensted, of Maidstone, in a quarry of Kentish Rag, 
 near that town ; a locality to which we shall more particularly 
 allude in the sequel. The largest portion is two and a half 
 feet in length, and eight inches in diameter ; the surface is 
 marked with interrupted annular ridges, indicating amplexi- 
 caul leaves. These fossils were found associated with drifted 
 coniferous wood, and bones of turtles and iguanodons. 
 
 Medullosce. Case />. In the lower division, beneath the 
 Lepidostrobi, there are many specimens, some cut and po- 
 
 1 Figured in " Fossils of Tilgate Forest," PI. III.; " Geology of the S.E. 
 of England," PL I. : by Dr. Fitton, in " Geol. Transactions," vol. ir. 
 
50 ranarAcnam AMD THEIR TEACHISG&. CHAP. i. 
 
 feted, of small sflicified stems, from Chemnitz in Saxon j (I 
 beliere, from the carboniferous deposits), the internal structure 
 of which IB peculiar. The Tascular tissue resembles that of 
 Dracaena bat witii essential differences, which render it diffi- 
 euft to establish an v relatiou with existing types. M. Broug- 
 niart is of opinion that they will be found to belong to the 
 Cymdmam. 
 
 PMHL PAOWL Cata D, E. [5. c.D.J-r-The trees of this . 
 family, the greater number of which inhabit intertropical 
 regions, are remarkable for their elegant form and pecu- 
 liar aspect They hare a single cylindrical stem, which rises 
 to a great height, and is crowned with a canopy of foliage, 
 the leaves being Tery large, and either pinnated or flabel- 
 fiform, and plaited in regular folds. The Date and CocoA-nut 
 are well-known examples of the fruit 'The surface of the 
 stem is scored with transverse scars left by the petioles. 
 
 Ina fojdl state, the remains of this family are Tery abun- 
 dant ; the stems with their external characters and internal 
 organization preferred, and the leaves and the fruit, of several 
 extinct species, hare been discovered ; chiefly in tertiary de- 
 posits,* From the manner in which the specimens are 
 arranged in the collection, it will be convenient to notice in 
 the first place the fossil Palm-nuts in the case before us. 
 
 FRUITS OF PALMS, from the Isle of Sheppey.Cose E.Qn 
 the right hand of the central compartment in this case, there 
 is a Tery small collection of fossil fruits, from the well-known 
 productiTe locality of this class of organic remains, the Isle of 
 Sheppey ; and it is much to be regretted that our National 
 Museum is so deficient in these most interesting relics of this 
 ancient tertiary flora; especially when from the unriTalled 
 and inexhaustible mine of these botanical treasures hi the 
 little Island at the mouth of the Thames, there might be ob- 
 tained in the course of a few months, and at a trifling cost, 
 a more extensive and important series of the fruit* of the 
 Eocene periods, than is contained in all the museums of 
 Europe. 
 
 Kderring the reader to Medals of Creation," pp. 176, 
 897, for a particular account of the** fruits, and the cir- 
 
 1 See * MedaU of Creation," p, 173. 
 
BOOM L FOSSIL PALMS. 51 
 
 cumstances under which they occur, I proceed to notice the 
 only specimens worthy of remark. These are two or three 
 examples of the nuts of an extinct genus of palm, closely 
 allied to the recent JTtpa, which is a low shrub-like plant 
 that inhabits the Moluccas, growing in marshy tracts near the 
 mouths of rivers, where the water is brackish. The Nipa has 
 borne fruit hi the conservatory of Mr. Yates, of Lauderdale 
 House, Highgate. The fossil fruits (named Xipatite* Parkin- 
 soni), are known to the resident dealers and collectors at Shep- 
 pey as u petrified jig*? The nut or seed, and its pericarp or husk* 
 are often well preserved, as in one of the specimens in the 
 case before us. 1 Mr. Bowerbank, who some yean since assidu- 
 ously collected the fossil fruits of the Isle of Sheppey, and 
 published three numbers of a work on the subject, whose ex- 
 cellence renders its discontinuance muMi to be regretted, has 
 figured and described several species,* Mr. B. observes, that 
 "if the habits of the plants to which the fossil fruits belonged 
 were similar to those of their recent analogue, the *V;*i, it 
 will account for their abundance in the London clay in the 
 Isle of Sheppey ; which formation, from the great variety of 
 the fossilized stems and branches, mixed up with star-fishes, 
 shells of mollusks, and bones of fishes, crustaceans, and rep- 
 tiles of numerous marine and fresh-water genera, is strikingly 
 characterized as having been the delta of an immense river, 
 which probably flowed from near the equator towards the 
 spot where these interesting relics are deposited."* 
 
 PalwuKite* Lamanani*. Cote E. [5.] In the narrow recess 
 in this case, on the left of the door-way, there is a palm-leaf 
 imbedded in cream-coloured limestone, from the Eocene de- 
 posits of Aix, in Provence (this specimen was formerly in the 
 Author's collection). The leaves of several extinct species of 
 
 * Figured in "Pictorial Atla*," PL VL VIL 
 - History of the Foanl Fnutoand Seeds of the Londom Clay W tie 
 We of Sheppey." 1840: London. 
 As the aeed-vemeb and other vegetable remain* in the fefe f0h*f- 
 
 pey are aU of a tropical character, while taoce found inthe Boeene 
 ateUof Alra Bay , BoomemoaUi. and Kcwharen, are of a temperate 
 
 hoold be*re^rded a tran^orted from dUtent land, by cnrrenU and 
 the latter m tlu tne iam of * mmtoj inhabited by tne PalieoUiena 
 
52 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP I. 
 
 palms have been collected from the tertiary strata of various 
 parts of the Continent, but the first example discovered in 
 England was obtained a few months since, from the fresh- 
 water tertiary deposits at White- Cliff Bay, in the Isle of 
 Wight, by Mr. Fowlstone, of Hyde. 1 
 
 LIGN. 17. PALM-LEAF FROM EOCENE STRATA. ISLE OF WIGHT. 
 Palmacites Lamanonis. (\nat. size.) 
 
 Palm-stems. Cases D. and E. The lower shelves of Case 
 E, beneath the fossil fruits from Sheppey, contain many spe- 
 cime^s of silicified stems of palms ; and on the top of Case 
 Z>, there are several very large petrified trunks from Antigua, 
 and from the Eocene deposits of India. Some of these fossils re- 
 tain vestiges of the air roots which proceed from the lower part 
 
 1 See "Geological Excursions round the Isle of Wight," &c., 2d edit. 
 1851, p. 431. 
 
ROOM I. FOSSIL CONIFERS. 53 
 
 of the stem in this tribe of vegetables. The internal structure 
 is in most instances exquisitely preserved, and sections under 
 the microscope exhibit the organization of the original as dis- 
 tinctly as in the recent state. Some of these fossils are very 
 beautiful objects under a 'slightly magnifying power, whether 
 viewed by reflected or transmitted light, owing to the rich 
 tints of crimson, yellow, brown, &c. of the silex into which 
 the vascular tissue is transmuted, i 
 
 CONIFERS. Case F. [6. A.D.E.] The trees and plants that 
 are comprised under the term Coniferse, or cone-bearing, from 
 the form of their fruit, constitute an extensive and most 
 important tribe, which is divided into two families : the 
 Coniferce, strictly so called, as the Pine, Fir, Larch, Cypress, 
 &c. ; and the Cycadece, of which the Cycas and Zamia of 
 our conservatories are familiar examples. These families are 
 distinguished from all other dicotyledons by the remarkable 
 peculiarity of the seeds being originally naked or exposed, 
 and not enclosed within an ovary ; hence the botanical name 
 of the order Gymnospermous Phanerogamice . 
 
 The conifers are all arborescent, dividing into numerous 
 branches, which are disposed with considerable regularity ; 
 many are among the loftiest trees on our globe. The leaves 
 are in most species acicular, or needle-shaped, narrow and 
 linear ; in two or three, however, they are broad and flat. The 
 structure of the wood, though dicotyledonous, is so peculiar, 
 that it may be readily detected in a fossil state. There are 
 no true vessels, and the ligneous fibres are disposed in series 
 which extend parallel with the medullary rays, having on the 
 corresponding surfaces, or laterally, rows of regular punctua- 
 tions or ducts, with a central pore surrounded by a discoidal 
 areola. These ducts or glands, when in double rows, are 
 placed side by side in the European pines and firs ; but in the 
 Araucaria (Norfolk Island pine) they are arranged alternately ; 
 and such is generally the case in the fossil coniferous wood of 
 the secondary and palaeozoic formations of England. 2 Vestiges 
 of the coniferse occur in the various deposits from the earliest 
 
 1 A specimen, as seen by reflected light, is figured in " Medals of 
 Creation," PI. V.,fig. 1. 
 
 2 See "Medals of Creation," PI. Y. p. 162; and "Wonders of Geo- 
 logy/' 6th edit. pp. 696, 724. 
 
54 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP I. 
 
 traces of terrestrial vegetation to the present time. 1 The 
 trunks and branches, leaves, and the fruits or cones, of nume- 
 rous trees of this family abound in a fossil state, and in the 
 Case before us, there are many interesting specimens which 
 our limits will not permit us to dwell upon. There are fruits 
 of pines and firs from the Crag deposits, and from the green- 
 sand of Kent ; and foliage and stems of pines, araucarise, 
 thuytes, c., from the Lias and Oolite. 
 
 'Voltzia. The Case ^also contains some fine specimens of 
 Voltzia, a genus peculiar to the Triassic deposits, and one of 
 the most characteristic of the extinct fossil coniferse. The 
 leaves of these plants are alternate, and have much analogy 
 in their form and arrangement with the foliage of the Arau- 
 carise. The fruits are oblong cones, with scales slightly im- 
 bricated, which do not appear to have been contiguous, are 
 cuneiform, and generally have from three to five obtuse 
 lobes : the disposition of the seeds or grains is not determined. 2 
 
 Fossil Cycadeom Plants. The Zamise and Cycadese are 
 plants with cylindrical stems, beset with thick scales, which 
 are the bases of petioles that have been shed : the summit of 
 the stem is crowned with elegant pinnated leaves with simple 
 veins, and which in the young state are coiled up like a crosier, 
 as in the ferns. The Zamiae are generally short and robust 
 plants, but the Cycadese are longer, and some species are bifur- 
 cated, and attain a height of from twenty to thirty feet. The 
 fruits bear a general resemblance to the cones of the pines, 
 but the seeds are naked. The Cycadeae are natives of hot and 
 humid climates, and inhabit the West Indies, Cape of Good 
 Hope, the Molucca Islands, Australia, &c. 
 
 Numerous extinct species and genera of this family occur 
 in a fossil state, and they are especially abundant in the 
 secondary deposits the Lias and Oolite. In England the 
 most fruitful locality is the Yorkshire coast, near Scarborough, 
 where, in the intercalated fluvio-marine clays and shales of 
 the Oolite, leaves and fruits of numerous species are found in 
 great variety and perfection. The foliage is changed into 
 
 ' The association of coniferae with palms and arborescent ferns in 
 
 the tertia^ eaSUreS ' C0ntinues throu S h a11 th e subsequent formations to 
 
 2 Two species of Voltzia are figured in " Wonders of Geology," p. 547. 
 
ROOM I. 
 
 CTCADEOUS PLANTS OF PORTLAND. 
 
 carbon, but the venation is distinctly preserved. In the 
 Stonesfield Slate, and in the Portland and Wealden strata, 
 remains of this tribe are met with. The Museum con- 
 tains many beautiful specimens of the leaves and fruits or 
 cones of the ordinary species, which are arranged in the lower 
 part of the Case before us Case F of the plan, p. 10. 
 
 Of these the most striking is a well-known fossil plant of 
 the Scarborough Oolite, whose leaves and fruits occur in pro- 
 fusion in some of the strata. This species has been described 
 under the names of Zamia gigas, and Z. Mantelli, and has 
 lately formed the subject of an interesting paper read before 
 the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, by Professor Williamson 
 of Manchester. Several specimens of the fossils locally termed 
 " collars," are in the case before us : these bodies Professor W. 
 has shown to be a zone formed by a scaly bud which origi- 
 nally enclosed the germ of these plants : in the progress of 
 development the fruit burst through the upper part of the 
 investing sheath, and, as it grew to maturity, rose above the 
 incurved elongated scales, till the latter literally formed a 
 zone or " collar" around the pedicle of the cone. 
 
 LIGN. 18. LEAVES AND FRUIT OF ZAMIA LANCEOLATA, FROM SCARBOROUGH. 
 (nat. size.) 
 
 Zamia lanceolata. Case .P. On a slab of sandstone there 
 is a beautiful example of the foliage of this plant, with a 
 detached cone imbedded immediately above one of the leaves. 
 
56 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. I. 
 
 TREES AND CYCADEOUS PLANTS OF PORTLAND. Case F. 
 In this Case, and on the top of the same, are many subcom- 
 pressed, spheroidal, and sub-cylindrical silicified bodies, hav- 
 ing the surface covered with lozenge-shaped scales ; these are 
 fossil plants closely allied to the recent Zamiee, and were 
 obtained from a remarkable stratum in the Isle of Portland, 
 named the dirt-bed, which occurs in the quarries on the north 
 of the island, a few feet above the layer of building-stone for 
 which Portland has so long been celebrated. These fossils are 
 found associated with the erect stems and prostrate trunks 
 and branches of large coniferous trees, of which there is an 
 example twelve feet long on the top of Case D. The circum- 
 stances under which these petrified trees and plants occur are 
 so extraordinary, as to warrant a brief notice of the pheno- 
 menon in this place. 
 
 The Isle of Portland is a bold headland to the south of 
 Weymouth, about four and a half miles in length and two in 
 breadth, and is united to the mainland by a bar of shingle, 
 called the Chesil Bank. It presents on its northern aspect 
 a precipitous escarpment about three hundred feet high ; and, 
 declining towards the south, appears when viewed from the 
 east or west, as an inclined plane rising abruptly from the 
 sea. The base of the island consists of Kimmeridge clay, 
 which is surmounted by beds of sand and thick layers of the 
 oolitic limestone or Portland-stone. The strata dip to the 
 south at an angle corresponding with the outline of the surface. 
 The coasts are steep ; the base of Kimmeridge clay forming 
 a talus surmounted by perpendicular crags of oolite. The 
 southern extremity consists of low limestone cliffs, which are 
 worn into numerous caverns by the constant action of the 
 waves. 
 
 The summit of the northern brow, to a depth of about 
 thirty feet, is composed of beds of laminated calcareous shale, 
 locally termed "the Gap ;" and sections of these strata are 
 exposed in the quarries that are opened for the extraction of 
 the building-stone which lies beneath. 
 
 Immediately upon the uppermost bed of limestone, which 
 is a coarse rock, full of cavities and imprints left by the decay 
 of the usual species of marine univalve and bivalve shells of 
 the Oolite, are layers of calcareous shale a few feet in thick- 
 ness, in which no vestiges of marine fossils have been observed; 
 
ROOM I. PETRIFIED FOREST OF PORTLAND. 57 
 
 and whose laminated structure, and the presence of horizontal 
 seams of carbonaceous earthy matter, with interspersions of 
 vegetable remains, indicate a fluviatile or fresh-water origin. 
 Upon these deposits is a layer, from one to two feet thick, of 
 a dark brown friable loam abounding in lignite, and so similar 
 in appearance to common vegetable earth or mould, as to have 
 acquired the name of dirt-bed from the quarrymen. In and 
 upon this bed are numerous petrified stems and branches of 
 coniferous trees, and plants allied to the Zamiae. Many of 
 the trees and plants are standing erect, as if petrified while 
 growing on the spot ; the trunks of the trees extending 
 upwards into the limestone above, and vestiges of the roots 
 being traceable into the dirt-bed. The upright stems are in 
 general a few feet apart, and but three or four feet high, and 
 are broken and splintered at the top as if they had been 
 wrenched off at a few feet from the ground. They are from 
 a few inches to three or four feet in diameter; portions of 
 prostrate trunks have been collected, indicating a total height 
 of the originals of thirty or forty feet. In many instances 
 fragments of branches remain attached to the stem. The 
 cycadeous plants occur in the intervals between the upright 
 trees, and the dirt-bed is so little consolidated that specimens, 
 evidently standing in the position in .which they originally 
 grew, may be dug up with a spade. The strata above the dirt- 
 bed consists of finely laminated cream-coloiired shaly lime- 
 stone, in which casts of the fresh-water crustaceans (Gyprides) 
 so abundant in the Wealden, are the only organic remains 
 hitherto noticed. These deposits are covered by the modern 
 vegetable soil, which but little exceeds in depth the ancient 
 one above described, and instead of supporting cycadese and 
 pine -forests, barely maintains a scanty vegetation. Here, 
 then, we have the remains of a petrified forest of the ancient 
 world, the trees and plants, like the inhabitants of the city in 
 Arabian fable, being changed into stone, yet still retaining the 
 places they occupied when alive. 1 
 
 MANTELLIA (M. nidiformis and M. cylindrica). Case F. 
 Such are the remarkable conditions under which the fossil 
 cycadeous plants named Mantellia, by M. Ad. Brongniart 
 
 1 For geological details see "Wonders of Geology," 6th edit. p. 385; 
 or, "Geology of the Isle of Wight," 2d edit. p. 393. 
 
58 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. I. 
 
 usually occur, and which invest them with a peculiar interest. 
 These vegetables are from one to two feet in height, the 
 circumference of the largest not exceeding three feet. The 
 stem is sub-cylindrical, without a distinct central axis, and the 
 surface is scored with rhomboidal scars, which are widest in 
 the horizontal direction. There are two species, distinguishable 
 by the form of the stems and the size 
 of the cicatrices of the petioles. In one 
 the stem is short and spheroidal, and 
 the leaf-scars are relatively broader. 
 (M. nidiformis) : this species is named 
 "crow's nest" by the workmen, who 
 believe these plants to be nests built 
 by crows in the trees with which 
 they are collocated, and that the trees 
 and nests have become petrified toge- 
 . ther - ^e other species ( M. cylindrica) 
 isle of Portland, ffl sub-cylindrical, and relatively higher 
 than the former, and the cicatrices of 
 
 the petioles are much smaller, indicating a more delicate 
 foliage. The fruit of these plants is unknown ; one cone has 
 been found which it is supposed belonged to the Mantellia, 
 or some allied species ; it is figured in the Fossil Flora of 
 Great Britain as Zamta crassa. 1 
 
 FOSSIL WOOD AND TREES OF AUSTRALIA. Table-case a. 
 In the recesses of the east windows, and in the table-cases 
 beneath, there are many choice specimens of the wood, and 
 two portions of very large trunks of coniferse, from Van 
 Diemen's Land and New Holland. This fossil wood is partly 
 calcified, and partly silicified ; some portions being very earthy 
 and friable, and effervescing strongly with acid, while other 
 parts of the same stem are converted into chalcedony and 
 semi-opal ; in both states the organic structure may be 
 detected by the aid of the microscope. 
 
 The trees from which the specimens brought to England 
 
 1 " Medals of Creation," p. 160, lign. 38. 
 
 The fossil plants of the Isle of Portland are admirably described and 
 
 illustrated by Dr. Buckland, in Bridgewater Essay, p. 497, and pi. 60, 
 
 v nr S e 8 P ecies described in the text under the names assigned to them 
 
 f D Bkf niart ' are the Cycadites nwatoptyttus and C. microphyllus 
 
ROOM I. FOSSIL WOOD OF AUSTRALIA. 59 
 
 were obtained, appear to occur under similar conditions, and 
 to have been subjected to the same changes, as those of the 
 Isle of Portland above described. They are found with the 
 trunks erect, to the height of a few feet, in a bed of arid sand, 
 apparently on the spots where they grew ; the branches and 
 upper part of the stems being scattered around. They so 
 entirely preserve their natural ligneous appearance, that an 
 agricultural colonist mentioned as among the extraordinary 
 sights he witnessed on his first arrival in New Holland, the 
 burning of trees into excellent lime to manure the ground. 
 
 A forest of these silicified trees occurs on the eastern coast 
 of Australia under the following circumstances. At the 
 base of a mountain range composed of conglomerates and 
 sandstones, with subordinate beds of lignite, terminating on 
 one side of Lake Macquarrie, an alluvial flat extends to the 
 water's edge, covering the sandstone rock, which lies in situ 
 beneath. Over this plain stumps of petrified trees project 
 a few feet above the soil, presenting the appearance of a forest 
 in which the trees are all cut or broken off at the same level. 
 At the distance of a few yards from the shore, a reef is 
 formed by vertical rows of stems, which project above the 
 water. Many of the fossil trees on the shore have the remains 
 of roots extending into the sandstone below the alluvial 
 deposit ; and, like those in the Isle of Portland, are in some 
 instances surrounded by an accumulation of stone that forms 
 a mound of a higher level than the surface of the ground. 
 These trees are of a large size ; often six feet in diameter. 
 The concentric annular rings, and the medullary rays and the 
 coniferous ducts, are beautifully preserved in silex and chalce- 
 dony ; in several examples, from 60 to 120 annual circles of 
 growth were observable. 
 
 In the valley of the Derwent in Van Diemen's Land, opal- 
 ized coniferous trees of a similar character were observed 
 under conditions yet more extraordinary, by the distin- 
 guished philosophical traveller, Count Strzelecki. Truncated 
 stems of trees are standing erect in a bed of porous and 
 scoriaceous basalt, and trachytic conglomerate : but in some 
 instances these are only casts of trunks that were consumed 
 by the melted basalt when first ejected. This curious pheno- 
 menon can only be explained by supposing that the silicified 
 stems were able to resist the intensity of heat of the incan- 
 
60 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. I. 
 
 descent lava, while trees placed in circumstances unfavourable 
 to their petrifaction were consumed : but the latter, being 
 either saturated with water, or fresh and green, were con- 
 sumed slowly, and left cylindrical moulds in the cooled 
 basaltic scoriae, with impressions of the external surface of the 
 bark ; and these moulds being filled up by a subsequent 
 eruption, formed casts of the consumed trees in basalt. 1 
 
 With this notice of the petrified forests of Portland and of 
 Australia, our survey of the collection of fossil vegetables 
 contained in the British Museum is brought to a close ; for 
 the objects that remain to be noticed in this room belong to 
 a very different subject. Desultory and somewhat uncon- 
 nected as the descriptions and illustrations have neces- 
 sarily been, I would fain hope that this imperfect attempt to 
 invest with a higher interest these relics of the extinct tribes 
 of vegetables that flourished in the earlier ages of the earth's 
 physical history, will not prove unsuccessful. 
 
 1 " Physical Description of New South Wales," by Count Strzelecki. 
 
ROOM I. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 PART III. 
 
 FOOTPRINTS AND RIPPLEMARKS ON STONE FOOTMARKS OP QUADRUPEDS ON 
 TRIASSIO SANDSTONE CHIROTHERIUM ICHNOLITES FROM NEAR LIVERPOOL 
 
 ICHNOLITES FROM SAXONY ORNITHICHNITES, OR FOOTMARKS OF BIRDS, 
 
 FROM NORTH AMERICA SPECIMENS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM IMPRESSION 
 
 OF THE SKIN OF THK FOOT SIR C. LYELL ON THE ORIGIN AND NATURE OF 
 
 THE IMPRINTS. 
 
 FOOTPRINTS AND RIPPLEMARKS ON STONE. The intelligent ob- 
 server who has strolled along the strand of the sea-shore at 
 low water, must have often seen the surface of the exposed 
 sands deeply rippled by the waves of the ebbing tide, and 
 have noticed the trails of mollusks, and the meandering 
 furrows and ridges produced by worms or annelides, and 
 the tracks of crabs, and sometimes the footprints of birds, and 
 of dogs or other quadrupeds, that have walked over the soil 
 whilst it was plastic, yet sufficiently firm to retain the 
 markings impressed on it. Under certain conditions, these 
 apparently evanescent characters are indelibly fixed on the 
 stratum, and in rocks of immense antiquity successive layers 
 of sandstone and shale, through a thickness of many hundred 
 feet, are found deeply furrowed with the ripples of the waves 
 that flowed over them, and pitted by the rain that has fallen 
 upon them, and impressed with the footmarks of bipeds and 
 quadrupeds that traversed the sands whilst the surface was in 
 a moist and yielding state. Referring the reader to Sir 
 C. Lyell's " Elements of Geology," * or my " Wonders of 
 Geology," a for a full consideration of the physical conditions 
 under which these phenomena must have been produced, 
 I proceed to describe the slabs of sandstone traversed by 
 footprints of bipeds and quadrupeds, that are affixed to the 
 north wall, immediately opposite to the entrance of Room I. 
 
 1 " Elements of Geology," p. 297. 2 Vol. i. p. 372. 
 
62 ~ PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. I. 
 
 FOOTPRINTS OF QUADRUPEDS ON TRIASSIC SANDSTONE.' 
 Window recess between c and d, and upright case e. The 
 Ichnolites (as petrified footprints are scientifically termed) to 
 which I would first call the visitor's attention, are those on 
 the larger slab of sandstone, from near Storton, that is placed 
 in the window recess, between c and d, and the two from 
 Hildburghausen, in Saxony, that are deposited in an upright 
 wall case at e. 
 
 About twenty years since, much interest was excited by the 
 discovery of footmarks, resembling those of land tortoises, on 
 the exposed surfaces of slabs of Triassic sandstone, in a quarry 
 at Corncockle Muir in Dumfriesshire, of which an interesting 
 account was published by the Rev. Dr. Duncan. Regular 
 tracks of footprints, indicating the slow progression of a small 
 four-footed animal over the surface, while the stone was in the 
 state of moist sand, were traced on the blocks of sandstone 
 when separated in the lines of stratification by the quarrymen. 
 In one instance there were twenty-four consecutive impres- 
 sions, forming a track with six distinct repetitions of the 
 marks of each foot, the front feet differing from the hind feet ; 
 the appearance of five claws was discernible on each fore paw. 
 These foot-tracks most nearly resemble those made by land 
 tortoises of a moderate size. Another discovery of footprints 
 was soon afterwards made in strata of the same geological age 
 at Hildburghausen, in Saxony ; but these were evidently of 
 very large unknown quadrupeds, in which the fore paws were 
 much smaller than the hind ones. Subsequently, similar 
 fossil tracks were observed on slabs of triassic sandstone in the 
 quarries at Storton, near Liverpool. These foot-tracks are on 
 the face of each successive stratum of sandstone, the cor- 
 
 1 The following notice of the specimens is given in the British 
 Museum Catalogue: 
 
 " The slabs of sandstone on the north wall of this Room, with the 
 supposed tracks of an unknown animal called Chirotherium, are, that 
 on the left, from the quarries of Hildburghausen in Saxony ; and that in 
 the centre, from those of Storton Hill, near Liverpool, (the latter pre- 
 sented by J. Tomkinson, Esq.) On the right hand are placed slabs 
 from the same New Red Sandstone formation, with equally enigmatical 
 imprests of various dimensions, called Ornithichnites, being very like 
 footmarks of birds : they occur in the sandstone beds near Greenfield, 
 Massachusetts, at a cataract in the Connecticut river, known by the 
 name of Turner's Falls." 
 
ROOM I. 
 
 FOOTPRINTS ON STONE. 
 
 63 
 
 responding surface of the overlying stone presenting, in relief, 
 casts of the imprints, and other markings. Some of the 
 recently exposed slabs are covered with small hemispherical 
 depressions or pits, produced by rain-drops that fell while the 
 surface was soft and impressible. 
 
 CHIROTHERIUM. The quadrupedal Ichnolites at Hildburg- 
 hausen and Storton are of various kinds. Some appear to 
 have been produced by crabs or other crustaceans, and by 
 small reptiles ; but the most remarkable imprints are those 
 of large quadrupeds whose hind feet were nearly twice the 
 size of the fore feet ; a disproportion that prevails in certain 
 marsupial mammalia, and in batrachian reptiles. 
 
 LION. 20. CHIROTHERIUM FOOTPRINTS ox SANDSTONE. HILDBURGHAUSE*, 
 SAXONY. 
 
 ( not. size.) 
 
 a, b. Imprints of a hind foot and fore foot of the same animal. 
 c, d. Similar imprints of another individual on the same stone. 
 
 The two slabs of sandstone from Saxony (in the wall case) 
 have well-marked tracks of similar footsteps, the surface of 
 one exhibiting them in relief, or as casts, and the other 
 in intaglio, or impressed. The hollow impressions of the 
 feet are always' on the upper surfaces of the slabs of 
 stone, and the convex casts on the under side of each 
 layer or stratum, the latter fitting closely into the former. 
 
64 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. I. 
 
 On a stone six feet long by five wide, there were the foot- 
 steps of several animals of various sizes. The largest im- 
 prints are generally eight inches long, and five wide. Near 
 each large footmark, and at the distance of an inch and 
 a half beyond it, is the imprint of the forefoot, which is but 
 four inches long and three wide. These footsteps follow one 
 another in pairs, each pair being in the same line, and fourteen 
 inches in advance of one another. Each footmark has five 
 toes, and the first or great toe is bent inwards like a thumb, 
 and is alternately on the right and left side of both the large 
 and small footprints, which, except in size, closely resemble 
 each other. 
 
 M. Kaup, who first described these remarkable fossils, 
 proposed the name Chirotherium for the unknown animal 
 whose existence 'is indicated by these hand-like footmarks. 
 No certain remains of the beings whose footsteps are the 
 subject of these remarks have hitherto been discovered. 
 There have, however, been obtained from the same deposits 
 in Germany and England, skulls, teeth, and bones, of several 
 species of an extinct genus of reptiles, supposed to be related 
 to the Batrachians, or frog-tribe, and which have been named 
 Ldbyrinthodon, from the peculiar character of the intimate 
 structure of the teeth. 1 Some of these Saurians must have 
 attained a magnitude equal to that indicated by the largest 
 Chirotherium tracks, while other species corresponded in size 
 with the lesser Ichnolites. There is, therefore, much pro- 
 bability in the conjecture that the Labyrinthodons were the 
 originals of the hypotnetical Chirotheria ; but, unfortunately, 
 the form and structure of the feet is unknown, for no bones 
 of the extremities have been discovered j the presumed iden- 
 tity cannot, therefore, be determined, till more instructive 
 specimens are brought to light. 
 
 ORNITHICHNITES. (Footprints of Birds on stone.} North 
 Wall. The river Connecticut, in part of its course through 
 the country which bears its name, and in the northern dis- 
 tricts of the adjoining State of Massachusetts, flows through a 
 valley formed of argillaceous sandstone, probably of the age 
 of the Triassic formation, resting unconformably on the in- 
 
 See "Wonders of Geology," p. 554. 
 
ROOM I. OKNITHICHNITES. 65 
 
 clined edges of primary or palaeozoic rocks. These deposits are 
 traversed from north to south, through an extent of eighty or a 
 hundred miles, by basaltic dykes, which have elevated the sand- 
 stone beds on the east, and partially overspread them on the 
 west, the strata dipping in the latter direction at an angle of 
 from 20" to 50; successive layers of sandstone are thus exposed, 
 and accessible along considerable tracts of country. From this 
 circumstance, and from the facility of transport afforded by the 
 proximity of the river, numerous quarries have, for many years, 
 been profitably worked near the water's edge in various locali- 
 ties in the valley of the Connecticut. About fifteen years ago, 
 attention was directed to numerous tracks of trifid imprints 
 which appeared on the upper surface of the sandstone, with 
 the corresponding figures in relief on the under face of the 
 superincumbent layers, and which were thought to resemble 
 the footsteps of gigantic birds. At length some well-marked 
 specimens came under the notice of Dr. Deane of Greenfield, 
 who communicated the fact to Professor Hitchcock (the Pre- 
 sident of Amherst College), and other naturalists, and the 
 origin of these problematical appearances became a subject of 
 earnest inquiry. Dr. Deane diligently collected specimens 
 from various localities, and Professor Hitchcock scientifically 
 worked out the subject, and in 1836 published the first 
 account of these fossil footprints in the American Journal of 
 Science. To this eminent observer is due the merit of having 
 established, upon scientific grounds, the true nature of these 
 enigmatical inscriptions on the Triassic rocks, and reduced 
 a mass of vague observations and conjectures to a systematic 
 arrangement of the phenomena in question. 1 The foot-tracks 
 are, for the most part, tridactylous (three-toed) ; but many 
 have a fourth toe directed backwards. Some resemble those 
 made by the feet of small birds, others of birds of moderate 
 size ; the greater number, however, must have been made 
 
 1 In England, Dr. Buckland was the first to admit the correctness of 
 Professor Hitchcock's interpretation of the facts observed : see Bridge- 
 water Treatise, 1836, vol. ii. p. 39. I must refer the reader for further 
 particulars to "Wonders of Geology," p. 556. Dr. Deane (who first 
 directed the attention of naturalists to the fact) has communicated 
 several interesting memoirs to the American Journal of Science, and the 
 Trans. Acad. Americ. The most complete and scientific memoir on 
 the subject is that by Professor Hitchcock, in Trans. American Academy 
 of Arts and Science for 1848, with numerous plates. See also Sir 
 Charles Lyell's " Travels in the United States," vol. iii. 
 
 F 
 
66 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. I. 
 
 by bipeds much larger than the ostrich, or any known living 
 types, and are comparable in magnitude with the footsteps of 
 the extinct Moas of New Zealand, of which we shall treat in 
 the next chapter. Tracks of small quadrupeds are oftentimes 
 associated with those of the bipeds, and appear to be referable 
 to reptiles possibly of the batrachian order, and related to 
 the Labyrinthodon, or Rhynchosaurus. The fossil footprints 
 occur in many localities, extending upwards of eighty miles 
 from north to south, and have been found in New Jersey and 
 Pennsylvania. In general they are abundant wherever 
 extensive explorations have been conducted in the laminated 
 argillaceous sandstones. Dr. Deane states that the most per- 
 fect and distinct specimens have been discovered in the beds 
 at " Turner's Falls," the northern termination of the sand- 
 stones. 
 
 SPECIMENS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM. It was from this 
 locality that the three fine specimens affixed to the wall 
 before us were obtained by Dr. Deane, of whom they were 
 purchased by the Author for the Trustees of the British 
 Museum, 1 and added to the collection in 1844. The foot- 
 tracks are not confined to any particular beds, but are re- 
 peated through the entire series of strata, which in some 
 places attains a total thickness of nearly 1,000 feet. 
 
 The laminated structure of the deposits indicates a slow 
 and gradual accumulation of fine sediment, like the deposit 
 of the mud of the Nile ; and the period through which the 
 same phenomena were repeated must have embraced thousands 
 of years. But though the vertical extension of the tracks is 
 so great, their horizontal distribution, so far as hitherto ob- 
 served, is very limited. Professor Hitchcock states that they 
 are generally restricted to a belt of rock only a few yards 
 wide, and which seems to have formed the shore of an estu- 
 ary; and that along this strand are the footsteps of all the 
 animals that frequented that ancient shore. 
 
 I subjoin a figure of one of the small footprints, (Lign. 
 21,) to show that the structure of the toes is analogous to 
 that in birds ; the number of phalanges in the respective 
 digits exactly corresponding; thus there are three in the 
 great or inner toe, a ; four in the middle, b ; and five in the 
 outer toe, c. The lobes apparent at the junction of the 
 
 1 At the cost of 60. 
 
ROOM I. 
 
 FOOTPRINTS ON STONE. 
 
 67 
 
 three digits are produced by the distal extremity of the 
 metatarsul bone : the hemispherical and circular spots with 
 
 b 
 
 LIGN. 21. FOOTPRINT OP A TRIDACTYLE BIRD, AND IMPRESSIONS op RAIN- 
 DROPS, ON SANDSTONE. CONNECTICUT. 
 (Nat. size.) 
 
 which the surface of the stone is sprinkled, are the effect of 
 rain, which must have fallen before the footprint was made. 
 
 The following is Dr. Deane's account of the specimens 
 before us : 
 
 " It is rare to find a stratum containing these foot-prints 
 exactly as they were impressed by the animals ; for they are 
 usually more or less distorted and obliterated by the soft 
 nature of the mud, the coarseness of the materials, and other 
 circumstances, which have partially defaced them ; so that 
 although the general form of the foot may be apparent, the 
 minute traces of its appendages are almost invariably lost. In 
 general, distinct evidence of the peculiar phalangeal structure 
 of the toes of birds is wanting, and each toe appears to be 
 formed of a single joint, without the terminal claw. But a 
 few specimens have been discovered in which the true charac- 
 
68 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. I. 
 
 ters of the foot are clearly developed, with its rows of pha- 
 langes, and its claws, and integuments. So far as my obser- 
 vations extend, the sharpest impressions are on the shales of 
 the finest texture, with a smooth glossy surface, such as would 
 retain the impressions of rain-drops (as in Lign. 21). The 
 layers of stone do not often present this kind of surface; but 
 recently I have discovered a stratum containing in all more 
 than one hundred most beautiful impressions of the feet of 
 four or five varieties ; the whole surface having also been 
 pitted by a shower of rain. The impression of a medallion 
 is not more sharp and clear than are most of these imprints ; 
 their remarkable preservation may probably be ascribed to 
 the circumstance that the surface of the stratum was in- 
 crusted with a layer of micaceous sandstone, which adhered 
 so firmly that it could not be removed without the laborious 
 and skilful application of the chisel. The appearance of this 
 glossy layer, which is of a grey colour, while the slab is of a 
 dark red, seems to indicate that it was washed or blown over 
 the latter while in a state of loose sand ; thus filling up the 
 foot-prints and rain-drops, and preserving them unchanged 
 in the smallest particular ; the form of the nails or claws, 
 and joints, and the deep impressions of the distal extremity 
 of the tarso-metatarsal, or shank-bone, being exquisitely dis- 
 played. The great slab (Lign. 22), which is about six by 
 eight feet in dimensions, and two inches in thickness, contains 
 above seventy-five impressions. There are five rows of the 
 species called by Professor Hitchcock Ornithichnites fuli- 
 coides? of five and six foot-marks each; three rows of the 
 medium size, of four imprints each ; one row of the small 
 size, of fourteen consecutive imprints; besides several others, 
 ranging from two to six impressions each. It is worthy of 
 remark, that of these numerous footprints, with but one or 
 two exceptions, two or more nowhere occur on the same spot." 
 The direction and disposition of these footsteps on the 
 largest stone are shown in Lign. 22 ; and lines are drawn 
 from one imprint to another in the course of the consecutive 
 tracks, to render the illustration more intelligible. The 
 principal tracks on this slab are as follow ; viz. 
 
 1 O.fulicoides, so named from the resemblance to the footprints 
 made by the recent Cinereous Coot (Fulica Americana). See " Trans. 
 American Geologists," p. 259, 1 vol. 8vo. Boston, 1843. 
 
LIGS. 22. ORNITHIC-NITES, oa FOOT- 
 
ROOM I. ORNITHICHNITES. 69 
 
 Fig. 1 to 1, directed from below upwards, is a track consisting of six 
 large footsteps. 
 
 2 to 2, from above downwards ; a track of four footprints, dis- 
 
 posed almost in a right line, and very far apart. 
 
 3 to 3, a track of five footprints, from above downwards, of a large, 
 
 heavy bird, like fig. 1. 
 
 4 to 4, from above downwards, four footprints like fig. 2, disposed 
 
 in a nearly straight track, and far apart. 
 5, a track of five heavy footprints, directed obliquely up- 
 wards. 
 
 6 to 6, five footprints of a large bird, in a track from below up- 
 wards. 
 7, a series of five delicate footprints. 
 
 8 to 8, a track of eleven very small footprints, disposed in zigzag, 
 
 and extending obliquely from the right extremity to the 
 upper edge of the slab. 
 
 9 to 9, a track of four large and distant footprints, passing 
 
 obliquely across the stone from left to right. 
 
 This description will suffice to convey a general idea of the 
 nature of these extraordinary remains. 
 
 A few shapeless fragments of bones are the only vestiges 
 of the skeletons of any animals, with the exception of fishes, 
 that have been found in the strata which have furnished the 
 slabs of Ornithichnites ; but some coprolites have been dis- 
 covered, which, from a chemical analysis, are supposed to have 
 belonged to omnivorous birds. The enormous size of some 
 of the foot-marks are calculated to excite much surprise. I 
 have in my possession (through the kindness of Dr. Deane) 
 imprints that prove the size of the foot in one species to have 
 been fifteen inches in length, and ten inches in width, exclu- 
 sively of the hind claw, which is two inches long. The foot- 
 prints of this bird, when in a consecutive series of five or six, 
 are from four to five feet apart, which must have been the 
 length of the stride of the bird : the longest stride was pro- 
 bably made by the animal when running ; the shortest, when 
 walking at a moderate pace. These footsteps indicate pro- 
 portions so far exceeding those of all known living bipeds, 
 for the foot of the African Ostrich is but ten inches long, 
 that geologists hesitated to adopt the opinions of the 
 American naturalist, in the absence of any relics of the 
 osseous structure of the supposed birds, although sanctioned 
 by the high authority of Dr. Buckland, who, from the first, 
 concurred in the views of Professor Hitchcock ; and I can- 
 didly confess my incredulity, until a series of specimens sent 
 to me by Dr. Deane, accompanied with a graphic description 
 of the circumstances connected with their position in the 
 
70 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. I. 
 
 strata, brought conviction to my mind. Professor Hitch- 
 cock's last memoir on this subject embraces figures, and de- 
 scriptions of footprints, which he considers as referable to 
 twelve kinds of quadrupeds ; viz. four probably Saurians, 
 two Chelonians, and six Batrachians. The bipedal imprints 
 belong to eight species of thick-toed tridactylous birds; 
 fourteen to narrow-toed tridactylous or tetradactylous spe- 
 cies ; two are probably of bipedal batrachians ; and eight 
 are not determinable. 
 
 I have described the bipedal imprints as those of birds, in 
 conformity with the opinion entertained by the most eminent 
 observers, who have carefully investigated the phenomena on 
 the spot. 
 
 IMPRESSION OF THE SKIN OF THE TOES. Unfortunately, 
 the footprints very rarely exhibit any traces of the struc- 
 ture of the dermal integument, or skin, a character which 
 would yield important evidence as to the reptilian or or- 
 nithic relations of the original. It may, therefore, be in- 
 teresting to state that on a slab collected by Dr. Deane, and 
 presented to me, there are two or three foot-marks with distinct 
 impressions of the skin of the under surface of the toes ; 
 and this structure appears to resemble that of the Ostrich. 1 
 
 1 This specimen is in my possession ; the following note from Dr. 
 Deane accompanied it : 
 
 " The slab is about two feet in diameter, and half an inch in thick- 
 ness. On the upper surface there are two rows of small elegant foot- 
 marks, of the species termed by Professor Hitchcock Ornithichnites 
 gracillimus ; one row consists of five, and the other of six consecutive 
 impressions. There is also a row of four footprints of a much larger 
 species, the 0. fulicoides. These are arranged around the circum- 
 ference of the specimen, and their alternate order proves that they 
 have been impressed by the same individual. There is a rare pecu- 
 liarity displayed in these larger impressions that adds greatly to their 
 interest; it is the markings of the papillae, and folds of the cutaneous 
 integument, which are very distinct; and this character I have only 
 observed in two other examples. The papillee may be seen most dis- 
 tinct in the first, second, and fourth footstep ; particularly in the 
 last of the series, on the top of the slab. The three tracks em- 
 brace fifteen impressions, and exhibit the articulations of the toes 
 perfectly. The surface of the stone is pitted by rain-drops, from a 
 shower which must have fallen before the birds walked over the soft 
 mud, and made the foot-prints. There are also indistinct traces of 
 the trails of worms, and of an Annelide. On the reverse of the 
 slab there are the casts of four consecutive impressions of Ornithich- 
 nites gracillimus; and a row of two, of dimensions intermediate 
 between those of the preceding varieties." 
 
ROOM I. ORNITHICHNITES. 71 
 
 But although the weight of evidence is in favour of 
 the ornithic character of these footsteps on the sands of 
 Time, the idea of such a development of the highly organ- 
 ized class Aves, during the Triassic epoch, is so utterly at 
 variance with what is known as to the existence of warm- 
 blooded, air-breathing vertebrata on the lands of the second- 
 ary formations, that until bones of birds are discovered in 
 strata of the same age, we would repeat the salutary caution 
 of an eminent palaeontologist : " Footprints alone, like 
 those termed Ornithichnites, are insufficient to support the 
 inference of the progression of the highly developed organ- 
 ization of birds of flight, by the creatures that have left 
 them. The Rhynchosaurs, and the biped Pterodactyles, 
 already warn us how nearly the ornithic type may be ap- 
 proached without the essential characters of the Saurian 
 being lost; and by the Cheirotherian ichnolites we learn how 
 closely an animal, in all probability a batrachian, may re- 
 semble a pedimanous mammal in the form of its foot- 
 prints." ' 
 
 Notwithstanding, therefore, the presumptive proofs lately 
 obtained of the ornithic origin of the footsteps on the 
 Connecticut sandstones, I do not think we are warranted 
 in concluding, in the absence of all vestiges of the skeletons 
 of the animals, that the countries of the Triassic epoch 
 rivalled the islands of New Zealand, in the abundance, va- 
 riety, and magnitude of that highly organized class, of which 
 no certain relics are known in formations of a much later 
 period. 
 
 SIR C. LTELL ON ORNITHICHNITES. I will conclude this 
 notice of a subject involving questions of such deep interest, 
 with the following extract from the admirable address of the 
 late President of the Geological Society, which embodies the 
 most recent observations and opinions of that eminent phi- 
 losopher on the phenomena in question. 
 
 " When I first examined these strata of shale and sand- 
 stone near Jersey city, in company with Mr. Eedfield, I saw 
 at once from the ripple-marked surface of the slabs, from the 
 casts of cracks, the marks of rain-drops, and the imbedded 
 fragments of drift-wood, that these beds had been formed 
 precisely under circumstances most favourable for the recep- 
 
 1 " Brit, Assoc. Report on Fossil Reptiles," 1841, p. 203. 
 
72 PETRIFACTIONS AXD THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. I. 
 
 tion of impressions of the feet of animals, walking be- 
 tween high and" low water. In the prolongation of the same 
 beds in the valley of the Connecticut, there have been found, 
 according to Professor Hitchcock, the footprints of no less 
 than thirty-two species of bipeds and twelve of quadrupeds. 
 They have" been observed in more than twenty localities, which 
 are scattered over an area of nearly eighty miles from north to 
 south in the States of Massachusetts and Connecticut. After 
 visiting several of these places, I entertained no doubt that 
 the sand and mud were deposited on an area which was slowly 
 subsiding all the while, so that at some points a thickness of 
 more than 1,000 feet of superimposed strata had accumulated 
 in very shallow water, the footprints being repeated at vari- 
 ous intervals on the surface of the mud throughout the entire 
 series of superimposed beds. 
 
 "When I first examined this region in 1842, Professor 
 Hitchcock had already seen 2,000 impressions, each of them 
 indented on the upper sides of layers of shale, while the 
 casts of the same, standing out in relief, always protruded 
 from the lower surface of the incumbent strata. Had they 
 been concretions, as some geologists at first contended, they 
 would have been occasionally found projecting from the upper 
 sides of strata of sandstone. I was also much struck when 
 following each single line of foot-marks, to find how uniform 
 they were in size and how nearly equidistant from each other, 
 whereas on turning to a larger or smaller set of impres- 
 sions, the distance separating any two tracts in the same 
 series immediately increased or diminished, there being 
 an obvious proportion between the length of the stride 
 and the dimensions of the creature which walked over the 
 mud. 
 
 "There are also a great number of examples where the trifid 
 impressions exhibit three marks of phalangeal bones for the 
 inner toe, four for the middle, and five for the outer one, as in 
 the feet of living tridactylous birds, and in each continuous 
 line of steps the three-jointed and five-jointed toes are seen to 
 turn alternately right and left. In one slab found at 
 Turner's Falls, on the Connecticut, by Dr. Deane, the fine 
 matrix has retained marks of the integument or skin of the 
 foot. This specimen is now in the museum of Dr. Mantell, 
 and the impression was recognised by Prof. Owen as resem- 
 bling the skin of an ostrich, and not that of a reptile. Such 
 
ROOM I. ORXITHICHNITES. 73 
 
 a test, in addition to the other evidence before mentioned, 
 should, I think, remove all scepticism in regard to the 
 ornithic nature of most of these bipeds. The size indeed 
 of some of the fossil impressions seemed at first to raise 
 an objection against their having belonged to birds, as it 
 far exceeded that of any living Ostrich ; but the Dinornis 
 and other feathered giants of New Zealand have removed this 
 difficulty. 
 
 " The footprints are accompanied by numerous coprolites, 
 and Mr. Dana has derived an ingenious argument from the 
 analysis of these bodies, the proportion they contain of uric 
 acid, phosphate of lime, carbonate of lime, and organic mat- 
 ter, showing that, like guano, they are the droppings of birds 
 rather than of reptiles. 1 Still it is asked, whether, if birds 
 were so abundant, we ought not to meet with some of their 
 bones in a fossil state, a remark, be it observed, which is 
 equally applicable to the associated quadrupedal imprints. 
 In reference to this question, I took pains, when on the shores 
 of the Bay of Fundy, after I had examined the red sand- 
 stone of the Connecticut, to inquire whether, in digging 
 trenches through the red mud of recent origin, from which 
 the tide has been excluded by sea-banks, they had ever found 
 the bones of birds, and I could hear of no instance, although I 
 saw the sandpiper, or Tringa minuta, making every day those 
 lines of impressions in the mud bordering the estuary which 
 I have described and figured in my ' Travels.' 2 My friend 
 Dr. Webster, of Kentville, Nova Scotia, has recently sent me 
 some fine examples of rain-drops, which he saw formed during 
 a shower on this modern mud, and casts of which project in 
 relief from the under-side of an incumbent layer of the same 
 argillaceous deposit, thrown down during a subsequent rise of 
 the tides. Thus marked and traversed by cracks caused by 
 shrinkage, and containing the footprints of birds, they pre- 
 sent a perfect counterpart of many of the old triassic shales 
 above described.*** 
 
 1 " Amer. Journ. of Science," vol. xlviii. p. 46. 
 
 2 Sir Charles Lyell has presented specimens of the foot-tracks of 
 these birds on the sandy shores of the Bay of Fundy to the British 
 Museum, for comparison with the fossils. 
 
 8 Sir C. Lyell's Anniversary Address, pp. 44, 45. 
 
PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. 
 
 PLAN OF ROOM II. 
 
 Entrance from Room I. 
 
 
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 Room Til. 
 
 
 
 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 PART I. 
 
 PLAN OF ROOM II. SYNOPSIS OP CONTENTS OP ROOM II. MAMMALIAN 
 
 REMAINS MEGALONYX MOA HEXAPROTODOK M YLODON MACRAU- 
 
 CHKNIA SCELIDOTHERICM MEGALOCHELYS STARFISHES CRINOIDKA - 
 MINERALS FOSSIL BIRDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 
 
 THE arrangement of the objects in the apartment we shall 
 next survey is but temporary ; some of the cases are empty, 
 and others contain fossil remains of Mammalia, Birds, and 
 Reptiles ; and of Starfishes, and Crinoidea. The subjoined 
 synopsis will therefore suffice to direct the visitor to the spe- 
 cimens most worthy of attention in this miscellaneous col- 
 lection, and our descriptions will embrace but two classes of 
 objects, namely, the fossil Starfishes and Crinoidea in Case G \ 
 and the remains of the Moa or Dinornis, and other extinct 
 birds of New Zealand, contained in Wall-cases B and C, and 
 Table-cases 15, 16, and 17. The latter comprise relics of several 
 extraordinary ornithic types, presenting osteological characters 
 previously unknown in animals of this class, and which de- 
 mand minute examination ; while the geological history of 
 the deposits in which these bones were contained invests the 
 subject with a high degree of interest and importance. 
 
 ROOM II. 
 
 (62 feet long.) 
 
 SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS. 
 ORGANIC REMAINS. 
 
 WALL-CASES. These are only partially filled, and the ar- 
 rangement is but provisional. Those on the left, or south 
 side, contain a miscellaneous assemblage of bones and teeth 
 
76 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. II. 
 
 of Mammalia and Reptiles, and many bones of colossal 
 Birds from New Zealand. 
 
 A. [1.] Bones of Mammalia from the drift and alluvial 
 deposits of England. Among them are teeth of Elephants, 
 Horses, Deer, Ox, &c. (collected by the Author), from the strata 
 overlying the Chalk along the Sussex Coast, between Brighton 
 and Rottingdean. The ungueal bone, cannon or metatarsal 
 bone, and teeth, of an extinct species of Horse (Equus fos- 
 silis), imbedded in masses of conglomerated pebbles from the 
 ancient shingle bed, are especially worthy of notice. 1 
 
 Near these fossils are several bones (of a bluish black co- 
 lour, from phosphate of iron) of a Deer, discovered in the 
 alluvial silt of Lewes Levels. 
 
 B. [2.] Megalonyx. On a shelf on the upper part of this 
 case there is a series of models of bones of the Megalonyx, 
 a colossal extinct Edentate mammalian ; the originals were 
 discovered in the celebrated Mammoth Cave, in Kentucky, 
 United States. 2 
 
 Moa or Dinornis. On the upper shelves of this case, to the 
 right of the above specimens, are many bones of the extremi- 
 ties, and several pelves, of extinct colossal birds from New 
 Zealand, called Moa by the natives, but more generally known 
 by the scientific name, DINORNIS. All these specimens 
 were collected by Mr. Percy Earle, from the submerged 
 deposit at Waikouaiti, on the eastern shore of the Middle 
 Island, which will hereafter be particularly described. The 
 enormous size of some of these bones cannot fail to arrest 
 the visitors' attention : a tibia, or leg-bone, in this collection 
 is one of the largest known, and indicates a bird eleven or 
 twelve feet high. 
 
 C. [3.] On one of the shelves is placed the anterior portion 
 of the upper and lower jaws, with teeth, of an enormous 
 Gamal, from the Eocene deposits of the Sewalik Hills. 
 
 Skulls with teeth, and other bones of Mammalia, and por- 
 
 1 See "Medals of Creation ; Excursion to Brighton Cliffs," vol. ii. 
 p. 913. 
 
 2 Originally in the Author's Museum ; presented by Dr. Morton, of 
 Philadelphia. An interesting account of a late exploration of this 
 remarkable cave, by Prof. Benjamin Silliman, Jun., and Mr. Reginald N . 
 Mantell, is given in the " American Journal of Science " for May, 1851. 
 
ROOM II. SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS. 77 
 
 tions of the carapaces of Chelonian reptiles, from the same 
 strata, presented by Major Cautley and Dr. Falconer, are also 
 deposited in this case. Among the former are specimens of 
 the Hexaprotodon, an animal allied to the Hippopotamus, 
 and characterised by the presence of six incisor teeth in each 
 jaw : hence the generic name. 
 
 Mylodon. There are likewise bones of colossal Edentata, 
 from the Pampas of South America : the skull and bones of 
 Mylodon Darwinii (so named in honour of Charles Darwin, 
 Esq.) are particularly interesting. 
 
 D. [4.] Macrauchenia. In this compartment are bones of 
 the Macrauchenia Patachonica, an extinct Pachyderm, as 
 large as a Rhinoceros, uniting characters connecting it with 
 the Camel and Palaeotherium, from Patagonia; presented by 
 Charles Darwin, Esq. 
 
 In the same case are the skull, vertebrae, scapula, humerus, 
 femur, and other bones of the Scelidotkerium (S. leptocepha- 
 lum), an extinct Edentate related to the Mylodon : from 
 South America ; collected and presented by Mr. Darwin. 1 
 
 E. [o.] This case is filled with the remains of the carapace, 
 plastron, &c. of several individuals of the Megalochelys 
 Atlas; a stupendous fossil tortoise, discovered by Major 
 Cautley and Dr. Falconer in the Eocene strata of the Sewa- 
 lik Hills ; with the bones of Mastodons, Elephants, &c., to 
 be described in the sequel. A model of a young individual, 
 constructed by Mr. Dew, is placed near the entrance of Room 
 I., and is described ante, p. 11. Some of these relics show 
 that the length of the carapace was upwards of twelve feet 
 in adult specimens. 
 
 F. [6.1 This case is unoccupied. 
 
 G. [7.J Stetterida. On the right of the entrance. This 
 case is assigned to fossil Starfishes and Crinoidea, Some of 
 the Starfishes and Marsupites from the chalk of Sussex, on 
 the right-hand shelf, are unusually perfect. 
 
 Pentacrinites. In the centre of this cabinet there is affixed 
 to the wall a slab of Lias limestone, about five feet square, 
 from Bohl in Wirtemburg, on which is disposed in relief a 
 
 1 As these Mammalian Kemains will probably be removed to Boom 
 VI., it will be convenient to notice them more particularly when 
 treating of the contents of that apartment. 
 
78 PETEIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. II. 
 
 group of Pentacrinites, upwards of thirty in number, in the 
 most graceful attitudes, as if the creatures were sporting in 
 their native element : a matchless specimen. 
 
 Apiocrinites. In the lowermost compartment there are 
 choice examples of the Bradford Encrinite (Apiocrinites 
 Parkinsoni), collected by the late Channing Pearce, Esq. A 
 recent Pentacrinus caput medusae from the West Indies, is 
 placed in this case for comparison with the fossil remains. 
 On the right-hand shelf are fossil Starfishes of the genera 
 Aster ias, Goniaster, Amphiura, Comatida, &c. 
 
 Lily Encrinite. On the left there are examples of various 
 genera of Crinoidea, viz. Eugeniacrinites, Cyathocrinites, 
 Apiocrinites (A. Prattii, from the Author's collection), 
 Encrinus Townsendi; and of the beautiful Lily Encrinite 
 (E. liliiformis), from the Muschelkalk of Brunswick. 
 
 On the uppermost shelf are some fine specimens of casts 
 of Crinoideal stems (commonly called screw or pulley-stones), 
 in chert ; from the mountain limestone of Derbyshire. 
 
 MINERALS. 
 
 TABLE CASE 1. [54.] Contains the sulphates of lime. Selenite or 
 sparry gypsum, from Montmartre, Bex, Oxford, &c. ; anhydrite ; bar- 
 diglione ; and tripe-stone, a fibrous compact variety. 
 
 On the table near the window, beneath a glass shade, there is a re- 
 markably fine group of selenitic crystals, from Kemhardsbrunn, Saxe 
 Coburg: presented by his H. K. H. Prince Albert. 
 
 2. [7.] Sulphuret of copper, copper glance, or vitreous copper. 
 
 In this case are specimens of the so-called " Frankenberg corn-ears," 
 which are fossil vegetables mineralized by vitreous and grey copper ; 
 sulphuret of copper and iron ; copper pyrites ; variegated copper ore ; 
 Tennantite. 
 
 3. [53.] Sulphates of barytes and strontian. Celestine, &c. 
 
 4. [8.] Sulphuret of lead or galena. 
 
 5. [52.] Nitrates and sulphates. Sulphates of baryta or heavy spar ; 
 Bolognese spar ; ketten-spaths or chain-spar, from the Hartz ; cawk, of 
 Derbyshire ; hepatite or fetid baroselenite ; wolnyne, from Muzsay in 
 Hungary. 
 
 6. [9.] Sulphurets of bismuth, of copper and bismuth, of copper 
 and tin, or tin pyrites. 
 
 The remainder of this case is filled with sulphuret of mercury, or 
 cinnabar. 
 
 7. [51.] Green carbonates of copper. Fine and rare varieties of 
 malachite ; compact malachite, from the Ural Mountains. 
 
 8. [10.] Sulphuret of silver; common silver glance, massive, crystal- 
 lized, &c. Sulphurets of antimony. 
 
 9. [50.] Carbonates of copper; copper azure, &c. 
 
ROOM II. ORGANIC REMAINS. 79 
 
 10. [11.] Simple and double sulphur salts, formed by the sulphurets 
 of antimony or arsenic, with basic sulphurets of electro-positive metals. 
 Jamesonite ; geocronite ; kobelite ; boulangerite ; zinkenite ; silver- 
 blende, red or ruby silver, &c. ; bournonite ; polybasite. 
 
 11. [49.] One half is occupied by carbonate of zinc or zinc-spar; 
 calamine. The other half contains carbonates of lead or lead-spar; 
 carbonate of bismuth ; rare carbonates of cerium ; of yttria on orthite 
 from Ytterby, Sweden. 
 
 12. [12.] Grey copper or fahl-ore. Sulphurets of arsenic ; yellow and 
 red orpiment ; arsenio- sulphurets. 
 
 13. [48.] Brown spar. Carbonate of iron ; carbonate of manganese, 
 crystallized and in globular and botryoidal shapes, of various shades of 
 rose colour, on sulphuret of manganese, &c. 
 
 14. [13.] Oxides and hydrous oxides of manganese. 
 
 ** There is one table of minerals, near the north-east window, not 
 labelled. 
 
 The four following tables in this room stand parallel with 
 the windows, and are numbered consecutively from east to 
 west. 
 
 ORGANIC REMAINS. 
 
 TABLE CASES 15, 16, 17. Fossil Birds of New Zealand. 
 These three cases contain a fine series of vertebrae, bones of 
 the extremities, <fcc., dug up by Walter Mantell, Esq., of Wel- 
 lington, from a bed of volcanic sand (menaccanite), on the 
 west coast of the North Island of New Zealand, near the 
 mouth of the river Waingongoro. 
 
 15. Among the interesting relics in this case the visitor 
 should notice the femur, tibia, and fibula of the same young 
 individual of one of the most gigantic species of Moa. The 
 bones of the hind limbs in this case belong to several species 
 of birds, and are in a remarkably perfect state. 
 
 16. Contains the only known skull of a most extraordinary 
 type of bird, which is referred to the genus Dinornis : the 
 other cranium, with mandibles approaching somewhat in 
 configuration to those of the Cassowary, is the generic type of 
 Palapteryx. 
 
 In this case are the skull, and bones of the sternum, wings, 
 and legs, of the Notornis Mantelli, of which genus the only 
 known recent example has lately been obtained by Mr. Walter 
 Mantell. (See Frontispiece of this Volume.) 
 
 There are also tarsometatarsals of a remarkable extinct genus 
 named Aptornis : bones of a species of Nestor, and of the 
 
80 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. II. 
 
 existing Apteryx ; and portions of egg-shells of three distinct 
 kinds of birds, which were dug up with the fossil bones. 
 
 Other remarkable objects in this case are a femur or thigh- 
 bone of a Dog : the only relic of a terrestrial mammalian found 
 in the most ancient ossiferous deposits ; and calcined bones 
 of Men, Moas, and Dogs, that were dug up by Mr. Walter 
 Mantell from the ancient fire-heaps of the natives, at 
 Waingongoro. 
 
 17. A fine series of vertebrae, and tarsal, and phalangeal 
 bones, of various species and genera of Birds, from the same 
 locality. 
 
 18. This table-case has been removed since the plan was 
 engraven. 
 
 %* The intelligent attendant to whose surveillance Rooms I. and II. 
 are entrusted, is MR. SAUNDERS, who has for many years been attached 
 to this department of the British Museum. 
 
 Rooms II. and III. are superintended by MR. THOMAS PRIESTLEY. 
 
 Rooms IV. and Y. are under the custody of MR. LINGARD. 
 
 Rooms Y. and VI. are taken charge of by MR. DAVIES. 
 
 The civility and intelligence of these officers, and their obliging 
 attention to me on all occasions, I am gratified in having this oppor- 
 tunity of acknowledging ; and I may add, that the visitor, desirous of 
 examining any particular specimen, will have no difficulty in accom- 
 plishing his object by application to the attendant of the Room in which 
 it is contained. 
 
CHAPTER IT. 
 PART II. 
 
 FOSSIL STELLERIDJE STARFISHES CRINOIDEA ENCRINITES PULLEY- 
 STONES MARSUP1TES APIOCRINITES LILY ENCRINITE PENTACRINITES 
 PETREMITES. 
 
 FOSSIL STELLERID.E. WaU-Cose G. Under this name are 
 comprised two groups of radiated animals; namely, the 
 Aster idee, or Starfishes, and the Crinoidece, or Lily-shaped 
 zoophytes, of which there are specimens of many species and 
 genera in the case to which I would now direct attention. 
 
 The zoophytes, popularly called Starfishes, from their 
 stellular forms, are so generally diffused through the seas 
 surrounding our Island, that the common five-rayed Asterias 
 must be familiar to every one, and will serve as an illustra- 
 tion of the general appearance and structure of the beings 
 whose petrified remains are the subject of examination. This 
 species belongs to the division in which the rays are elongated 
 and far exceed in length tne diameter of the disc ; in another 
 group (the Cushion-stars), the body is angular, and the lobes 
 or rays are short, and not longer than the diameter ; while in 
 a third subdivision (Comatula and Ophiura), the arms are 
 distinct from the body, and elongated and articulated, as in 
 the Crinoidece. 
 
 The external surface of the common Starfish is soft, and 
 attached to a tough coriaceous integument, investing a skele- 
 ton composed of numerous calcareous ossicula, arranged in 
 regular series along the margins of the rays. Each ray has 
 a longitudinal furrow or groove, perforated at the sides by 
 alternating rows of pores through which tubular tentacula are 
 protruded. The mouth is situated in the centre of the under 
 
82 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. II. 
 
 surface. Now, if we imagine a Starfish placed with its mouth up- 
 wards and the five rays fringed with long articulated tentacula, 
 and fixed by the centre of its dorsal surface upon a' jointed 
 stem, we shall have the essential characters of a Crinoidean ; 
 and the animals of one recent genus of Asteridce are actually 
 in this condition in the earlier stage of their existence : these 
 are the Comatulce, or Feather-stars. 1 
 
 From the importance of the Crinoidese in the economy of 
 the ancient world, the history of this only crinoideal type at 
 present inhabiting the European seas, which once swarmed 
 with these beautiful creatures, presents many points of inte- 
 rest to the naturalist. The receptacle of the soft body of the 
 Comatulce, like that of the crinoideans, consists of a cup- 
 shaped calcareous base, which sends off from its margin five 
 arms, that quickly subdivide, and are beset on each side 
 with rows of articulated pinnae ; on the convexity there are 
 also numerous slender-jointed simple tentacula. The mouth 
 is situated in the centre of the area surrounded by the arms, 
 and is capable of being elongated. In the young state, the 
 Comatulse are attached by a jointed stem to other bodies. 2 
 The stem is composed of about eighteen joints, which are 
 pentangular. After a few weeks the Feather-star becomes 
 detached from its peduncle, and ranges the sea in freedom. 
 
 Four fossil species of Comatula have been discovered in the 
 Solenhofen slate ; and it is not improbable that some of the 
 numerous Crinoideans may be species of this genus in the 
 early stages of development. 
 
 In another group of Asteridse (named Ophiura or Serpent- 
 stars) the rays are long and slender, and without grooves or 
 tentacula, and are distinct from the body. These organs are 
 extremely flexuous, and in some species beset with spines, and 
 enable the animal to seize and entwine round its prey. There 
 are several fossil Ophiura from the lias in this Case. 
 
 Goniaster. These Starfishes are of a pentagonal form, and 
 bordered by marginal plates ; several fossil species occur in 
 the white chalk, and in this collection there are some beautiful 
 
 1 The reader interested in this subject should peruse the elegant and 
 charming volume on British Starfishes and other Echinoderms, by 
 Professor Forbes. 1 vol. 8vo. John Van Voorst. 1841. 
 
 2 See "Medals of Creation," p. 333. 
 
ROOM II. CRINOIDEA. 83 
 
 examples from Sussex and Kent. The chalk-flints often have 
 remains of Goniasters attached to the surface ; in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Northfleet, specimens of this kind of great beauty 
 have been collected. 1 
 
 CRINOEDEA. Encrinites and Pentacrinites. Wall-Case G. 
 The Crinoidese have a fixed pedicle or process of attach- 
 ment, an articulated stem composed of numerous separate 
 pieces of a solid calcareous substance, and a receptacle formed 
 of a series of plates, to the upper margin of which are attached 
 arms or tentacula. They consist of two groups ; one with 
 smooth, subcylindrical stems the Encrinites; the other in 
 which the stems are pentangular Pentacrinites. 
 
 The fossil remains of the Crinoidese have received the name 
 of Stone-lilies, from the resemblance of the receptacle of some 
 species when the animal is in a state of repose to a closed lily 
 or tulip. Only one living species is known, namely, the Pen- 
 tacrinus Caput-Medusw, an inhabitant of the Caribbean Sea, 
 of which there is a specimen at the bottom of this Case. This 
 animal has a long jointed stem, which is fixed at its base by 
 a pedicle or root-like processes, and supports a vase or recep- 
 tacle, formed of a series of calcareous plates closely adjusted 
 to each other, in which the viscera are contained. The upper 
 part of the receptacle is covered by a plated integument, in 
 which there is an opening for the mouth. From the brim or 
 margin, proceed ten multiradiate arms, which subdivide into 
 branches of extreme tenuity ; the upper and inner side of the 
 arms support numerous articulated cirri, or feelers. The 
 ossicula composing the column of support are pentangular, 
 very numerous, and articulated by striated pentapetelous 
 surfaces, and have a central perforation ; and there are arti- 
 culated side-arms, or tentacula, that radiate from the column 
 in groups of five, at different points. In a living state the 
 skeleton is covered by the integuments which secrete it ; the 
 mouth is situated in the centre of the plated integument of 
 the receptacle, and surrounded by the arms, which, when 
 spread out, with their numerous cirri, form a net for the 
 capture of the prey, and are the organs by which it is conveyed 
 to the mouth. 
 
 The fossil remains consist of the ossicula, or bones of the 
 
 1 " Pictorial Atlas," PL LIIL figs. 1 and 3. 
 
84 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. II. 
 
 column, arms, and tentacula ; of the plates of the receptacle ; 
 anji of the peduncle, or process of attachment by which 
 the animal was permanently fixed to the rock. The peduncle 
 is in some species flat and expanded, like that of the Gor- 
 gonice; in others, it consists of long jointed processes. These 
 several parts are commonly found detached, and intermingled 
 with detritus in the strata; throughout extensive beds of 
 encrinital marble, vestiges of the receptacle are but seldom 
 discoverable. In some localities the skeletons are pre- 
 served entire, and spread out on the surface of the layers 
 of shale, clay, or limestone, as if the animals had been enve- 
 loped by the soft deposit when alive in their native seas, 
 as is the case in many of the beautiful specimens before us. 
 
 These remarks will convey a general idea of the nature of 
 the beings whose remains are scattered through certain rocks 
 in such inconceivable quantities ; for, much as the columns 
 may differ in form, the ossicula in their markings, and the 
 plates of the receptacle in their configuration and ornament, 
 the same type of structure prevails throughout the family. 
 
 These durable parts of the animal fabric occur in immense 
 quantities in the ancient secondary deposits ; and in many 
 parts of England, and of northern Europe and America, 
 entire mountain-chains are chiefly composed of the bones and 
 detritus of Crinoidece, belonging to numerous extinct species 
 and genera. 
 
 Screw or Pulley-stones. Upper Shelf F. The circular, 
 or pentagonal channel formed by the united ossicula of the 
 column, has given rise to the curious fossils called, in Derby- 
 shire, Screw, or Pulley-stones, which are flint casts of these 
 cavities. These bodies occur in the chert, which is interstra- 
 tified with the mountain limestone ; the siliceous matter, 
 when fluid, having filled up the channels, and invested the 
 calcareous stems : the latter have since been dissolved, and 
 consequently solid cylinders of flint, resembling a pulley, 
 alone remain ; the masses of chert are often impressed with the 
 ornamented articulating surfaces of the ossicula, or trochites. 
 These fossils are sometimes mineralized by galena, or sulphuret 
 of lead, as in the specimens in this cabinet. 
 
 In the quarries on Middeton Moor, near Cromford, Derby- 
 shire, where extensive beds of limestone composed of crinoideal 
 remains are worked for chimney-pieces, and other ornamental 
 
ROOM II. MARSUPITES. 85 
 
 purposes, beautiful examples of these fossils may be obtained. 
 The cavities of the columns and ossicula are often filled with 
 white calcareous spar ; while the ground of the marble is of 
 a dark reddish brown colour. In other varieties of the 
 Derbyshire entrochal limestones, the substance of the fossils is 
 white, and the ground dark grey or brown ; both kinds, when 
 worked into ornaments, are very beautiful and interesting. 1 
 
 MARSUPITES (M. Miller i). Wall-Case G. On the upper 
 and right-hand Shelf. The chalk fossils labelled Marsupites 
 in the upper compartment of this cabinet belong to an inte- 
 resting extinct type of Stelleridse, that forms a connecting 
 link between the Starfishes and the Crinoideans. Like the 
 former, it is free, and destitute of a column of support or 
 pedicle ; while it has the receptacle composed of articulated 
 plates, and flexible arms, as in the lily-shaped animals. These 
 fossils are peculiar to the white chalk deposits, and were first 
 described by Mr. Parkinson in the "Organic Remains of 
 a Former World," under the name of " Tortoise Encrinite," 
 that excellent observer having supposed, from the sculpturing 
 of the plates of certain specimens, that they were related to 
 the Actinocrinites, and had a jointed column. The true 
 characters of the original were first pointed out in my " Fossils 
 of the South Downs ;" 2 and the name Marsupites, suggested 
 by the purse-like form of the closed specimens, was adopted. 
 
 The receptacle of the Marsupite is of a subovate shape, 
 rounded and entire at the dorsal aspect, consisting of a large 
 central plate, and a series of polygonal plates, with five arms 
 attached to the margin. The opening of the receptacle was 
 covered by an integument supported by numerous small 
 seniilunar ossicula, in the centre or side of which the buccal 
 aperture, or mouth, was placed. The external surface of the 
 receptacle is smooth in some examples ; in others it is deeply 
 sculptured with granulated lines and furrows, disposed in 
 a radiated manner ; and in a few instances the sculpturing is 
 rugous and irregular. The Marsupites vary in size from one 
 to three inches in length. The. receptacle is very capacious 
 
 1 " Pictorial Atlas," PI. XLIX. for figures of pulley-stones and encri- 
 nital marbles: and PI. XLVII. for representations of a great variety of 
 stems of Encrinites and Pentacrinites. 
 
 2 " The Fossils of the South Downs/' or " Illustration of the Geology 
 of Sussex," p. 184, pi. x?i. 
 
86 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. II. 
 
 compared with that of the Crinoideae. The central plate is 
 large and of a pentagonal form, without the slightest trace of 
 a process of attachment : five pentagonal pieces are united to 
 the sides of the central plate, and above these a like number 
 of hexagonals, which receive the five upper plates that form 
 the margin ; each of the latter has a semilunar depression to 
 articulate with the first joint of the arm. 
 
 Detached plates and ossicula of marsupites are not un- 
 common in the chalk of Kent and Sussex ; nearly entire 
 receptacles, filled with chalk or flint, are occasionally found in 
 the pits near Lewes and Brighton ; but examples with re- 
 mains of the arms are extremely rare ; and I have seen but 
 one specimen (the one in the Case before us, which I collected 
 from the Sussex chalk), in which .the plates of the integu- 
 ment that covered the opening of the receptacle are pre- 
 served. 1 
 
 APIOCRINITES. (A. Parkinsnni.) Pear-Encrinite of Brad- 
 ford. Wall-case G. The "Pear-Encrinite," from its size, 
 and the abundance of its remains in one particular locality, 
 is the most generally known of all the British fossil Crinoidese. 
 It abounds in the beds of oolite, especially in the quarries on 
 the heights above the picturesquely situated town of Brad- 
 ford, in Wiltshire. The receptacle, detached ossicula, and 
 the pedicles or roots, are very common ; and in some in- 
 stances the entire skeleton from the peduncle to the extre- 
 mities of the arms, is met with. The late Channing Pearce, 
 Esq., of Bradford, by unremitting attention to the collecting 
 of these fossils, obtained the beautiful specimens deposited 
 in this Case. 
 
 This Apiocrinite has a smooth receptacle of a pyriform shape, 
 composed of large plates with radiated articulating surfaces ; 
 the stem is short and strong ; the arms simple, resembling those 
 of the marsupite ; the peduncle spreads out into an expanded 
 base, which is firmly attached to the rock, like that of the 
 Gorgonia, and is generally of a rich purple colour. 2 Sir Charles 
 Lyell mentions an interesting fact relating to the occurrence 
 of these fossils in the oolite strata at Bradford. In Bur- 
 
 1 See " Medals of Creation," p. 319, Lign. 70; "Pictorial Atlas," 
 PI. XL VI., fig. 24 ; " Wonders of Geology," p. 652. 
 
 2 See " Wonders of Geology," p. 653; "Pict. Atlas," PI. L. 
 
ROOM II. LILY ENCRINITE. 87 
 
 field quarry, on the heights that overlook the town, a bed of 
 limestone was exposed, the upper surface of which was in- 
 crusted with the stony peduncles or roots of Apiocrinites ; 
 upon this stratum was a layer of clay, in which were 
 innumerable remains of receptacles and ossicula of stems 
 and arms ; some of the stems were erect, others prostrate, 
 and throughout the clay were the dismembered remains. 
 This submarine forest of Crinoideans must therefore have 
 nourished in the clear sea-water, till invaded by a current 
 loaded with mud that overwhelmed the living zoophytes, and 
 entombed them in the argillaceous deposit in which their 
 fossil remains are embedded. 
 
 LILY ENCRINITE. (Encrinus liliiformis.) Wall-case Gf. Left 
 upper Shelf. This exquisite species of Crinoidea is equally 
 interesting and attractive to the amateur collector and the 
 naturalist. Its remains do not occur in the British strata, 
 and are only known in the muschelkalk of Lower Saxony. 
 The specimens in this country are chiefly from Erkerode, in 
 Brunswick ; they are found in a layer about eighteen inches 
 thick, of a soft argillaceous cream-coloured limestone, which 
 is chiefly made up of trochites, (i.e. detached ossicula of the 
 stem), and a few fragile shells and corals. 
 
 The receptacle of the Lily Encrinite is smooth, and in the 
 form of a depressed vase ; its base is composed of five plates, 
 upon which are placed three successive series of other plates, 
 with the uppermost of which the arms articulate. The stem 
 is formed of numerous perforated round ossicles, articulated to 
 each other by radiated grooved surfaces, and becoming some- 
 what pentangular, and alternately larger and smaller towards 
 the summit, to which the receptacle is fixed \ a construction 
 admitting of great freedom of motion. 
 
 This Encrinite when lying in relief on the rock, with its 
 receptacle entirely or partially closed, so strikingly resembles 
 a bud or expanding flower of a lily or tulip, as to justify the 
 popular name of Stone Lily. An exquisite specimen is 
 figured by Mr. Parkinson. 1 There are a few beautiful exam- 
 ples in the Case before us. 
 
 PENTACRINITES. Wall-case G. In this group of Crinoideans 
 the ossicles of the columns are angular, generally pentagonal, 
 
 1 See " Pictorial Atlas," PL XLVIII.; " Wonders of Geology," p. 651. 
 
88 
 
 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. II. 
 
 but occasionally with only four angles ; in some species the 
 sides are acute, in others rounded : the articulating surfaces 
 are for the most part richly chased with floreal or radiated 
 striae, and grooved. 1 The arms in some species are very long 
 and greatly subdivided, becoming extremely attenuated, 
 and the ossicula proportionably minute. The exquisite beauty 
 of the plumose encrinites when expanded on slabs of limestone 
 and petrified by pyrites, is exemplified in several examples in 
 the Case under review. 2 
 
 LiGN.23. PENTACRINITES HIEMERI; PART OF A GROUP ON LIAS LIMESTONE, FROM 
 
 BOHL, WlRTEMBURG.* 
 
 (J- Nat. size.) 
 
 PENTACRINITES HIEMERI. Wall-Case G. On the large slab 
 of Lias limestone affixed to the wall in the centre of this Case, 
 is an exquisite group of thirty Pentacrinites, exposed in relief 
 on the surface of the stone, in as perfect a state as if just 
 
 1 " Pictorial Atlas," PI. XLVII. The Briarean Pentacrinite is fully 
 illustrated and described in detail in Dr. Buckland's Bridgewater 
 Essay, p. 484. 
 
 2 "Pictorial Atlas," PI. LI. LIT. 
 
 3 This species was named and figured by M. Konig in his " Icones 
 Fossilium sectiles" PI. III., fig. 29, in 1826* 
 
ROOM II. PENTREMITES. 89 
 
 dredged up from the bottom of the sea. The reduced sketch 
 of a small portion will serve to convey an idea of the elegant 
 forms of these petrified zoophytes of the Jurassic ocean ; 
 the contemporaries of the Ichthyosauri and other marine rep- 
 tiles, of which we shall treat hereafter. The Pentacrinites 
 on this slab are for the most part entire ; the peduncle being 
 affixed to the base, and the column extending upwards in gen- 
 tle undulations, and supporting the receptacle, which has the 
 arms gracefully outspread in various attitudes*. The struc- 
 ture of the receptacle, and of the arms, and the extreme deli- 
 cacy of the finer tentacula made up of countless minute 
 ossicula, are admirably shown in this unique and most 
 instructive specimen. 
 
 This Case also contains illustrative examples of the Actino- 
 crinites (Nave Encrinite), 1 Cyathocrinites (Cup Encrinite), 2 ^- 
 geniacrinites (Clove Encrinite), and several other genera. 
 
 Pentremites. One peculiar type of Crinoidea requires a 
 brief notice, as it was supposed to be without arms, and to form 
 a connecting link between the lily-shaped zoophytes and the 
 sea-urchins. The Pentremites has a receptacle supported by 
 a short pedicle, and composed of polygonal plates, divided by 
 five perforated grooves or furrows, which are of an elongated 
 petalous form, and converge in a rosette on the summit. 
 The marginal longitudinal rows of minute pores are not how- 
 ever for the passage of soft membranous feelers, as in the 
 ambulacra of echinoderms, as was formerly conjectured, but 
 are channels for the transit of vessels that supply an infinite 
 number of delicate simple tentacula, composed of extremely 
 minute calcareous ossicula, as in the other Crinoidea, but not 
 subdivided as in the Pentacrinites -and Encrinites. These 
 tentacula are directed upwards towards the vertex of the 
 receptacle, and are supposed to have been organs for seizing 
 and conveying food to the mouth. 3 
 
 These Crinoideans abound in the mountain limestone, 
 especially in some districts of the United States, where certain 
 strata are distinguished by the name of pentremital limestone. 4 
 
 1 "Medals of Creation," p. 324. 2 Ibid. p. 326. 
 
 3 See Dr. Fred. Roemer on Jointed Tentacles found on the ambulacra! 
 spaces of Pentremites, " Geol. Journal," vol. v. p. 8. 
 
 4 "Medals of Creation/' p. 327. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 PART III. , 
 THE FOSSIL BIRDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 
 
 FOSSIL REMAINS OF BIRDS MOA OF NEW ZEALAND NATIVE TRADITIONS- 
 HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY GEOLOGY OF NEW ZEALAND MOA-BED AT 
 WAIKOUAITI OSSIFEROUS DEPOSITS IN THE NORTH ISLAND BONE OAVES 
 FLORA AND FAUNA OF NEW ZEALAND THE APTERYX MOA, OR 
 DINORNIS CRANIUM BONES OF EXTREMITIES OF DINORNIS FOOT OF 
 DINORNIS PALAPTERYX CRANIUM FOSSIL EGGS OF DINORNIS APTORNIS 
 FOSSIL BONES OF NOTORNIS DISCOVERY OF A LIVING NOTORNIS FOSSIL 
 PARROT APTERYX ALBATROSS PENGUIN DOG SEALS BURNT HUMAN 
 BONES RETROSPECTIVE SUMMARY. 
 
 FOSSIL REMAINS OF BIRDS. Before describing the speci- 
 mens which form the immediate subject of the present 
 section, I would offer a few general observations on the 
 occurrence of the remains of Birds in a fossil state, as intro- 
 ductory to the interesting phenomena that will shortly 
 engage our attention. 
 
 Relics of birds are of extreme rarity in the mineral king- 
 dom ; throughout the immense series of palaeozoic and 
 secondary formations, the accumulated deposits of innumer- 
 able ages, no unquestionable indications of the existence of 
 this class of highly organized beings have been brought to 
 light. 
 
 Triassic Epoch. In the Triassic or New Red argillaceous 
 sandstones of the Valley of the Connecticut River, the 
 remarkable foot-tracks described in a previous chapter, and 
 of which there are illustrative examples in Room I. (ante, 
 p. 13), seem to render it highly probable that birds of 
 great size, and referable to numerous species and genera, 
 existed during the period when the Triassic strata of the 
 
ROOM II. FOSSIL REMAINS OF BIRDS. 91 
 
 United States were deposited ; but, unfortunately, notwith- 
 standing the preponderance of the evidence in favour of the 
 ornithic origin of these mysterious imprints on the rocks, the 
 only certain proofs remains of the skeleton are still 
 wanting : no bones of animals of a 'higher class than fishes 
 and reptiles having been discovered. 
 
 Oolitic and Wealden Epochs. In the vast fluviatile 
 formation, the Wealden of the South-East of England, which 
 abounds in the remains of terrestrial plants and reptiles, 
 numerous fragments of bones of such tenuity as to show that 
 they belonged to animals capable of flight, have from time to 
 time been collected, since my discovery and announcement, in 
 1822, of the occurrence of supposed bones of birds in the 
 strata of Tilgate Forest. Some of the bones in my collection 
 were regarded, by Baron Cuvier, and subsequently by other 
 eminent anatomists, as unquestionably those of birds ; one spe- 
 cimen especially was conceived to be decisive of the question, 
 for Professor Owen supposed it to be the tarso-metatarsal of 
 a wader, with the oval cicatrix for the attachment of the hind 
 toe ; but this fossil ultimately proved to be the distal end of 
 a humerus. 
 
 Later observations have shown that it is probable all the 
 presumed ornithic remains from the Wealden belong to 
 Pterodactyles, as well as those from the oolitic strata of 
 Stonesfield. The microscopic examination of some of the 
 thin cylindrical bones from each of these formations, by Mr. 
 Quekett and Mr. Bowerbank, has, however, revealed a struc- 
 ture which these gentlemen regard as exclusively ornithic. 
 
 Cretaceom Epoch. In the Chalk formation many osseous 
 remains of animals capable of flight, as indicated by the 
 articulations, and the extreme tenuity of the walls of the 
 bones, have been obtained from Burham quarries, near 
 Maidstone. Some of these specimens have been figured and 
 described by Professor Owen as those of a bird allied to the 
 Albatross, under the name of Cimoliornis Diomedeiis ; l but the 
 occurrence in the same strata of the skull, jaws with teeth, and 
 other unquestionable bones of gigantic Pterodactyles, and the 
 absence, in the fossils, of osteological characters exclusively 
 
 i " British Fossils, Mammals, and Birds," p. 545 ; and Dixon's Fossils 
 of Sussex," p. 403. 
 
92 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. II. 
 
 ornithic, support the conclusion that these also must be 
 ascribed to flying reptiles. 
 
 The enormous size of the bones, however, indicating an 
 expanse of ten or twelve feet from the extremity of one wing 
 across to that of the other, and suggesting the idea of a flying 
 reptile equal in magnitude to the fabled Roc of Arabian 
 story, threw doubts on the pterodactylian nature of these 
 remains ; but Mr. Bowerbank has lately obtained from the 
 same quarry portions of an upper jaw with teeth, so large, 
 that the head of the creature to which it belonged could not 
 have been less than sixteen or seventeen inches in length ; l a 
 size proportionate to that of the bones of the extremities 
 above alluded to. 
 
 But although no certain vestiges of birds have yet been 
 discovered in the Wealden or Cretaceous formations, I think 
 there are good reasons for supposing that such remains will 
 sooner or later be brought to light : for independently of the 
 ornithic structure detected by the microscope, I had from the 
 Wealden a portion of an ulna, on which there was a row of 
 distinct eminences, as in birds, for the attachment of the 
 large wing-feathers ; this specimen was in the collection 
 purchased by the Trustees of the British Museum. 
 
 Tertiary Epoch. In the most ancient tertiary strata, bones 
 of several genera of birds occur ; in the Sub-Himalayan 
 deposits they are associated with relics of the extinct probosci- 
 dean mammalia of India : in those of the Paris Basin, with 
 remains of Paleeotheria, &c. From the miocene and pliocene 
 lacustrine deposits of Auvergne, bones, and even egg-shells, 
 of several kinds of aquatic birds have been obtained. 
 
 The ossiferous caverns which abound in the bones and 
 teeth of numerous carnivora, often contain the remains of 
 existing genera of birds. In the Cave of Kirkdale, Dr. 
 Buckland discovered bones of species of raven, pigeon, duck, 
 lark, snipe, &c. 2 
 
 The fossil bones of birds, however, even in the most recent 
 deposits, were of such rare occurrence, as to be ranked by the 
 
 1 Described by Mr. Bowerbank under the name of Pterodactyls 
 giganteus. Proceedings of the Zoological Society. 
 
 2 See "Reliquiae Diluvianae," p. 34; "Medals of Creation," A rt. " OIINI- 
 
 THOLITES/' p. 795. 
 
ROOM II. THE MOA OF NEW ZEALAND. 93 
 
 collector of organic remains among the most precious of his 
 acquisitions : until a few years ago, when a most extraordinary 
 discovery in New Zealand astonished and delighted the palae- 
 ontologist, by placing before him hundreds of bones of extinct 
 genera of birds, some of which must have far surpassed in 
 stature the most gigantic living biped the Ostrich. 
 
 THE MOA OF NEW ZEALAND. Native Traditions. 1 In 
 various districts of New Zealand there had been occasionally 
 observed in the beds of the mountain-torrents and rivers, 
 bones of several kinds of birds, of almost incredible magni- 
 tude. 
 
 The Maoris, or natives, were acquainted with the occurrence 
 of such bones long ere the country was visited by Europeans ; 
 and traditions were rife among them that a race of gigantic 
 birds formerly existed in great numbers, and served as food to 
 their remote ancestors. They also believed that some of the 
 largest species had been seen alive within the memory of 
 man, and that individuals were still existing in the unfre- 
 quented and inaccessible parts of the country. They called 
 the bird MOA, and stated that its head and tail were adorned 
 with plumes of magnificent feathers, which were worn and 
 much prized by their ancient chiefs as ornaments of dis- 
 tinction. The bones were sought for with avidity, and were 
 used in the manufacture of lures for fish-hooks, and other 
 implements. 
 
 The first European who appears to have taken cognizance 
 of these facts, and paid attention to the native traditions on 
 the subject, was the intelligent and active missionary, the 
 Rev. W. Colenso, who in a journey to the East Cape District 
 with the Rev. J. Williams, had his curiosity strongly excited 
 by the accounts given by the natives of the prodigious 
 
 1 The following account of the Fossil Birds of New Zealand comprises 
 the substance of a Lecture delivered by the Author before the BRITISH 
 ASSOCIATION OP SCIENCE at Edinburgh, August 5th, 1851. The history 
 of the discovery is drawn up from various sources ; principally from 
 the letters of my eldest son, MR. WALTER MANTELL, of Wellington, who 
 has resided in the colony upwards of eleven years : the geological facts 
 "are entirely the result of his personal observations. The anatomical 
 descriptions, and the determination of ihe zoological characters and 
 relations of the various species and genera, are chiefly abstracts of the 
 valuable " Memoirs on the Di norms, &c.," by PROFESSOR OWEN, in the 
 " Zoological Transactions" vols. iii. and iv. 
 
94 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. II. 
 
 size and strength of the Moa, which they affirmed was still 
 living ; and they alleged in proof of the accuracy of their 
 statements, the enormous bones occasionally discovered in 
 the neighbouring river-channels. After much labour and 
 research, Mr. Colenso at length procured a few specimens, 
 and subsequently a considerable number were collected by 
 the Rev. W. Williams, a masterly account of which was 
 drawn up by the former gentleman, and published in the 
 Tasmanian Journal. 1 
 
 HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY. In November, 1839, British 
 naturalists were first made acquainted with the discovery of 
 bones of colossal ostrich-like birds in New Zealand, by the frag- 
 ment of a thigh-bone of a bird much larger than that of the 
 Ostrich, which had been brought to England by a Mr. RULE, who 
 lent the specimen to Professor Owen, by whom it was described 
 in the "Zoological Transactions." This bone was part of the shaft 
 of a femur, with both extremities wanting ; it was about six 
 inches in length, and five and a half inches in its smallest 
 circumference. From the form and structure of this frag- 
 ment, it was inferred that it belonged to a struthious bird, 
 heavier and more sluggish than the Ostrich, with thighs 
 and legs shorter and thicker ; its proportions mor,e nearly 
 resembling those of the Dodo, than of any of the existing 
 Struthionidee. "The discovery of this relic of a large 
 struthious bird in New Zealand," observes Professor Owen, 
 "is one of peculiar interest on account of the remarkable 
 character of the existing fauna of that island, which still 
 includes one of the most extraordinary and anomalous genera 
 of the order the Apteryx ; and because of the close analogy 
 which the event indicated by the present relic offers to the 
 extinction of the Dodo of the islands of the Mauritius and 
 Rodrigue." 2 
 
 In Dr. Dieffenbach's "Travels in New Zealand," (1843,) 
 under the article Apteryx Australis, there is the following 
 notice: "To this order (Struthionidse) probably belongs 
 a bird, now extinct, called Moa or Movie by the natives. The 
 
 1 See Appendix A. Mr. Colenso's Memoir. 
 
 2 "Zoological Transactions," Vol. 111. Part I. It is much to be 
 regretted that this first specimen was not preserved in the College of 
 Surgeons ; but Mr. Rule informed me the purchase of it was declined, 
 and he afterwards sold it for 3Z. to Mr. Bright, of Bristol. 
 
ROOM II. GEOLOGY OP NEW ZEALAND. 95 
 
 evidences are a bone very little fossilized, which was brought 
 from New Zealand by Mr. Rule to Mr. Gray, and by him sent 
 to Professor Richard Owen. I possess drawings of similar 
 bones, and of what may possibly be a claw of the same bird, 
 which are in the possession of the Rev. R. Taylor, of Waimate. 
 They were found on the east coast of the North Island, and 
 were brought down by rivulets from a neighbouring mountain 
 called Hikorangi." 1 
 
 In 1843, a collection, comprising vertebrae, and bones of 
 the hinder extremities, pelvis, &c., were transmitted by the 
 Rev. W. Williams to the Dean of Westminster, (Dr. Buck- 
 land ;) and in 1846 many specimens were sent to England by 
 Dr. Mackellar, Mr. Percy Earle, and Colonel Wakefield. 
 These were placed in the hands of Professor Owen, and form 
 the subject of his first and second " Memoirs on the Dinornis," 
 in the "Zoological Transactions," Vol. III., in which the 
 genera Dinornis, Palapteryx, <fcc., were established. 
 
 In 1846 and 1847, my eldest son, Mr. Walter Mantell, of 
 Wellington, who had resided several years in the colony, 
 explored every known locality of these fossil bones within his 
 reach, in the North Island ; and went into the interior of the 
 country, and located with the natives, for the purpose of 
 collecting specimens, and of ascertaining whether any of these 
 gigantic birds were still in existence ; resolving, if there 
 appeared to be the least chance of success, to penetrate into 
 the unfrequented regions, and obtain a live Moa. The infor- 
 mation gathered from the natives offered no encouragement 
 to follow up the pursuit, but tended to confirm the idea that 
 this race of colossal bipeds was extinct ; the last individuals 
 having, in all probability, like the Dodo, been exterminated 
 by human agency, within a comparatively recent period : or 
 that if any of the species whose bones occur in a fossil state 
 are still living, they will prove to be of comparatively small 
 types related to the Apteryx, the living diminutive represen- 
 tative of the stupendous ostrich-like birds which once trod 
 the soil of New Zealand. 
 
 My son succeeded, however, in forming the most interesting 
 collection of these remains hitherto obtained. It comprised 
 between seven and eight hundred bones belonging to birds of 
 
 1 " Travels in New Zealand," vol. ii. p. 195. 
 
96 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. II. 
 
 various species and. genera, and differing considerably in 
 magnitude and age ; some belonging to very young individuals 
 in which the epiphyses of the long bones are distinct from the 
 shaft ; while others are those of adult and aged birds. The 
 chief part of this collection is deposited in the Table-Cases 
 15, 16, 17. 1 
 
 GEOLOGY OF NEW ZEALAND. The fossil bones of birds 
 from New Zealand, in the British Museum, have been 
 obtained from two localities, which are several hundred miles 
 distant from each other; one being in the North, and the 
 other in the South Island ; and the deposits in which they 
 occur differ considerably in their geological and mineral ogical 
 character. 
 
 As the interest of these fossil remains is intimately con- 
 nected with the physical conditions under which they were 
 deposited, we will first briefly explain the geological structure 
 of the country, and afterwards .describe the localities whence 
 the bones were obtained. 
 
 NEW ZEALAND is situated in the South Pacific Ocean, lying 
 between the thirtieth and fiftieth degrees of south latitude, 
 and forming a group of three mountainous islands, which in 
 their aggregate extent equal that of England and Wales. Its 
 geological structure is with difficulty determined, owing to the 
 primeval forests which fringe the coasts ; and where these 
 have been destroyed by ancient conflagrations, by impenetrable 
 thickets of esculent ferns. The fundamental rock is clay- 
 slate, and this is frequently traversed by greenstone dykes, as 
 at Port Nicholson, Queen Charlotte's Sound, and "Cloudy 
 Bay. 
 
 On the banks of the rivers Eritonga, Waibo, and along 
 some parts of the sea-coast, there are horizontal terraces of 
 trap-boulders fifty feet high. Anthracite crops out in the 
 harbour of Wangarua ; and there is a seam of the same 
 mineral intercalated in the sandstone on the east shores of the 
 North Island. 
 
 The coasts are in many places skirted by recent horizontal 
 sediments, consisting of loam with fragments of wood and 
 fern, &c. The small rocky islets of trachyte off the coast of 
 
 1 This collection was purchased hy the Trustees of the British Museum 
 for 200?. See Appendix B. Mr. Walter ManteU's Collection. 
 
ROOM II. GEOLOGY OF NEW ZEALAND. 97 
 
 the Northern Island, bear marks of wave-action to the height 
 of 100 feet above the present sea-level. In the interior of this 
 island there is a lofty central group of volcanic mountains, 
 some of the cones being still in activity ; the ancient lava- 
 streams appear to have been erupted from the base of the 
 craters. The highest mountains are Tongariro, which is esti- 
 mated at six thousand feet in height, and Mount Egmpnt, at 
 nine thousand feet : the summits are covered with perpetual 
 snow. There are many lakes which appear to occupy extinct 
 ancient craters. Earthquakes are not unfrequent, and of late 
 years some have occurred of unusual violence, from which the 
 town of Wellington suffered considerably. 
 
 The comparatively modern terraces of loam and gravel which 
 stretch along the coasts at an elevation of from fifty to one 
 hundred feet above the sea, attest that great changes in the 
 relative level of land and water have taken place at no very 
 distant period. The existing rivers of New Zealand almost 
 everywhere cut deeply through accumulations of volcanic 
 detritus which in some places contain birds' bones ; and 
 these beds are here and there covered by marine and fresh- 
 water deposits of very modern origin. All these phenomena 
 indicate the oscillations to which the land has recently been 
 subjected. 
 
 In the Middle Island, according to my son's observations, 
 as in the Northern, the lowermost visible rocks are clay-slate 
 and metamorphic schists, intersected by dykes of greenstone, 
 and compact and amygdaloidal basalt; and in some places 
 there are intruded masses of obsidian, and other volcanic 
 products. Hornblende and porphyritic rocks, gneiss and 
 serpentine occur ; but granite has not been observed. 
 
 Mountain ranges of schistose and metamorphic rocks extend 
 through the country, from near Cloudy Bay on the north- 
 east, to the south-western extremity of the Island, a distance 
 of between three and four hundred miles ; their crests every- 
 where attain an elevation above the line of perpetual snow, 
 hence they were named the Southern Alps by Captain Cook. 
 These hills are flanked by volcanic grits, and covered at their 
 base by alluvial deposits, that have evidently originated from 
 the decomposition of trachytic rocks and earthy lavas. 
 
 No active volcanoes are known in the Middle Island, nor 
 have any extinct craters been discovered : but as the physical 
 
98 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. II. 
 
 structure of the interior of the country, and especially of the 
 Alpine districts, has been but imperfectly explored by Euro- 
 peans, no conclusive inferences can be drawn from this nega- 
 tive evidence. 
 
 Beds of limestone, composed of organisms similar in their 
 generic types to those which prevail in certain cretaceous 
 strata wof Europe, appear in a few places along the eastern 
 coast, from near Morakura to Kakaunui : but their relation 
 to the adjacent plutonic and metamorphic rocks has not been 
 ascertained. 
 
 A pleistocene, or modern tertiary blue clay, abounding in 
 shells of species existing in the neighbouring ocean, overlies 
 the limestone at Onekakara ; and is in many places covered 
 by alluvial deposits of gravel, sand, conglomerate, and loam, 
 which form the superficial soil of the vast plains that are 
 spread over the eastern side of the central mountain-chain. 
 On the western shore of the North Island, beds of clay with 
 similar fossil shells occur beneath the ossiferous deposits, as 
 we shall presently have occasion to notice. 
 
 In many places there are alluvial plains of loam, clay, and 
 gravel, overgrown by ancient forests ; and extensive mud and 
 sand-flats, formed by the existing streams and rivers, at their 
 embouchures, and in their tortuous course from the mountain 
 ranges whence they take their rise, till they reach the sea- 
 shore. 1 
 
 OSSIFEROUS DEPOSIT AT WAIKOUAITI. The fossil birds' 
 bones in the Wall-case B, were collected by Percy Earle, Esq. 2 
 and like those transmitted to England by Dr. Mackellar, and 
 the late Col. Wakefield, are for the most part of a dark 
 brown colour, strongly impregnated with tannin, and more 
 or less permeated by phosphate and carbonate of iron ; they 
 resemble in their appearance and state of mineralisation, the 
 bones of the Irish Elk, Mastodon, and Mammoth, &c. dug up 
 from peat-bogs and morasses. They were obtained from 
 a submerged swamp, visible only at low water, that is situated 
 
 1 See " Memoirs on the Geology, and Fossil Remains of Birds of New 
 Zealand, from Notes and Observations by Walter Mantell, Esq." " Geo- 
 logical Journal," Vol. IV. Part I. and Vol. VI. p. 319. 
 
 2 This collection was purchased of Mr. Percy Earle by the Trustees 
 of the British Museum, for 130/. Many of the specimens are figured 
 and described in " Zoological Transactions," Vol. III. pp. 313319. 
 
ROOM II. 
 
 MOA-BED AT WAIKOUATI. 
 
 99 
 
 afl 
 
 on the south-eastern shore of the Middle Island. The fol- 
 lowing account of this locality is extracted from Mr. Walter 
 Mantell's notes : 
 
 " Near Waikouaiti, seventeen miles north of Otago, there 
 is a headland called Island Point, about three quarters of a 
 mile in length and 150 feet in height ; 
 it consists of sandy clay, distinctly stra- 
 tified, and traversed by dykes of columnar 
 trap, the columns being at right angles 
 to the sides of the veins. In a little 
 bight south of Island Point, on the 
 side of the bar which unites that head- 
 land to the mainland at the entrance 
 of the river Waikouati, in front of the 
 ^ native Kaika, named Makuku, is situated 
 w the exposed part of the so-called turbary 
 H deposit, whence bones of Moas and other 
 I birds of various kinds, have been ob- 
 tained in such number and perfection. 
 This bed is about three feet in depth 
 < and not more than a hundred yards in 
 s ^ length, and lies immediately on a stratum 
 of tertiary blue clay j its inland boundary- 
 is obscured by vegetation, and appears 
 to be of very limited extent ; the bed 
 is entirely submerged, and only visible 
 when the tide has receded. 
 
 " It consists almost wholly of decayed 
 vegetable matter, and its surface is 
 studded with the undisturbed roots of 
 small trees which appear to have been 
 burnt to the ground at some remote 
 period. It is a light, sandy, elastic earth, 
 of a blackish brown colour, and emits a 
 strong fetid odour when first collected, 
 from the large quantity of animal 
 matter it contains. I conceive it was 
 originally a swamp or morass, in which the New Zealand flax 
 (Phormium tenax,) once grew luxuriantly. It is now covered 
 by a thin layer of sand when exposed at low water. 
 " " The above sketch of the coast, (Lign. 24,) will serve to illus- 
 
100 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIE TEACHINGS. CHAP. II. 
 
 trate the position of this remarkable ossiferous deposit of 
 the colossal birds of New Zealand. The appearance and con- 
 dition of the bones are similar to those of mammalia im- 
 bedded in peat-bogs. They have acquired a rich umber 
 colour, and their texture is tough and firm ; they contain 
 a large proportion of animal matter, even the periosteum is 
 in some instances preserved. 
 
 " Although bones of several species of Moa, especially of the 
 largest kinds, have been collected from this locality in consi- 
 derable numbers and in great perfection, yet as the bed is 
 rapidly diminishing from the inroads of the sea, there is 
 great reason to fear that it will be entirely washed away, 
 without yielding to the palaeontologist all the desired in- 
 formation respecting the extinct animals whose relics it 
 enshrines ; for the natives and whalers are well aware of the 
 interest attached to the bones by Europeans, and they seize 
 indiscriminately on any specimen exposed by the receding 
 tide, and if it cannot be readily extracted they break it off, 
 and thus many a valuable relic has been destroyed. Their 
 cupidity and avarice have too been so much excited by the 
 large rewards injudiciously given by casual visitors, that the 
 cost of specimens has increased to an unreasonable amount." 
 
 An earnest of the invaluable treasures that might be 
 obtained by careful research, is afforded by the entire series 
 of bones (26 in number) of a pair of feet and legs of the 
 largest species of Moa (Dinornis robustus), that were found 
 standing erect, the one about a yard in advance of the other, 
 with the proximal ends of the two shank-bones just visible 
 above the soil. These were carefully extracted bone by bone, 
 and ticketed on the spot by my son, so that I was enabled to 
 have them articulated as in a recent skeleton ; and they now 
 constitute an unique example of the bones of the feet found in 
 natural connexion, and show the original form and structure 
 of these organs in the extinct colossal birds of our Antipodes. 1 
 From the position of these bones, there can be no doubt, as 
 my son observes, that the unfortunate Moa was mired in the 
 swamp, and unable to extricate itself, perished on the spot : 
 
 1 The frontispiece of the " Pictorial Atlas," is a beautiful lithograph 
 of one of these feet by Mr. Diiikel, one-third nat. size. See pp. 1012 
 of that work. 
 
ROOM II. OSSIFEROUS DEPOSITS OF NEW ZEALAND. 101 
 
 in like manner as the groups of Irish Elks occasionally found 
 in England, and the mammoths and mastodons in the bone- 
 licks or ancient swamps of America, 
 
 OSSIFEROUS DEPOSIT IN THE NORTH ISLAND. The bones 
 collected by my son from the North Island (deposited in the 
 Table-cases, 15, 16, 17,) present a very different appearance 
 from those of Waikouaiti above described. Instead of being 
 heavy and of a dark colour, and permeated by silt and iron, 
 they are light and porous, and of a delicate fawn-colour ; the 
 most fragile processes are entire, and the articulating surfaces 
 of the joints smooth and uninjured ; even portions of egg- 
 shells, and mandibles, and the bony rings of the tracheae or 
 air-tubes, are preserved. 
 
 In their general aspect these bones resemble those of the 
 carnivora from the ossiferous caverns of Germany. Their 
 state of preservation is evidently due to the material in which 
 they were imbedded, which is a loose volcanic sand (termed 
 menaccanite) containing titaniferous iron, crystals of horn- 
 blende and augite, &c, the detritus of volcanic rocks and 
 earthy tuff. The sand has filled all the cavities and cancelli 
 that have external openings, but is in no instance consoli- 
 dated or aggregated together; it is easily removed by a 
 soft brush. The following extract from my son's letter, dated 
 Wellington, June, 1847, details the circumstances under 
 which this most interesting collection was formed : 
 
 " On the western shore of the North Island, about sixty 
 miles south-west of New Plymouth, there is a stream called 
 Waingongoro, which empties itself into the sea at about 
 a mile and a half south of Waimate in the Ngtirtianui dis- 
 trict. Part of the neighbouring country is elevated table- 
 land, with deep tortuous gullies, through which the torrents 
 and streams take their course to the sea. That of Waingon- 
 goro, which is as tortuous as any of them, takes its rise in 
 the neighbouring volcanic ridge, and has evidently at a 
 former period discharged itself far distant from its present 
 embouchure, as is proved by the existence of a line of cliffs 
 which extends inland, and has manifestly been produced by 
 the corroding action of the river. Driven from its course, 
 probably, by a change in the relative level of the land and 
 sea, the stream has formed its present channel, which cuts 
 through a bed of loose conglomerate, 100 feet thick, over- 
 
102 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. II. 
 
 lying a deposit of finely laminated sand, which covers a thick 
 stratum of blue clay full of shells. The conglomerate con- 
 sists of pebbles and large boulders of an infinite variety 
 of volcanic rocks : the clay is the lowermost visible bed ; the 
 shells it contains are marine, and resemble species existing 
 in the South Pacific Ocean ; but I suspect many will be 
 found specifically distinct from any recent forms. 
 
 " Between the two bluffs near the embouchure of the river, 
 there is a sand-flat, about 200 yards across, and this on my 
 first visit was strewn with bones of men, moas and other 
 birds, and two species of seals. I had some deep openings 
 made near the foot of the ancient cliff, on the top of which 
 is the Pa, or native village of Ohawetokotoko ; and at the 
 same level as the flat on which I had observed the strewn 
 fragments of bones, I came to a regular ossiferous deposit. 
 The bones, however, though perfect, were as soft and plastic 
 as putty, so that if grasped strongly they changed as it were 
 by magic into pipe-clay, and it was necessary to dig them up 
 with great care, and expose them to the air and sun to dry, 
 before they could be packed up and removed. 
 
 " Unfortunately the natives soon caught sight of my opera- 
 tions, and came down in swarms, men, women, and children, 
 trampling on the bones I had carefully extracted and laid 
 out to dry, and seizing upon eveiy morsel exposed by the 
 spade. My patience was tried to the utmost, and to avoid 
 blows, I was obliged to retreat and leave them in the posses- 
 sion of the field; and to work they went in right earnest, 
 and quickly made sad havoc. No sooner was a bone per- 
 ceived than a dozen natives pounced upon it, and began 
 scratching away the sand, and smashed the specimen at once. 
 It was with great trouble, and by watching the opportunity 
 of working in the absence of the Maoris, that I procured 
 anything worth having. 
 
 " The natives told me, and their assertion was borne out by 
 the appearance of the place, that within their memory the 
 entire area had been covered by drift-sand ; in fact the bones 
 seemed always to be imbedded on or beneath an old surface 
 level. Columns of vertebrae, when the sand was carefully 
 removed, were lying in situ and perfect, with, in rare in- 
 stances, the skull and pelvis; but to preserve these precious 
 
ROOM II. OSSIFEROUS CAVES IN NEW ZEALAND. 103 
 
 relics was impossible while beset by the hordes of Maoris 
 and I could neither bribe nor drive them away. 
 
 " The largest femur, tibia, and fibula, (in Table-case 15) 
 were lying in their natural connexion, the leg slightly bent 
 at the knee : a chain of vertebrae of corresponding size was 
 discovered near them, and I doubt not the whole belonged 
 to the same colossal bird. 
 
 " Mixed with the bones, but exceedingly rare, were the 
 fragments of the egg-shells. I also found six oval rings and 
 one broad circular ring of tracheae. In coming down from 
 Ngamotu, I discovered a few more remains of egg-shells: 
 one fragment is four inches long, and affords a chord by 
 which to estimate the size of the original ; as a rough guess, 
 I may say that a common hat would have served as an egg- 
 cup for it : what a loss* for the breakfast table ! And if 
 native traditions are worthy of credit, the ladies have cause 
 to mourn the extinction of the Moa : the long feathers of its 
 crest were by their remote ancestors prized above all other 
 ornaments; those of the White Crane, which now bear the 
 highest value, were mere pigeon's feathers in comparison. 
 
 " The Maoris informed me that the sand-flat at Te Ranga- 
 tapu was one of the first spots on which their ancestors 
 located; and this seems not improbable, for in digging in 
 various places I found small circular beds of ashes, with 
 charcoal and bones, very ancient, and such as are generally 
 left by the native fires that have long been burning on the 
 same place. They contained calcined bones of men, dogs, 
 and moas. Fragments of obsidian, flint, two fishing-line 
 stones, and a whalebone meri (a sort of weapon), were also 
 dug up." 
 
 Ossiferous Caves in New Zealand. In a later commu- 
 nication, my son mentions having seen stalactites from 
 limestone caves, which were said to contain moas' bones in 
 their sparry floors, but he had not been able to visit them. 
 This account proved to be correct, and I am indebted to the 
 kindness of Dr. Andrew Smith, Inspector-General of the Army 
 Medical Department, for the following notice by Dr. A. S. 
 Thompson, Surgeon of the 58th Regiment: 
 
 "During the month of September (1849), Servantes, the 
 interpreter to the General here, was told by a native that he 
 had discovered a cave in which were many bones of moas. 
 
104 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIE TEACHINGS. CHAP. II. 
 
 I accompanied him in search of this place, and was rewarded 
 by getting many curious specimens, and several skulls with 
 mandibles. The beak very much resembles that of the Os- 
 trich or Emeu. 
 
 " This cave is on the west side of the North Island, in the 
 limestone formation which extends along the coast. The 
 country around is wild, and there are many similar caves, 
 which, we were told, also contained bones. The popular 
 opinion is that the country has been set on fire by an erup- 
 tion of Tongariro, and that all the moas fled to the caves for 
 refuge, and there perished. From traditions and other cir- 
 cumstances, it is supposed that the present natives of New 
 Zealand came to these islands not more than 600 years ago. 
 However this may be, that the Moa was alive when the first 
 settlers came is evident from the 'name of this bird being 
 mixed up with their songs and stories. One of the bones I 
 obtained bore marks of having been cut or chopped, perhaps 
 to get at the marrow." 1 
 
 FAUNA AND FLORA OP NEW ZEALAND. Before entering 
 upon the examination of the relics of the extinct bipeds of 
 the Islands of the South Pacific, let us briefly consider the 
 characters of the existing fauna and flora, which are as pecu- 
 liar and remarkable as those we are endeavouring to decipher 
 from their fossil remains. 
 
 New Zealand at the present time offers the most striking 
 example of a now acknowledged fact in every department of 
 natural history, namely, that different areas of dry land are 
 endowed with peculiar forms of animal and vegetable exis- 
 tences; they are centres, or foci of creation, so to speak, of 
 certain organic types. And this law, with whose effects 
 through countless ages, geological researches have made us 
 familiar, appears to have continued in unabated energy to 
 the present time. 
 
 Dr. Dieffenbach has the following remarks on this sub- 
 ject : 
 
 " Although in its flora New Zealand has some relationship 
 with the two large continents between which it is situated, 
 America and Australia, and even possesses some species 
 identical with those of Europe, without the latter being 
 
 1 Letter to Dr. Andrew Smith, dated Auckland, October, 1849. 
 
ROOM II. FAUNA AND FLORA OF NEW ZEALAND. 105 
 
 referable to an introduction by human agency, yet the 
 greater number of species, and even genera, are peculiar to 
 the country. In fact, New Zealand, with the adjacent 
 islands, Chatham, Auckland, and Macquarrie, form a botanical 
 centre, which is sufficiently distinct from both continents to 
 preserve its peculiarities : and it offers in this respect the 
 most striking instances of the fact, that different regions of 
 the earth are endowed with peculiar forms of animals and 
 vegetables. 
 
 " The number of species of plants at present known 
 is about 650; of which 320 are dicotyledonous, and the 
 remainder monocotyledonous and cellular, the latter very 
 largely predominating. The grasses have given way to the 
 ferns; for ferns, and fern-like plants, are the most nume- 
 rous in New Zealand, and extend over immense districts. 
 They hold the same place here as do the grasses in other 
 countries. Some of the arborescent ferns grow to Upwards 
 of thirty feet in height; and the variety and elegance of 
 their forms, from the minutest species to the giants of their 
 kind, are most remarkable." l 
 
 But the fauna of New Zealand is yet more extraordinary. 
 Instead of quadrupeds constituting a prominent feature in 
 the zoology of these islands, they are almost entirely want- 
 ing ; even of the cold-blooded class, the reptiles, a few 
 diminutive forms are the sole representatives. Of the mam- 
 malia, there is but one known animal that can with certainty 
 be regarded as an indigenous species, namely, a frugivorous 
 rat ; and which has rapidly diminished in numbers since the 
 introduction of that universal pest, the Norway rat. 
 
 The natives affirm there is another indigenous terrestrial 
 quadruped, which they call " Kaurehe :" but no specimen 
 has been seen by the English colonists. 2 
 
 1 Dr. Dieflfenbach's " New Zealand." 
 
 2 The KaurShe.^ son, in his " Notes on the Middle Island," has 
 the following remarks on this subject : 
 
 " About ten miles inland of Arowenua Bush there is a lake where 
 an indigenous terrestrial quadruped, called Kaurehe, is said to exist ; 
 another reported habitat of this animal is inland two days' journey 
 from Te Taumutu. The KaurZhe is the only indigenous quadruped, 
 besides a species of Rat, that there are any reasonable grounds for believ- 
 ing to have been known to the Maoris before the advent of Europeans. 
 
106 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. II. 
 
 With this solitary exception, the warm-blooded vertebrata 
 of these islands exclusively belong to the class Aves, or Birds, 
 of which there are upwards of fifty genera, comprising nu- 
 merous species, and some very peculiar types : of these the 
 well-known Apteryx (Kiwi-kiwi of the Maoris) is the most 
 remarkable. 
 
 APTERYX (Ap. Mantelli.) This genus comprises three 
 known species, all of which are restricted to the Islands of 
 New Zealand. It is referred by ornithologists to the group 
 or family of Struthionidce, or brevipennate birds, the anterior 
 extremities being quite rudimentary in all the species. 
 
 The largest kind (Ap. Australis) is equal in bulk to a 
 small turkey; the second species (Ap. Owenii) is smaller, arid 
 measures eighteen inches in total length; the third species 
 (Ap. Mantelli, Lign. 25) is of an intermediate size. The 
 colour of the common species is of a greyish chestnut ; the 
 
 The native descriptions, though vague and fanciful on some points, 
 still appear to be founded on facts. The first account I obtained was 
 as follows : ' Maopo, headman at Te Taumutu, states that the Kaurehe 
 lays eggs as large as those of the duck.' (This suggested to me the idea 
 of the Ornithorhynchus.) ' Our forefathers used to catch them, and keep 
 them as pets : when they broke loose, as they frequently did, they would 
 return to the place they had been taken from. They still exist a day 
 and a half's journey inland. We are afraid of them. There are two 
 kinds, one living on the land ; the other is amphibious.' 
 
 "From Tarawata, the principal person at the Umukaha, and who is 
 descended maternally from the Ngatimanu (the first settlers in the 
 Middle Island, and who were exterminated by the Ngaitahu) I received 
 a more definite account. He informed me that the length of the animal 
 i* about two feet from the point of the nose to the root of the tail ; the 
 fur grisly brown thick short legs bushy tail head between that of a 
 dog and a cat lives in holes the food of the land kind is lizards, of 
 the amphibious kind, fish does not lay eggs. Thinking of Marsupials, 
 from our neighbour-land New Holland, 1 made especial inquiry as to 
 an abdominal pouch. The reply was in the negative ; and altogether 
 the account pointed to an animal resembling the Otter or Badger, 
 rather than to the Beaver, which some persons have thought it might 
 prove to be. 
 
 " I offered this native a handsome remuneration if he would obtain 
 me a specimen, dead or alive, to be taken to Akaroa, and await my 
 arrival; but I saw him no more. Both of the above localities have 
 lately (March, 1849) been travelled over by Mr. Torlesse, one of the 
 Surveyors of the Canterbury Association ; but though I especially 
 directed this gentleman's attention to the subject, he was unable to 
 obtain any more satisfactory information as to this unknown (to Euro- 
 peans) quadruped." Letter from Mr. Walter Mantell. 
 
ROOM II. APTERTX MANTELLI. 107 
 
 feathers are long, lanceolate, and of hair-like structure, as in 
 the Emeu, but each shaft bears only a single plume. The 
 beaks are long, slender, and gently curved, with the nasal 
 apertures at the base, as in other birds with a conformation 
 of bill adapted for plunging into water, or soft earth, or mud, 
 in quest of worms or insects ; by a strange mistake the 
 nostrils are stated by authors to be at the extremity of the 
 beak. The tongue is short and simple ; the hinder limbs are 
 extremely powerful ; the tarsometatarsals or shanks are very- 
 thick and short, and covered with strong scales. There are 
 four toes ; the three anterior ones are robust and armed with 
 
 LlGN. 25. APTERYX MANTELLI: OF NEW ZEALAND. 
 
 (Ap. Australia, of Authors.) 
 
 strong claws, well adapted for scratching up the ground : the 
 hind toe is a thick, sharp, horny spur, used as a weapon of 
 defence. 
 
 The wings are quite rudimentary, and are not visible in 
 the ordinary movements of the bird. There are no vestiges 
 of a tail. 
 
 These birds are nocturnal and burrowing in their habits, 
 feeding on worms and insects, which they readily detect, 
 their olfactory nerves being highly developed. They inhabit 
 densely wooded districts. The largest and the smallest species 
 are of excessive rarity. Of the former (Ap. Australia), two 
 examples only are known ; namely, the original, figured and 
 named by Dr. Shaw, and now in the museum of the Earl 
 of Derby; and a specimen sent to me by my son, who 
 captured it in the Middle Island. Of the second species 
 (Ap. Owenii), the skins of but two or three individuals have 
 been brought to England. 
 
108 PETKIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. II. 
 
 The third species, (named Ap. Mantelli by Mr. Bartlett), 1 
 though not abundant, and asserted to be rapidly decreasing 
 from the destruction occasioned by the native hunters, and 
 yet more from the ravages of the wild cats, still exists in con- 
 siderable numbers in the impenetrable thickets of fern in the 
 unfrequented districts of the North Island. Thirty or forty 
 skins are said to have been imported to England last year, 
 and distributed among the museums of Europe and America. 
 In the Zoological Gallery of the British Museum, there are 
 several examples of this bird ; and one specimen of the 
 smallest species, which was obtained by Mr. Walter Mantell in 
 the Middle Island. 2 Many fossil bones of the existing species 
 of Apteryx were discovered by my son at Waingongoro. 3 
 
 These observations on the living representatives of the 
 Struthionidge of New Zealand, will prepare us for the exami- 
 nation of the fossil remains of the extinct giants of their class, 
 contained in the cases in Room II. 
 
 DINORNIS. Wall-Case B. Table-Case 16. Lign. 26, 27. 
 The name Moa is applied indiscriminately by the New Zea- 
 landers to all the bones of a large size, though belonging to 
 birds of very different stature and configuration. The 
 scientific term Dinornis (indicating the prodigious gigantic 
 
 1 Apteryx Mantelli. "Mr. Bartlett 8 exhibited a series of stuffed 
 specimens of the genus Apteryx, including the original bird figured by 
 Dr. Shaw, which was lent by the Earl of Derby for this purpose. The 
 result of Mr. Bartlett's investigation goes to prove that the Apteryx in 
 the possession of Lord Derby was unique until the arrival of the specimen 
 exhibited to the Society, and which was obtained by Mr. Walter Mantell 
 in Dusky Bay, and is now in his father's collection. The species which 
 is commonly seen in museums, and has hitherto been confounded with 
 the original Apteryx Aiistralis of Dr. Shaw, is in reality distinct, and 
 consequently without a specific designation ; Mr. Bartlett, after entering 
 fully into the consideration of the distinctive characters of this species, 
 proposed to name it Apteryx Mantelli, in honour of the young naturalist 
 whose researches had enabled the error to be detected." Proceedings of 
 the Zoological Society of London, December 10, 1850. 
 
 2 On the structure of the Apteryx, see Professor Owen's Memoirs in 
 the " Zoological Transactions." 
 
 3 Apteryx Owenii and Ap. Mantelli, are figured and described by 
 Mr. Gould in his splendid work on the " Birds of Australia ;" the latter 
 species under the name of A. Australia. 
 
 a Mr. Bartlett is the eminent taxidermist of No. 23, Great College 
 Street, Camden Town; to whom I entrusted the skins of Notornis, 
 Apteryx, &c. to be stuffed and mounted. 
 
110 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. II. 
 
 LIGN. 26. SIDE VIEW OF THE CRANIUM. 
 
 a a 
 LIGN. 27. BACK VIEW OF THE CRANIUM. 
 
 a. a. Basi-occipitals. 
 
 b. b. Par-occipitals. 
 
ROOM II. MOA OF NEW ZEALAND. Ill 
 
 proportions of the largest species), is now restricted to the most 
 remarkable ornithic type hitherto observed either in a recent 
 or fossil state, and of which there is in the case before us the 
 only cranium and upper mandible that has been discovered. 
 
 As the typical crania and many of the bones in this collec- 
 tion are figured and minutely described in Vol. III. of the 
 Zoological Transactions, I would refer the scientific observer 
 to the original memoirs, and confine myself to a concise com- 
 mentary on the anatomical characters of a few of the principal 
 specimens. 1 
 
 Of the Dinornis there is a nearly perfect cranium, with the 
 upper mandible and portions of two other skulls, in Table-Case 
 1 6. This specimen is represented in profile (half the natural 
 size in linear dimensions) in Lign. 26 : and the occipital 
 region or hind part of the cranium in Lign. 27. 
 
 Cranium of Dinornis. The cranium of the Dinornis, espe- 
 cially in the temporal and occipital regions, is wholly unlike 
 any hitherto observed in the class of Birds, and approaches 
 that of Reptiles. It is characterized by the nearly vertical 
 occipital plane, the elevated form and position of the foramen 
 magnum, the great development below the occipital con- 
 dyle, and the strong ridges which border the basi-occipitals, 
 and indicate an extraordinary power in the muscles that 
 moved the head. (See Lign. 27.) The temporal fossae are very 
 deep, and are strengthened by a prolongation of the mastoid 
 process, which is united to the frontal, and forms what may 
 be termed a lateral zygomatic arch. The tympanic bone has 
 two distinct cusps for articulation with the double condyle of 
 the os quadratum. 
 
 In no bird is the extent of surface for the attachment of 
 muscles at the back of the head so great, or so strongly 
 marked by ridges and depressions, as in the Dinornis. The 
 extension of the occipital surface in breadth by the expansion 
 of the paroccipitals, (Lign. 27, 6. 6.) and downwards by the 
 thick wedge-shaped development and abrupt descent of the 
 basi-occipital sphenoidal area (Lign. 27, a. a.), and by its lateral 
 backwardly produced ridges, is altogether peculiar. The 
 nearest approach to this structure is observable in the large 
 
 1 See Appendix C. Memoirs on the Dinornis, by Professor Owen. 
 
112 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. II. 
 
 Bustard (Otis tarda), in the ridges that connect the sides of 
 the basisphenoids with the paroccipital processes. 
 
 The form of the foramen magnum is that of a vertical 
 ellipse with straight sides divided by a small tubercle sent off 
 from the ex-occipitals. (Lign. 27.) The occipital condyle is 
 a hemispherical tubercle supported on a short pedicle, and is 
 situated in the centre of the hinder surface of the skull, the 
 foramen magnum occupying the upper half; these are cha- 
 racters hitherto unknown in the air-breathing vertebrata, and 
 approach those observable in the crania of crocodilian reptiles. 
 
 The upper mandible is broad, depressed, and sub-elongate, 
 gently curved downwards, and altogether of a very peculiar 
 configuration; it has been aptly compared to a cooper's 
 adze, or pickaxe. (See Lign. 26.) It must have been well 
 adapted for grubbing up roots and tubers ; and there is proof 
 in the indications of strong muscles attached to the occipital 
 region, and to the large spinous processes of the cervical 
 vertebrae, that it was a very efficient instrument, and capable 
 of being used with great effect. 
 
 The lower mandible is not known ; but there is in Table- 
 Case 16, the articular part of a very large lower jaw, that 
 probably belongs to the Dinornis. 
 
 From the form and structure of these characteristic parts of 
 the skull and upper mandible, Professor Owen observes that 
 it is manifest the Dinornis cannot be assigned to any known 
 family of birds ; and in referring the genus to the Struthio- 
 nidae little more is implied than a feeble development of the 
 wings, and large and powerful hinder limbs for progression on 
 dry land : and although some of the anatomical characters 
 above specified exhibit an analogy with those observable in 
 the Bustard, yet the Dinornis is entirely separated from the 
 Otidce by such striking peculiarities of organization, as to show 
 that this genus of the extinct colossal birds of New Zealand, 
 must be regarded as constituting a distinct family of the 
 order Grallce, or Stilt-birds. 1 
 
 Femur, tibia and fibula : in Case 15. To the genus Dinornis 
 many of the vertebrae, ribs, bones of the pelvis and hinder ex- 
 tremities, and portions of sterni in Wall-Cases B&L C, and in the 
 Table-Cases 15, 16, and 17, belong. In Table-Case 15, there 
 
 1 Memoir on the Dinornis. 
 
ROOM II. SPINAL COLUMN OF DINORNIS. 113 
 
 are a femur, tibia, and fibula, and some cervical vertebrae of 
 the same bird, dug up by my son from the menaccanite bed at 
 the base of the inland cliff at Te Rangatapu ; though belonging 
 to a young individual, as is shown by the still incomplete union 
 of the proximal epiphysis of the tibia, they are of gigantic 
 proportions. The femur is fourteen inches long, and nine 
 inches in circumference ; the tibia, thirty inches in length, 
 six inches round the shaft, and fourteen inches in circum- 
 ference at the distal end. The entire skeleton of this bird 
 was exposed on removing the soil ; the skull and vertebra? of 
 the neck lying extended, and the spinal column, pelvis, and 
 bones of the hind limbs disposed in their natural relative 
 position ; but, owing to the sudden inroad of the natives, 
 a few bones only could be rescued from destruction, and in 
 the confusion that ensued, the identification of the bones of 
 the same individual could not with certainty be determined. 
 The femur, tibia and fibula, however, unquestionably belonged 
 to the same bird. 
 
 As a guide to the scientific observer, or the student in 
 palaeontology, I will point out a few of the most striking 
 peculiarities of the respective parts of the skeleton contained 
 in this collection ; but without reference to specific distinc- 
 tions. It will be sufficient, for example, in reference to the 
 tarso-metatarsal bone,, to state that in the genus Dinornis it 
 has three trochlear articulations ; while in that of Palapteryx 
 there is a posterior depression for the articulation with the 
 metatarsal of the hind toe ; the birds of this genus being 
 tetradactyle, or four-toed, like the Apteryx. 
 
 Spinal Column. Table-Case 17. The bones composing 
 the spinal column are characterized by their massive propor- 
 tions, the remarkably thick quadrate spinous processes, espe- 
 cially of the cervical vertebrae, and the small size of the neural 
 canal, indicating a very slender medullary chord. " We may 
 associate with such a condition of the spinal marrow," Pro- 
 fessor Owen remarks, "less delicate perception, and less 
 energetic muscular action ; thus the characters of the vertebrae 
 confirm the original induction from the texture of the femur, 
 that the Dinornis was a more sluggish bird than the Ostrich." 1 
 
 1 Consult the commentary on the anatomical characters of the 
 Dinornis, &c. in " Zool. Trans." vol. iii. p. 307, and p. 345. 
 
 I 
 
114 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. II. 
 
 Sternum. Portions of several large sternal bones have been 
 obtained. The most perfect example is that figured in 
 Zool. Trans. Vol. iv. PL IV. It is of a shield-like form, 
 entirely destitute of a keel, and very slightly convex : it is 
 remarkable for its breadth ; the anterior border from one costal 
 angle to the other is seven inches ; it has a broad median 
 process, and two very long diverging lateral ones. As these 
 characters resemble those of the Apteryx, this sternum is 
 referred to Palapteryx rather than to Dinornis. 1 
 
 Pelvis. There are in the wall-cases portions of pelves of 
 great size, and which in all probability are referable to the 
 most colossal species of Dinornis or Palapteryx. In respect 
 to this part of the skeleton the extinct birds approach nearer 
 to the tridactyle Grallce than to the living Struthionidce. 
 
 In the table-cases there are several delicate pelves of birds 
 of small size, belonging to several genera; they are ex- 
 tremely fragile, and were broken to pieces during their long- 
 transport, and have been repaired with much trouble. Some 
 of them belong to the genus Apteryx ; apparently the exist- 
 ing species : others to the bustard-like bird, the Aptornis. 
 There are many specimens of the coalesced pubis andischium 
 of different kinds of birds. 
 
 Femur or thigh-lone. Table-Case 15. The femur of the 
 Dinornis is remarkable for its great strength. The trochanter 
 is very broad, thick, and elevated ; the distal extremity is of 
 great size, and the rotular cavity very broad. The shaft is 
 rounded, and the muscular ridges and tuberosities are more 
 strongly developed than in any other birds. There is no 
 aperture for the admission of air into the interior of the shaft 
 of the bone ; and both the weight and cancellous structure 
 prove the accuracy of Prof. Owen's original statement in his 
 description of Mr. Rule's fragment of the shaft, that the 
 Dinornis at all ages retained the medullary contents of the 
 cavities of the femur, as in the Apteryx ; the only other ex- 
 ample of a terrestrial bird in which the air is not admitted 
 into any of the bones of the extremities. 
 
 The absence of the pneumatic foramen and canal, the great 
 thickness of the dense osseous wall of the medullary cavity of 
 the shaft, the great size of the distal end of the bone, and the 
 
 1 See "Zool. Trans." vol. iv. p. 17. 
 
ROOM II. BONES OF THE DINORNIS. 115 
 
 breadth of the rotular cavity, are the chief generic characters 
 of the femur of the Dinornis. 1 The largest femur is sixteen 
 inches long, and the shaft seven inches and a half in circum- 
 ference. 
 
 Tibia and Fibula. Table-Case 15. The Tibia, even in 
 the species in which it is of great length, is relatively 
 thicker and stronger than in the Ostrich or Cassowary. It is 
 distinguished from the corresponding bone in the Struthi- 
 onidse by an oblique bony process that extends across above 
 the distal trochlea, on the anterior and inner side of the bone, 
 and forms a canal for the extensor tendon, as in the Bustard. 
 The longest specimen of a tibia is nearly three feet in length, 
 and the circumference of the middle of the shaft is six inches 
 and a half. The tibia is strongly marked by a ridge for arti- 
 culation with the fibula, which is a long and very slender 
 bone extending two-thirds down the shaft of the leg-bone, and 
 entirely free. My son collected several very large fibula 
 belonging to Dinornis and Palapteryx ; and many that are 
 referable to other and much smaller birds. It is remarkable 
 that such delicate fossil bones (as those in the table-cases) 
 should have arrived from the Antipodes in so perfect a state. 
 
 Tarso-metatarsals. Table-Cases 15, 16, 17. The tarso- 
 metatarsal (shank-bone) is so named because it is formed by 
 the coalescence of the tarsus and the three primary metatar- 
 sals into a single bone, which at the distal end is divided into 
 three trochlear articulations for the corresponding number of 
 toes. In the Dinornis this bone is remarkably strong and 
 broad, and of great width at the distal or trochlear extremity. 
 The proximal end has two concavities, the inner one the 
 deepest, for articulation with the tibia. There are no indica- 
 tions of a posterior toe : the Dinornis being a tridactyle, or 
 three-toed bird. 
 
 In the unique specimens of the entire series of bones of 
 both feet with the two metatarsals of the same individual of 
 Dinornis robustus, collected by my son at Waikouaiti, there 
 is not the slightest trace of an articulating surface for a hind 
 toe. 
 
 The ossification of the metatarsals in the Dinornis appears 
 not to have been perfected till a late period, as in the existing 
 
 1 See " Zool. Trans." vol. iii. p. 248. 
 
116 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. II. 
 
 struthious birds ; for in the specimens alluded to, the division 
 of the original three metatarsals is strongly marked, and 
 one of the bones has, unfortunately, cracked by drying, along 
 the line of separation of the primitive ossicles ; and yet 
 these bones appear to have belonged to a mature individual. 
 
 The longest tarso-metatarsal bones I have seen are eighteen 
 inches and a half in length, the circumference of the shaft 
 being five inches and a half. 1 
 
 Phalangeal Bones. The bones of the feet bear a closer re- 
 semblance to those of the largest species of Apteryx, Ap. Aus- 
 tralis, than to any of the other existing struthious birds. The 
 phalanges present the ordinary numerical progressive increase, 
 viz. the inner toe is composed of three bones, the middle of 
 four, and the outer of five. The proximal articular surface of 
 the first phalangeal of the middle toe is symmetrically divided 
 by a slight ridge, as in the Cassowary ; but in the inner and 
 outer toes the corresponding bone has the proximal end 
 deeply notched, and the inner half greatly produced to em- 
 brace the corresponding trochlear surface of the metatarsal. 2 
 
 The ungueal or claw-bones are large and strong, of a sub- 
 trihedral form, and gently arched. 
 
 In his last visit to Waikouaiti, my son dug up the entire 
 series of phalangeals with the corresponding metatarsal of a 
 smaller species of Dinorriis ; but whether referable to D. 
 dromioides or D. rheides, or to a distinct species, is uncertain, 
 for the metatarsal corresponds with that assigned to the for- 
 mer in Zool. Trans, vol. iv. Plate III. fig. 1, while the 
 series of phalangeals are unquestionably of the same species 
 as those figured in PL II., and ascribed to D. dromioides. 3 
 In the reconstruction of the foot of the Dinornis robustus, my 
 son's specimens have afforded a certain guide. 
 
 Several phalangeals were discovered, in which the trochlear 
 articulation of the proximal bone of the middle toe is as un- 
 equally divided as in the Ostrich ; a character which seems to 
 indicate that a didactyle, or two-toed wingless bird, may have 
 
 1 These specimens are figured as the frontispiece of the " Pictorial 
 Atlas of Organic Remains." 
 
 2 See figs. 1 & 3 of the same plate. 
 
 3 As the restoration of these parts is based on detached specimens, it 
 is probable the metatarsal does not belong to the series of phalanges 
 with which it is associated. 
 
ROOM II. FOOT OF DINORNIS. 117 
 
 inhabited New Zealand contemporaneously with the tridactyle 
 Dinornis, and tetradactyle Palapteryx, Aptornis, and Apteryx. 
 
 Foot of Dinornis. The structure of the locomotive organs 
 of one of the largest of the extinct ostrich-like birds is de- 
 monstrated by the entire series of bones of both feet of the 
 same individual discovered at Waikouaiti : the dimensions of 
 the several elements are given in the Appendix. 1 Allowing 
 the usual proportion of the soft parts and integuments, the 
 length of the foot in the living bird may be estimated at 
 about sixteen inches, and its breadth at eighteen inches. 
 
 According to the relative proportions of the bones com- 
 posing the hinder extremities of the gigantic species of 
 Dinornis, the height of the bird to which these feet belonged 
 was probably nine and a half or ten feet. 
 
 From the great width and solidity of the metatarsals, and 
 the form and corresponding size and strength of the phalan- 
 geals and ungueals, it is certain that the feet of the Dinornis 
 must have constituted powerful instruments for scratching, 
 digging, and uprooting subterrestrial vegetable substances, 
 which, from the structure of the crania and beaks, have 
 with much probability been supposed to have constituted the 
 principal sustenance of the original. 
 
 Bones of the thigh, leg, and feet, of larger proportions than 
 those above described, are in the Wall-case C } and in my 
 own collection. Some of these indicate birds of eleven or 
 even twelve feet high ; dimensions exceeding by one-third the 
 stature of the tallest Ostrich : while in other species, as Dinor- 
 nis struthioides, D. dromioides, D. curtus, and D. didiformis, 
 the stature is respectively seven, five, and four feet. 
 
 Palapteryx. Wall-Case <?.; Table-Case 16. Lign. 28, 29. 
 The other generic type, which comprises some of the 
 largest species of the extinct birds, has been named Palap- 
 teryx; but it is not, as the term would seem to imply, so 
 nearly related to the existing wingless bird of New Zealand, 
 the Apteryx, as to the Dromaius or Emeu, 
 
 Of this genus there is a nearly entire cranium, with the upper 
 and lower mandibles, and several imperfect skulls and beaks, 
 
 1 Appendix D. Dimensions of the bones of the foot of Dinornis 
 robustus. See also " Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society," vol. vi. 
 p. 338. 
 
118 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. II. 
 
 in Table-case 16, from Waingongoro ; and I have lately 
 received from the same locality other examples. 
 
 Cranium of Palapteryx. The cranium (Lign. 28) bears 
 a general resemblance to that of the Emeu, but is broader in 
 proportion to its height, especially in the occipital and inter- 
 orbital regions. It is remarkably depressed, of a subquad- 
 rate form, with two lateral emarginations for the temporal 
 fossae ; and both in size and shape corresponds more with the 
 skull of the Dodo than with that of any living struthious 
 bird. It partakes of the general osteological modifications 
 observable in that of Dinornis, as previously pointed out, 
 but differs in the lesser expansion of the basi-occipitals (Lign. 
 29, a. a.), and par-occipitals (Lign. 29, b. b.), and the greater 
 development of the mastoid processes (Lign. 29, c. c.) ; and in 
 having a large oblong depression beneath the mastoid for the 
 single superior condyle of the tympanic bone. 
 
 The foramen magnum is subcircular, its plane vertical, and 
 the single occipital condyle projects backwards on a short 
 pedicle, beyond the upper margin of the foramen. The 
 skull of no existing bird has this peculiarity, which resembles 
 the cranial character of some of the chelonians or turtles. 
 The occipital region is very wide and low, and slopes forwards 
 as it rises to join the upper surface of the skull, which is 
 almost flat. (See Lign. 29.) 
 
 The upper mandible resembles that of the Emeu, but the 
 nasal process is shorter and broader than in that bird. The 
 anterior part (premaxillary) is more obtuse than in the 
 Emeu, and its palatal surface has a distinct perforated alveo- 
 lar border, which is grooved along its outer part. The lower 
 jaw has the symphysis concave above from side to side, 
 instead of flat as in existing struthious birds, and the outer 
 part of the alveolar border is convex and the inner furrowed, 
 thus presenting a surface adapted to the corresponding 
 palatal aspect of the upper mandible. 
 
 The ethmoid cavities, or upper nostrils, are very large, as 
 in the Apteryx ; a peculiarity denoting a great development 
 of the organs of smell. 
 
 The skull with these cranial characters is that described in 
 Professor Owen's second memoir, as the type of his genus 
 Dinornis, and from which the outline of the restored head of 
 the original was designed ; but on the discovery of the cranium 
 
ROOM II. 
 
 CRANIUM OF PALAPTERYX. 
 
 119 
 
 LIGN. 28. SIDE VIEW OF THE CRANIUM. 
 
 LIGN. 29. BACK VIEW OF THE CRAXIUM. 
 
 a. a. Basi-occipitals. 
 
 b. b. Par-occipitals. 
 
 c. c. Mastoid processes. 
 
 SKULL OF PALAPTERYX OF NEW ZEALAND: DISCOVERED BT MR. WALTER 
 MANTELL, IN THE MENACCANITE-SAND DEPOSIT AT WAINGONGORO, IN TH 
 NORTH ISLAND OF Nsw ZEALAND. 
 
 (| not. size.) 
 
ROOM II. FOSSIL EGG-SHELLS OF MOA. 121 
 
 with the enormously developed occipital region, and adze- 
 like upper mandible delineated in Lign. 26, and which devi- 
 ates so remarkably from all known ornithic forms, the name 
 Dinornis was transferred to this type, and the former cra- 
 nium was assigned to the new genus named Palapteryx. 
 
 The bones of the hinder extremities referred to this genus 
 are characterised by their nearer approach to those of the 
 Apteryx, than is preserved by the analogous parts in Dinornis. 
 The tarso-metarsals, which belonged to a colossal tetradactyle, 
 or four-toed bird, as shown by a posterior articular depression 
 for connexion with a hind toe, are ascribed to Palapteryx ; 
 only one metatarsal of a fourth toe has been observed among 
 the many hundred specimens of bones of the feet that have 
 been collected. Until other series of bones are found collo- 
 cated in their natural positions or relations, like those of the 
 pair of feet of D. robustus (ante p. 116), the ascription of 
 isolated bones to definite species, and the restoration of thoir 
 several members, however skilful the adaptation, must be 
 received with due caution and regarded only as provisional. 
 In many instances, Prof. Owen's application of the Cuvierian 
 principles of correlation of structure, has, however, been sig- 
 nally successful, and warrants full confidence in his general 
 deductions. 
 
 Bones of the wings. Notwithstanding the great number of 
 bones of the hinder extremities and of other parts of the 
 skeleton that have been sent to England, one fragment only, 
 of the humerus, has been detected, that could have belonged 
 to any of the large struthious birds of New Zealand ; it is sup- 
 posed to be referable to a species of Palapteryx, and indicates 
 as rudimentary a condition of the wing as in the living 
 species of Apteryx. 
 
 FOSSIL EGG-SHELLS OF THE MOA. Table-Case 16. In the 
 deposit of menaccanite-sand at Waingongoro, so rich in the 
 osseous remains of the extinct birds of New Zealand, Mr. Walter 
 Mantell discovered the only vestiges of eggs hitherto obtained. 
 They are small fragments ; the largest specimen is four inches 
 long and two wide, and the chord it describes shows it to be 
 part of an egg very much larger than that of the ostrich. 
 These precious relics are relatively thin, of a pale cream 
 colour, and of three distinct types. In one species the ex- 
 ternal surface is smooth ; in another, the surface approaches 
 
122 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. II. 
 
 that of the Rhea or Cassowary ; the third is marked with 
 delicate interrupted linear grooves. The sculpturing in these 
 two species is distinct from that observable on any of the 
 eggs of existing struthionidee with which I have been able to 
 compare them. 
 
 Fossil Eggs from Madagascar. As intimately connected 
 with this subject, I am induced to append the following 
 notice of a recent discovery in Madagascar of eggs of enor- 
 mous magnitude : 
 
 " In a Report to the French Academic des Sciences, 
 M. Isidore Geoffroy St. Hilaire described three enormous fossil 
 eggs from Madagascar, and some bones belonging to the same 
 bird. The captain of a merchant vessel trading to Mada- 
 gascar, one day observed a native using for a domestic purpose 
 a vase which much resembled an egg, and upon examination 
 proved to be one. The native stated that many such were 
 to be found in the interior of the island, and eventually pro- 
 cured the eggs and bones exhibited by M. St. Hilaire. The 
 largest of these eggs is equal in bulk to 135 hens' eggs, and 
 will hold two gallons of water. M. St. Hilaire proposes 
 the name of Epiornis for the monster biped of which these 
 marvellous eggs and bones are the first evidence brought 
 under the notice of naturalists." * 
 
 APTORNIS. (A. otidiformis). Table-Case 16. (Lign. 30.) 
 Among the bones collected by Mr. Walter Mantell from the 
 ossiferous deposit at Te Rangatapu, and transmitted to me in 
 1847, there were femora, a tibia and fibula, and several tarso- 
 metatarsals, of a cursorial bird, to which he directed special 
 attention, because he thought the latter strikingly resembled 
 the corresponding bones of the Dodo. Upon allowing Prof. 
 Owen the use of my son's collection as soon as it arrived, 
 the metatarsals in question were recognised as belonging to 
 a species of Dinornis established in 1843, from a tibia and 
 femur sent over by the Rev. W. Williams, and named D. 
 otidiformis? 
 
 In the " Memoir on the Ornithic Remains discovered by Mr. 
 Walter Mantell at Waingonyoro" (Zool. Trans, vol. iii. p. 
 345), these specimens are alluded to in the following terms : 
 
 "There are not fewer than 190 phalanges of the toes, refer- 
 
 1 Athenaeum, March 22, 1851. 2 Zool. Trans, vol. iii. PL xxv. xxvi. 
 
ROOM II. APTORNIS. 123 
 
 able to five or six species of Dinornis, Palapteryx, and 
 Notornis ; and there are eight tarso-metatarsals with the arti- 
 cular surface for a very strong hind toe, and of a conforma- 
 tion more nearly resembling those of the Dodo than of the 
 Dinornis and Palapteryx, but shorter and thicker in propor- 
 tion, and appertaining to the same bird as the tibia and 
 femora described in my Memoir of 1843, under the name of 
 Dinornis otidiformis. 
 
 "The proximal articulation of this remarkable form of 
 tarso-metatarsal exactly fits the distal end of the tibia figured, 
 (vol. iii. pi. xxvi. fig. 5,) and also that of a corresponding 
 fractured tibia in Mr. Mantell's collection ; which also con- 
 tains the proximal end of another tibia, a fibula, an entire 
 femur, and distal ends of two other femora, of the same 
 species. 
 
 " The large surface for the hind toe, the strong calcaneal 
 process forming a complete bony canal for the flexor tendons 
 at the back part of the proximal end of the tarso-metatarsal, 
 the perforation above the interspace between the outer and 
 middle metatarsals for the tendon of the adductor muscle 
 of the fourth toe, and the more posterior position of the 
 condyle for the inner toe, all concur to indicate the generic 
 distinction of the bird to which it belonged, from either 
 Dinornis or Palapteryx ; and I propose to distinguish the 
 new genus by the name of Aptornis ; and the present 
 species A. otidiformis" 1 
 
 All the specimens above described are deposited in Table- 
 Case 1 6 ; I have since received other bones belonging to the 
 same remarkable generic type. The annexed figures of one 
 of the metatarsals in my collection, though on a small scale, 
 will serve to impress the peculiar characters of this bone on 
 the observer's memory. 
 
 The length from the intercondyloid prominence to the end 
 of the middle trochlea is four inches ; the transverse diameter 
 of the metatarsal articulation is If inches (Lign. 30. 2). 
 The great relative width of this bone, the strength of the 
 proximal and distal ends, the greatly produced calcaneal 
 process, the large and deep excavation for articulation with 
 
 Zool. Trans. Vol. iii. p. 347. 
 
124 
 
 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. II. 
 
 the hind toe, (Lign. 30. 1,) are characters that remark- 
 ably distinguish it from the metatarsals of any other genus 
 that have been found in the bone-beds of New Zealand. 
 
 i 
 
 LIGN. 30. TARSO-METATAKSAL BONE OF APTORNIS OTIDIPORMIS; FROM THE 
 
 BONE DEPOSIT OF WAINGONGORO, NEW ZEALAND. 
 
 ( nat. size.) 
 
 1. Back view, showing the calcaneal process, and articulating depression for the 
 hind toe. 
 
 2. Front view ; exhibiting the intercondyloid prominence, a. 
 
 The length of the femur is 6^ inches ; of the tibia 8^ 
 inches. The size of the original bird equalled that of the 
 Great Bustard, (Otis tarda.)" 1 
 
 There are in the collection a series of vertebrae, and por- 
 tions of the pelvis, as for example the coalesced pubis and 
 ischium, which are probably referable to this bird but 
 neither the sternum nor any portion of the cranium has 
 been recognised. 
 
 FOSSIL BONES OF NoTORNis (N.Mantelli). Table-Case 16. 
 Lign. 31. In this case are the cranium and mandibles, the 
 sternum, kumerus, femur, tibia, and tar so-metatar sals of a bird 
 of the Kail family, collected by Mr. Walter Mantell in 1847, 
 
 1 A fine pair of living Bustards (now very rare in England) may be 
 seen in the Zoological Society's Gardens, Regent's Park. 
 
ROOM II. FOSSIL CRANIUM OF NOTORNIS. 125 
 
 with the remains of the Dinornis, <fec., from the menaccanite 
 sand at Waingongoro, which a recent discovery has unex- 
 pectedly invested with peculiar interest and importance. 
 
 The fossils in question furnished the data on which Pro- 
 fessor Owen established the genus Notornis (Southern Bird). 1 
 
 The cranium (Lign. 31) is 4| inches long, and 1| inch 
 wide, and is remarkable for its quadrate form ; the front, back, 
 
 LIGN. 31. CRANIUM AND MANDIBLES OF NOTORVIS MANTELLI : FROM THK 
 
 BONE BED OF WAIXGONGORO. (| fiat. Size.) 
 
 and sides being nearly equal in breadth. The extent of the 
 temporal fossae are relatively greater than in any other known 
 bird. 
 
 The mandibles are sharp, like those of the raven, but more 
 compressed laterally, and closely resemble in shape and 
 structure those of the Purple Coot, or Sultana (Porphyrio), 
 except in size. The general form of the skull approaches 
 nearest that of the Brachypteryx, or short-winged Rail of New 
 Zealand. 2 
 
 The sternum (figured in " Zool. Trans.," PL IV. fig. 5 and 6) 
 is remarkably narrow, and its keel is less prominent, even 
 
 1 These specimens are figured and described in *' Zool. Trans." vol. 
 iii. PI. LVL; vol. iv. PI. IV. fig. 20. 
 
 2 Brachypteryx. " Besides a species of true Porphyrio (P. melanotus) 
 in New Zealand, there exists in that island a peculiar and highly interest- 
 ing form of the Rallidse, in which the wings, although not so rudimentary 
 as in the Apteryx, are nevertheless so contracted in their development, 
 as to be useless 'for the purpose of flight. This bird is the type of the 
 genus Brachypieryx a genus as characteristic of New Zealand as is 
 the Apteryx itself. PROF. OWEN in " Zool. Trans." vol. iii. p. 370. 
 
 The anatomical characters of the skull of Notornis are given in detail 
 in " Zool. Trans." vol. iii. p. 367. 
 
126 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. II. 
 
 than in the Brachypteryx. There are no styliform appendages, 
 and the median portion of the bone contracts into an obtuse 
 pointed extremity. The coracoid grooves are very shallow ; 
 the costal border has depressions for five sternal ribs. The 
 general form and proportions of this bone are indicative of a 
 bird of the same natural family, but with wings less developed 
 than in Brachypteryx. 
 
 From the osteological characters above stated, it may be 
 inferred that the Notornis was a large modified form of the 
 same natural family of the Grallce as the Porphyrio and Brachy- 
 pteryx ; and from the configuration of the sternum, it must 
 have been, like the latter peculiar bird of New Zealand, with- 
 out the powers of flight. 
 
 DISCOVERY OF A LIVE NOTORNIS. (See Frontispiece .) The 
 soundness of the physiological inferences relating to the 
 structure and habits of the presumed extinct genus of brevi- 
 pennate Kails, whose bones were discovered by Mr. Walter 
 Mantell, with those of the stupendous Moa, in the menaccanite- 
 sands of Waingongoro, has recently been confirmed by very 
 unexpected evidence a specimen of Notornis, captured alive 
 in a remote and unfrequented part of the South Island of 
 New Zealand. The following account of this discovery was 
 laid by the Author before the Zoological Society in November, 
 1850. 
 
 According to the traditions of the Maoris, there formerly 
 existed in the Islands of New Zealand, contemporaneously 
 with the gigantic Moas, several smaller birds of various 
 species; and a kind of Swamp-hen, or water-rail, was par- 
 ticularised as having been abundant, and a favourite article 
 of food with their remote ancestors. This bird was believed 
 to be extinct, and to have been exterminated by the wild cats 
 and dogs, which at the present time are a great pest to the 
 colonists, destroying the young poultry and other domestic 
 birds, as well as the indigenous species. It was known to the 
 North Islanders by the name of Moho, to the natives of the 
 South by that of Takahe ; but not an individual had been seen, 
 or heard of, since the arrival of the English in the country. 
 
 The Rev. Richard Taylor, who has long resided in the 
 Islands, had never seen this bird but in his little work, " A 
 Leaf from the Natural History of New Zealand," under the 
 head of " Moho" there is the following note ; "Mono, Rail : 
 
ROOM II. DISCOVERY OF A LIVE NOTORXIS. 127 
 
 colour, black ; said to be a wingless bird as large as a fowl, 
 with red beak and legs ; it is nearly exterminated by the cats : 
 its cry was Keo ! keo ! " The vagueness and inaccuracy of 
 the description prove it to be derived from report, and not 
 from actual observation. On my son's second visit to the 
 southern part of the Middle Island (as Government Com- 
 missioner for the settlement of native claims), he fell in with 
 some sealers, who had been pursuing their avocations along 
 the little frequented islets and gullies of Dusky Bay, on the 
 south-western shores, and from them obtained the skin of a 
 recent specimen of Notornis Mantelli. 
 
 It appeared, that when frequenting the coasts in search of 
 seals and other game, these men observed on the snow, with 
 which the ground was then thickly covered, the foot-tracks of 
 a large and strange bird, and after following the trail for a 
 considerable distance, they caught sight of the object of their 
 search, which ran with great speed, and for a long while 
 distanced their dogs, but was at length driven up a gully in 
 Resolution Island, and captured alive. It uttered loud screams, 
 and fought and struggled violently : it was kept ah' ve three 
 or four days on board the schooner, and then killed, and the 
 body roasted and eaten by the crew, each partaking of the 
 dainty, which was said to be delicious. The skin, with the 
 skull and bones of the feet and legs, was preserved, and for- 
 tunately obtained by my son while in good condition, and 
 thus, perhaps, the last of the race of Mohos was preserved 
 for the naturalists of Europe. 
 
 Upon comparing the head of the bird with the fossil 
 crania and mandibles, my son was at once convinced of 
 the specific identity of the recent and fossil specimens ; and so 
 delighted was he by the discovery of a living example of one 
 of the supposed extinct contemporaries of the Moa, that he 
 wrote to me and stated that the skull and beaks were alike 
 in both, and that the abbreviated and feeble development of 
 the bones and plumage of the wing were in perfect accordance 
 with the indications afforded by the humerus and sternum 
 found by him at Waingongoro, and now in the British 
 Museum, as pointed out in the Zoological Transactions, 
 vol. iii. To the natives of the pahs or villages my son 
 visited on his homewanj route to Wellington, the Notornis 
 was a perfect novelty, and excited great interest. No one 
 
128 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. II. 
 
 had seen such a bird, but all agreed that it was the tradi- 
 tional Moho or Takahe, which they had believed was utterly 
 extinct. 
 
 This beautiful bird is about two feet high, and much re- 
 sembles in its general form the Porphyrio melanotus, but it 
 is larger and stouter, and generically distinct : the characters 
 predicated by Professor Owen from the fossil remains, being 
 clearly marked in this recent example. 
 
 The beaks are short and strong, and, as well as the legs, 
 were of a bright scarlet in the living animal. The neck and 
 body are of a dark purple colour, the wings and back being 
 shot with green and gold. The wings are short and rounded, 
 and remarkably feeble both in structure and plumage. The 
 tail is scanty, and white beneath. The specific identity of 
 the recent and fossil Notornis is confirmed by Mr. Gould, 
 who has published a coloured figure, the size of the original, 
 in a supplementary number of his splendid work on the 
 " Birds of Australia." 
 
 Thus we have at length obtained a recent example of one 
 of the supposed lost types that were coeval with the gigantic 
 bipeds, whose stupendous proportions, and mighty strength, 
 are celebrated in the songs and traditional tales of the New 
 Zealanders, and whose bones, and even eggs, have been 
 transmitted to Europe, and excited the wonder and delight 
 of the natural philosopher and the multitude. 
 
 This discovery is of the highest interest alike to the orni- 
 thologist and the palaeontologist, for this extraordinary form 
 of Rallidse was previously only known by its fossil remains, 
 and would, probably, like the Dodo of the Mauritius (of 
 which the only vestiges are a head and foot), have soon 
 become wholly traditional. 
 
 It is possible that another living Moho may be obtained, 
 but the latest communication from my son forbids the 
 sanguine expectation that such will be the case. 
 
 FOSSIL PARROT (Nestor). Table-Case 16. The islands of 
 the South Pacific are inhabited by a very remarkable genus 
 of nocturnal Parrots (Nestor), of which but two species are 
 known. One of these (N. hypopolius), is restricted to New 
 Zealand ; the other (N. productus) to Philip Island, a mere 
 speck of dry land in the vast Southern Ocean, being only 
 five miles in extent ; and yet, as the eminent ornithologist 
 
ROOM II. FOSSIL APTERYX ; ALBATROSS. 129 
 
 Mr. Gould observes, so exclusively is the latter bird confined 
 to that isolated spot, and so rare, that many persons who 
 have resided in Norfolk Island many years, assured him its 
 occurrence there was totally unknown, although the distance 
 from one island to the other is not more than three or four 
 miles : l recent accounts state that this species has now 
 become extinct. 
 
 Among the bones discovered by Mr. Walter Mantell at 
 Waingongoro are portions of a skull, and two examples of 
 the bony part of the upper beak of a Parrot, which closely 
 resemble in size and structure those of the genus Nestor. 
 
 The beak, by its deep, subcompressed, curved, and pointed 
 form, its seeming solidity, pierced by small subcircular nos- 
 trils close to its base, attests the family character of Psitta- 
 cidse ; whilst the proportional length as compared with the 
 depth, the narrow upper surface, where it suddenly expands 
 above the nostrils to join the cranium, the absence of the 
 notch on the under border, the very narrow elongated tri- 
 angular palatal surface, with the medium linear notch at its 
 base, all demonstrate that in this characteristic part of the 
 skull, the New Zealand bird represented by it most resembled 
 the living species of Nestor. 2 
 
 FOSSIL APTERYX; ALBATROSS; PENGUIN. In the last col- 
 lection received from my son there are fossil bones of two 
 species of Apteryx; those of the largest equal in size the 
 homologous elements in the Ap. Auslralis; the lesser bones 
 accord with the corresponding parts of the skeleton of Ap. 
 Owenii; but until more perfect examples of crania and other 
 characteristic bones are obtained, the specific identity of the 
 ancient and existing birds cannot be determined. The fact, 
 however, that the living type of tetradactyle struthious birds, 
 known only in New Zealand, was coeval with the stupendous 
 brevipennate Moa, is highly interesting. 
 
 Albatross. Part of a cranium with the upper mandible, 
 not distinguishable from the beak of the yellow-billed Alba- 
 tross (Diamodea chlororhyncus) of the Pacific Ocean, and 
 portions of other bones, dug up at Waikouaiti, prove that this 
 powerful and rapacious bird of flight inhabited the seas and 
 
 1 " Birds of Australia." 
 
 2 "Zoological Transactions," vol. iii. p. 371, PL LIII.,figs. 11, 12, 13. 
 
 K 
 
130 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. II. 
 
 soared over the land, when the Moa and its kindred were the 
 denizens of New Zealand. 
 
 Penguin. The remote antiquity and contemporaneity with 
 the Moa of another indigenous brevipennate genus are esta- 
 blished by the discovery of the humerus, ulna, metatarsals, 
 and other bones of Penguins ; the partial union, and dis- 
 tinct separation of the shafts of the three primitive ossicles 
 of the metatarsals, are characters that leave no question as to 
 the generic relations of the birds to which these remains 
 belonged. 
 
 FOSSIL SEALS. A considerable number of vertebrae, ribs, 
 femora, scapulae, lower jaws with teeth, and fragments of 
 crania, belonging to two species of Seal, were found in the 
 ornithic bone-beds of the North and Middle Island ; and 
 the mineralized condition of these fossils those from Wain- 
 gongoro being filled with menaccanite sand, and 
 those from Waikouaiti with the earthy bitu- 
 minized materials of the submerged morass, 
 and their intermixture with the relics of the 
 Moa, &c.j leave no doubt of their contempo- 
 raneity with the superficial ossiferous deposits. 
 Whether these remains belong to the same species 
 as now frequent the shores of the Islands of the 
 Pacific (Phoca leptonyx, and P. leonina), I have 
 not had the opportunity of ascertaining. 
 
 FOSSIL DOG. In the most ancient ossiferous 
 deposits at Waingongoro, and at so considerable 
 a depth as to leave no doubt that the animal 
 to which it belonged coexisted with the colossal 
 species of Moa, my son discovered the femur of a 
 Dog (Lign. 32) ; the only vestige of a terrestrial 
 FOSSIL FEMUR mammalian hitherto observed in these beds. 
 
 This bone is in the same condition as those of 
 . ' the birds from that locality, and the cancellee are 
 $natsize W ' filled with menaccanite sand. (This interesting 
 and unique relic should be placed in the same 
 cabinet as the cranium with which it was found associated.) 
 Burnt bones of Man, Moa, and Dog. Table-case 16. 
 The natives directed my son's attention to some mounds 
 covered with herbage and ferns, which they informed him 
 contained bones and ashes, the refuse of feasts held by 
 
ROOM IT. RETROSPECTIVE SUMMARY. 131 
 
 their ancestors a long while ago. Upon excavating some 
 of these hillocks, they were found to be made up of ashes 
 and calcined bones of men, dogs, and large moas, indiscrimi- 
 nately mingled. 
 
 In Case 15, there are fragments of a human clavicle, ra- 
 dius, and some phalangeal bones ; lower jaw, teeth, and other 
 bones of dogs ; and some pieces of moa-bones. These relics, 
 which have manifestly been subjected to the action of fire, 
 contained no traces whatever of the earthy powder or ferru- 
 ginous impregnation, so constant in the fossil bones from the 
 fluviatile deposits ; nor of the menaccanite with which all the 
 bones from the sand-beds are more or less permeated. 
 
 My son, in proof that the birds' remains as well as those 
 of men and dogs, had been exposed to great heat whilst 
 recent, sent me portions of egg-shells charred and bent 
 inwards. 
 
 The Rev. J. Taylor mentions having opened similar heaps 
 of bones and ashes in the valley of the Wanganui, and he 
 describes their appearance " as though the flesh of the birds 
 had been eaten, and the bones thrown indiscriminately 
 together." If such was the origin of these heaps, and they 
 are to be regarded as the rejectamenta of the feasts of 
 the Aborigines, cannibalism must have prevailed among the 
 New Zealanders at a very remote period, and ere the gigantic 
 species of Moas were extinct. The practice was doubtless 
 then, as in modern times, connected with superstitious rites, 
 and did not originate from the want of animal food, as some 
 authors have suggested in extenuation of the horrid prac- 
 tice by so intelligent a race as the Maoris. 
 
 RETROSPECTIVE SUMMARY. From the facts which have been 
 brought under our consideration in the course of this exami- 
 nation of the fossil remains of Birds from our Antipodean 
 Colony, contained in the British Museum, we are led to con- 
 clude that at a period geologically recent, but of immense 
 antiquity in relation to the human inhabitants of those 
 islands, New Zealand was densely peopled by tribes of co- 
 lossal brevipennate birds, belonging to species and genera 
 that have long since become extinct. I believe that ages 
 ere the advent of the Maori tribes, the Moa and its kindred 
 were the chief inhabitants of the country; and that from 
 the period when those islands were taken possession of by 
 
132 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. II. 
 
 Man, the race gradually diminished, and the colossal types 
 were finally annihilated by human agency. 
 
 That some of the gigantic species of Dinornis were con- 
 temporary with the Maoris, there can now be no reasonable 
 doubt. Apart from native traditions, and songs and tales 
 in which allusions are made to the magnitude and flowing 
 plumage of the Moa, the collocation of calcined and roasted 
 bones of these birds, with those of dogs, and of the human 
 species, in the ancient fire-heaps of the Aborigines, and the 
 unequivocal marks of the celt or axe of jade on some of the 
 leg-bones, the incisions having evidently been made on the 
 bones when recent, afford incontrovertible proof that the 
 last of the Moas, like the last of the Dodos, was extirpated 
 by man. 
 
 From the great size and strength of the thighs, legs, and 
 feet of the Moa, it is clear that the hinder limbs were powerful 
 locomotive organs; and when we consider the vast swarms 
 of the largest species which at one period must have existed, 
 it seems highly probable that this family of colossal birds, 
 a family unknown either in a recent or fossil state in any 
 other part of the world, was not originally confined within 
 the narrow geographical limits of modern New Zealand, but 
 ranged over an extensive continent now submerged, and of 
 which Philip and Norfolk Islands, and Chatham and Auck- 
 land Islands, and those of New Zealand, are the culminating 
 points. 
 
 But whatever may be the result of future discoveries as 
 to the relative age of the bone-deposits, or the existence or 
 total extinction of any of the colossal species of Moas, or the 
 former geographical distribution of the race over countries 
 now submerged, one most remarkable fact must remain un- 
 assailable, namely, the vast preponderance of the class Aves, 
 or Birds, which prevailed, and still prevails in the fauna 
 of New Zealand, to the almost entire exclusion of mam- 
 malia and reptiles. Any palaeontologist who saw the collec- 
 tions formed by my son alone, must have been astonished 
 at their extent and variety. I may venture to affirm that 
 such an assemblage of the fossil bones of birds was never 
 before seen in Europe; upwards of fifteen hundred speci- 
 mens, collected from various parts of the country, with 
 scarcely any intermixture of the relics of any other class; 
 
ROOM II. RETROSPECTIVE SUMMARY. 133 
 
 it is a phenomenon as startling as the exclusively reptilian 
 character of the inhabitants of the dry land during the 
 Wealden epoch. 
 
 But the existing fauna of New Zealand presents a cha- 
 racter as exclusively ornithic and anomalous as the ancient 
 one ; for while there are upwards of fifty or sixty genera of 
 birds, there is but one species of indigenous mammalian known 
 to naturalists, a frugivorous Rat. The highest representatives 
 of the warm-blooded air-breathing classes, are the Apteryx 
 and Brachypteryx ! 
 
 In this respect, therefore, as well as in its flora, in which 
 ferns and other cellulosse prevail to an extent unknown else- 
 where, New Zealand is a most remarkable instance of a centre 
 of creation of peculiar organic types. (See ante p. 104.) 
 
 An important general conclusion of another kind has been 
 deduced by Professor Owen from the amount of agreement be- 
 tween the fossil genera and species of birds, and the existing 
 forms peculiar to New Zealand. For example, the affinity of 
 the fossil Parrot of Waingongoro to the living nocturnal genus 
 Nestor; of the Notornis (now known recent) with the Bra- 
 chypteryx ; of Palapteryx with Apteryx : and, we may add, 
 of species of Apteryx, Albatross, and Penguin, apparently 
 identical with living species. 
 
 The Dinornis, if it have no near ally in any known exist- 
 ing bird of New Zealand, appears to have but little affinity 
 to any of the struthious, or other types, in the rest of the 
 world. 
 
 The same general accordance in the existing and recently 
 extinct forms of the warm-blooded vertebrata is exemplified 
 in the newest tertiary deposits of Europe and Asia, by the 
 remains of Elephants, Rhinoceroses, Hysenas, <fec., and by the 
 absence of those families, and the occurrence of gigantic Sloths, 
 Anteaters, Armadillos, &c. in the pleistocene beds of South 
 America; and has recently been yet more strikingly eluci- 
 dated by the discovery of fossil gigantic Kangaroos, Wom- 
 bats, and Daysures, in the bone-caves and freshwater deposits 
 of Australia. 1 
 
 1 Dr. Andrew Smith informs me that he has just received notice of 
 the discovery of fossil bones of a marsupial animal related to the Kan- 
 garoo, exceeding five times in magnitude those of any living species. 
 
134 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. II. 
 
 One fact is especially remarkable, and must have excited 
 the surprise of the thoughtful observer, the contrast pre- 
 sented by the vast accumulations of fossil bones of birds in 
 the swamps, morasses, and pleistocene beds of New Zealand, 
 with the excessive rarity of ornithic remains, not only in the 
 formations of the secondary and ancient tertiary epochs, but 
 also in the most recent alluvial deposits of every other country 
 in the world. 
 
 Sir Charles Lyell has commented on the probable causes 
 of the scarcity of relics of so numerous and important a class 
 of vertebrated animals in a fossil state, and suggested, in 
 explanation of the phenomenon, the peculiar organization of 
 birds ; their powers of flight necessarily rendering them less 
 liable to be imbedded in the deltas of rivers, or in the bed 
 of the ocean, than quadrupeds; whilst the relatively small 
 specific gravity of their bodies, owing to the tubular struc- 
 ture of the bones, and the lightness of their feathery dermal 
 integuments, occasions the carcases of such as die or fall into 
 the water, to float on the surface till they are devoured or 
 decomposed. 
 
 But this argument is scarcely applicable to the colossal 
 brevipennate tribes possessing massive and solid skeletons, 
 as the Dinornis and other extinct Struthionidse, of whose 
 bones the ossiferous deposits of New Zealand in a great 
 measure consist. The anomaly is probably attributable to a 
 very different cause, namely, the peculiar character both of 
 the ancient and modern faunas of that country, in the 
 entire absence of terrestrial mammalia. The stupendous Moas 
 of the earlier ages of those Islands had no indigenous ene- 
 mies or devourers, save the carnivorous tribes of their own 
 class. 
 
 In the fluviatile, littoral, and marine deposits, now in 
 progress in New Zealand, the skeletons of birds are not likely 
 to be imbedded and preserved more frequently than in the 
 secondary, tertiary, and alluvial strata, of other parts of the 
 world. No such accumulations of ornithic remains as the bone- 
 beds of Waingongoro or Waikouaiti can. possibly be formed 
 under existing circumstances ; for since the advent of 
 Europeans, a new element of destruction has been introduced 
 into the Islands of the South Pacific ; and the apterous birds, 
 and those possessing but feeble powers of flight, and the 
 
ROOM II. RETROSPECTIVE SUMMARY. 135 
 
 young and the disabled of other families, whether volant or 
 cursorial, now become the easy prey of the cats, dogs, and 
 rats, which accompany the Anglo-Saxon races wherever they 
 fix their habitations. 
 
 The most rare and interesting indigenous species are at the 
 present moment rapidly diminishing, and must, ere long, be 
 exterminated by the carnivorous predatory mammalia, which 
 have, unfortunately, been added to the fauna of the Antipodes 
 within the last half century ; and the wild cats, (the progeny 
 of the European domestic species) are so numerous and 
 destructive, that it is vain to hope the Notomis (if any of the 
 genus still exists), or the rarer kinds of Apteryx, will long 
 escape the fate of the Dodo and its kindred ; their final 
 extinction cannot be very remote. Possibty, ere many years, 
 have passed away, the only known recent example of the 
 NOTORNIS, the individual which forms the subject of the fron- 
 tispiece of these unpretending pages, will be the sole relic of 
 its race, save the fossil bones preserved in the ancient deposits 
 of its country, and become as precious in the estimation of 
 the palaeontologist and ornithologist, as the head and foot of 
 the frugivorous pigeon of the Mauritius. 1 
 
 1 See Messrs. Strickland and Melville's splendid and charming work, 
 " The Dodo and its kindred" 1 vol. 4to ; and " Wonders of Geology," 
 p. 130. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 PAKT I. 
 
 PLAN OP ROOM III. SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS OP ROOM III. FOSSIL REPTILES 
 SWANAGE CROCODILE MEGALOSAURUS OBNINGEN SALAMANDER CHE- 
 LONIAN REPTILES GEOSAURUS PTERODACTYLES CROCODILIAN REPTILES 
 
 MOSASAURUS HYL.EOSAURUS IGUANODON REGNOSAURUS FELORO- 
 
 SAURUS POLYPTYCHODON PLESIOSAURUS FOSSIL MAMMALIA OF AU- 
 VERGNE MINERALS MAIDSTONE IGUANODON. 
 
 THE Room we have next to survey is more inconveniently 
 crowded even than the apartments we have passed through : 
 the floor being occupied by twenty-six Table-cabinets, so that 
 the objects in the Wall-cases cannot be seen to advantage; 
 and as is the case in the other rooms of this Gallery, there are 
 neither seats nor tables for the convenience of the visitor 
 desirous of noting the objects of interest that may particularly 
 engage his attention. 
 
 The collection in this Room, though offering but few attrac- 
 tions to the uninstructed eye, contains many objects of exces- 
 sive rarity and great interest ; and a full description of its 
 varied contents would extend through several volumes. To 
 economise space, the specimens are deposited so as to leave no 
 part of the cases unoccupied ; and arrangement is consequently 
 in some measure sacrificed to convenience. 
 
 In the subjoined synoptical notice, the principal objects are 
 enumerated in the order in which they are placed in the 
 cabinets ; and in the detailed description that follows, I have 
 classified them under a few general heads, for the convenience 
 of the student, without strict regard either to zoological or 
 geological arrangement. 
 
 The Wall-cases A, B, C, D, E, F, [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,] on the 
 south side, or left hand, of the Room, contain the remains of 
 
ROOM III. SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS. 137 
 
 Turtles, Batrachians, Crocodilians, and Saurians, and some 
 splendid specimens of Plesiosauri ; these fossils are, for the 
 most part, from the tertiary and secondary formations of 
 England. 
 
 This department of Palaeontology is of surpassing interest 
 in a physiological point of view, for it reveals to us colossal 
 forms of the class Reptilia, presenting anomalous and most 
 unexpected modifications of structure, belonging to species and 
 genera which inhabited the lands and waters through count- 
 less ages, and have long since been obliterated from the face 
 of the earth. Of the remains of many of these remarkable 
 types of cold-blooded vertebrata, the collection in the British 
 Museum contains most valuable and instructive examples. 
 
 ROOM III. 
 
 (85 feet long.) 
 
 SYNOPSIS OF CONTEXTS. 
 
 ORGANIC REMAINS. 
 
 WALL-CASES A. [1.] Swanage Crocodile. (Goniopholis 
 crassidens.) Affixed to the wall are two slabs of fresh- water 
 limestone, being the corresponding parts of the same block of 
 stone, exposing a considerable number of the detached parts 
 of the skeleton of a reptile allied to the Crocodile. This is 
 a most interesting specimen from the Wealden strata at 
 Swanage. Detached bones and dermal plates of the same 
 species from the strata of Tilgate Forest are placed on the 
 shelves below. On the lowest shelf is the cast of a portion of 
 the lower jaw with teeth of the Megalosaurus Bucklandi, 
 from the lower Oolite of Stonesfield ; the original is in the 
 museum at Oxford. 
 
 In the angle of the case (marked Batrachians) on the upper 
 shelf, is the celebrated (Eningen Salamander, (Cryptobranchw 
 diluvii testis,) the subject of Scheuchzer's treatise, "Homo 
 Diluvii Testis et Theoscopos." 
 
 On the middle shelves there are many fine examples of 
 
138 
 
 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 PLAN OF ROOM III. 
 
 Room IT. 
 
 To the 
 
 381^ ^~ Zoological 
 Gallery. 
 
 Room IV. 
 
ROOM III. SYNOPSIS OF CONTEXTS. 139 
 
 fossil Chelonians, or Turtles and Tortoises, from the Tertiary 
 deposits at Sheppey, Harwich, <fcc. ; and some interesting 
 detached bones and plates of Turtles from the Wealden of 
 Tilgate Forest, especially of Tretosternum Bakewelli, (formerly 
 in the Author's collection.). 
 
 Below there are two specimens of a small Crocodilian 
 reptile the Geosaurus, from Solenhofen. 
 
 On the left of the above are casts of three species of Ptero- 
 dactyles, or Flying Reptiles, from Solenhofen, viz. P. longi- 
 rostris, P. brevirostris, P. Munsteri. 
 
 In a small frame is the unique specimen of Pterodactyle, 
 (P. macronyx) from the Lias of Lyrne Regis ; discovered by 
 Miss Mary Anning, and described by Dr. Buckland in " Geolog. 
 Trans." Vol. III. PL XXVII. p. 220. 
 
 B. [2.] On the upper shelf are a beautiful head, with 
 part of the vertebral column of Macrospondylus, and below 
 a fine cranium of Crocodilus toliapicm from the Isle of 
 Sheppey ; and a portion of skull, with the jaws and teeth 
 perfect, of a large Teleosaurus. 
 
 To the right of the Teleosaurus is the cranium of Crocodilus 
 Spenceri, from the Isle of Sheppey, (figured in Dr. Buckland's 
 "Bridgewater Treatise," PL XXV.) 
 
 On the shelf below, (immediately above the Hylososaurus,) 
 is a very fine example of Teleosaurus prisons, or Aelodon, from 
 Monheim. On the right of the Hylceosaurus are specimens 
 of Teleosaurus Chapmanni, and remains of other extinct 
 crocodilian reptiles. 
 
 Mosasaurus or Fossil Reptile of Maastricht. In the lower 
 division of Case B, near the angle, is a model of the celebrated 
 specimen of the Mosasaurus Hoffmanni, now in the Jardin 
 des Plantes. (Presented to the Author by Baron Cuvier.) 
 Above it are two fine portions of the jaws with teeth, of the 
 same species of gigantic reptile, presented in 1784 by Dr. 
 Peter Camper. On the frame of the Geosaurus are some 
 detached vertebrae of Mosasaurus from Maestricht ; and a 
 small slab of chalk in which are imbedded two caudal vertebras 
 and a detached dorsal vertebra of a species of Mosasaurus, 
 (M. stenodon,) from the chalk near Lewes. (Figured in 
 " Fossils of the South Downs." 1822.) 
 
 Hylceosaurus. In the lowest department in the centre of 
 Case B, is the first discovered specimen of Hyl&osaurus, 
 
140 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP, III. 
 
 (figured in the "Geology of the South-East of England," 
 PL V.) ; above it is a remarkably interesting portion of the 
 vertebral column, with many dermal bones of another Hylce- 
 osaurus, (figured in "Phil. Trans." for 1849, PL XXXIL). 
 
 By the side of the first specimen, to the left of the spec- 
 tator, are a very large scapula, and other bones ; and on the 
 right, the proximal end of the corresponding scapula, and the 
 humerus, with many portions of ribs, and a phalangeal bone, 
 belonging to the same individual ; from a bed of Wealden 
 Clay, near Bolney, in Tilgate Forest. 
 
 On the right hand is a model of a nearly perfect dorsal 
 dermal spine of the Hylceosaurus, (the original, fourteen 
 inches long, discovered by Mr. Peter Fuller, of Lewes, is in 
 the possession of the Author,) figured in "Phil. Trans." 
 1850, PL XXVII. 
 
 (7. [3.] Iguanodon. The contents of this Case are chiefly 
 bones and teeth of reptiles of the genus Iguanodon, from the 
 strata of Tilgate Forest, in Sussex, discovered and developed 
 by the Author. 
 
 Upper Shelf. On the left a very fine Coracoid bone im- 
 bedded in Tilgate grit ; and a portion of another Coracoid. 
 
 A scapula, eighteen inches long, of an unknown reptile; 
 (figured and described in "Phil Trans." 1841, PL IX. X.). 
 
 Portions of a very large Scapula, probably of Pelorosaurus ; 
 (figured in "Fossils of Tilgate Forest," PL XVI.). 
 
 Fragment of the shaft of a Femur twenty-three inches in 
 circumference. (Marked No. 4.) See " Fossils of Tilgate 
 Forest," PL XVIII. ; this was the first portion of a colossal 
 bone discovered by the Author in the Wealden of Sussex, in 
 1820. 
 
 Two pieces of a femur, tibia, fibula, and two metatarsal 
 bones, of the same young and comparatively small Iguanodon. 
 
 Bone in a block of Tilgate grit ; undetermined. 
 
 Fragment of a very large Os pubis, probably of the Igua- 
 nodon. 
 
 Near this specimen there is a bone supposed to be part 
 of the Ischium, but it is imperfect at the extremities, and the 
 form of the original cannot be ascertained with certainty. 
 There are portions of several other bones on this shelf that 
 cannot be satisfactorily interpreted till more perfect specimens 
 are discovered. 
 

 ROOM III. SYNOPSIS OF CONTEXTS. 141 
 
 Second Shelf from the Top. On the left, two small cylin- 
 drical bones, possibly of the anterior extremity of a young 
 Iguanodon. Tibia and fibula, (marked No. 2) of the same 
 individual as the femur on the right hand, (labelled No. 5.) 
 These three specimens give the relative proportions of the 
 thigh and leg of this species of Iguanodon. 
 
 A very fine femur (marked No. 3) ; and the largest and 
 most perfect in the collection, (marked No. 1,) which is forty- 
 four inches long, and twenty-two inches round the shaft ; this 
 specimen was dug up from the Weald Clay near Loxwood, in 
 Sussex, and presented to the Author by the late Earl of 
 Egremont. 
 
 Sacral vertebrae. On the trays containing these magnificent 
 thigh bones, there are placed four specimens of sacral verte- 
 brae, which are highly interesting. The right hand vertebrae 
 are a portion of the sacrum of the Megalosaurus ; the generic 
 relations of the next specimen, (which is figured in " Philos. 
 Trans." for 1841, PL IX. fig. 5,) is not ascertained : the single 
 sacral vertebra on the left belongs to the Iguanodon ; the 
 fourth specimen -is part of the sacrum ascribed, with much 
 probability, to the Hylceosaurus. " Brit. Assoc. Report," 
 p. 114. 
 
 Narrow Shelf. Numerous teeth, comprising upper and 
 lower molars of Iguanodon, of various ages, and in different 
 stages of detrition. 
 
 Polished transverse sections of the tibia of a young Tgua- 
 nodon. 
 
 Portion of the anterior part of the upper jaw of the Igua- 
 nodon ; (figured and described in "Phil. Trans." 1848, 
 PL IX.) 
 
 Horn, or dermal tubercle, (figured in " Fossils of Tilgate 
 Forest," PL XX. fig. 2,) probably of the Iguanodon. 
 
 Portion of the lower jaw of a reptile, Regnosaurm Nor- 
 thamptoni, (figured and described in "Phil. Trans." 1841, 
 PL V. and 1848,) from Tilgate Forest. 
 
 Lower Division. Numerous ribs, vertebrae, and chevron- 
 bones, and bones of the extremities ; namely, metatarsals or 
 metacarpals, phalangeals, and ungueals. 
 
 A slab of Tilgate grit with six anterior caudal vertebra?, 
 and three chevron-bones of an Iguanodon ; a matchless 
 specimen. 
 
142 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 Below this fossil are several ribs, and a portion of a remark- 
 ably fine rib, thirty-six inches long. 
 
 A perfect Clavicle, (figured in " Geology of the South-East 
 of England," PI. IV.), and portions of others. 
 
 There are chevron bones, and many detached vertebrae on 
 the shelf to the left of the central specimen ; chiefly caudal 
 of the Iguanodon : but there are a few belonging to other 
 genera, as Megalosaurus, Poikilopleuron (?), Goniopholis, &c. 
 
 Tympanic bones. On the right hand is one very large and 
 fine specimen, (figured in " Geology S. E. of England," PI. XL 
 fig. 5.). 
 
 Humerus. A model; the original is in the possession of 
 Mr. Fowlestone, of Hyde, Isle of Wight. It afforded the 
 data by which I was enabled to determine the character of 
 this part of the skeleton of the Tguanodon. 
 
 In the same compartment there are casts of a metatarsal or 
 metacarpal, and two phalangeal bones of Iguanodon, from the 
 Wealden of Sussex, presented by S. H. Beckles, Esq. of 
 Hastings. 
 
 Pelorosaurus. The four splendid plano-concave vertebrae 
 placed together, with a chevron bone hanging near them, do 
 not belong to the Iguanodon, but are referred, provisionally, 
 to a colossal reptile of the Crocodilian type, named by the 
 Author Pelorosaurus Conybeari ; (figured and described in 
 " Phil. Trans." 1850, PI. XXII.) They are the Cetiosaurus 
 brevis, of "Brit. Assoc. Report," 1841. Some of the other 
 large vertebrae of this type probably belong to the same 
 genus, and other biconcave vertebrae to the genus Cetio- 
 saurus. 
 
 There are two imperfect convexo-concave cervical vertebrae, 
 which have been referred to a species of Streptospondylus, 
 (see "Brit. Foss. Kept." p. 92), but probably belong to the 
 Iguanodon or Megalosaurus. 
 
 Megalosaurus. There are femora, phalangeal bones, and 
 many teeth of this Reptile, from the Wealden of Tilgate Forest ; 
 and portions, (three anchylosed vertebrae,) of the sacrum, from 
 the Oolite of Stonesfield. 
 
 There is also the cast of a metatarsal or metacarpal bone of 
 the Megalosaurus, from the original in Dr. Buckland's posses- 
 sion, and which was given me by that eminent palaeontologist : 
 it serves to illustrate the homologous bone in the Iguanodon. 
 
ROOM III. SYNOPSIS OP CONTENTS. 143 
 
 Two enormous coracoids, a femur, and part of a clavicle of 
 the Megalosaurus, have lately been discovered at Stonesfield, 
 and added to the Museum collection : these are at present in 
 Room IT. Wall-case G. 
 
 In the following cases commences the matchless collection 
 of British Enaliosaurians, or Marine Reptiles, chiefly of the 
 genera Plesiosaurus, and Ichthyosaurus, from the Lias of 
 Dorsetshire, Somersetshire, and Gloucestershire, collected by 
 Thomas Hawkins, Esq. F. G. S. 
 
 D. [4.] A beautiful Plesiosaurus HawTcinsii, and a cast 
 of the same. 
 
 Plesiosaurus dolichodeirus. (Long-necked the neck being 
 equal in length to the body and tail united.) On the top of 
 this case is the original specimen of this species, described by 
 Rev. W. D. Conybeare in 1822. (See " Geol. Trans." second 
 series, vol. i. PL XVIII.) 
 
 E. [o.J On the left, Plesiosaurus macrocephalus, presented 
 by the Earl of Enniskillen. 
 
 Plesiosaurus rugosus, from the Lias near Belvoir Castle ; a 
 nearly entire specimen of this rare species ; presented by the 
 Duke of Rutland. 
 
 F. [6.] In the upper division, Plesiosaurus Hawkinsii. 
 Below are exquisite specimens of the same species, and part 
 of a Plesiosaurus dolichodeirus. 
 
 Above Case A, are remains of large fossil Turtles. 
 
 0. Portions of the skeleton of a gigantic marine 
 reptile (Polijptychodon), from the Green- 
 sand of Hythe, in Kent, presented by 
 H. B. Mackeson, Esq. 
 
 D. The original specimen of Plesiosaurus doli- 
 chodeirus. 
 
 E. A specimen of Plesiosaurus arcuatus. 
 
 G. [7.] Remains of Mammalia, Birds, and Reptiles, from 
 the Eocene lacustrine deposits, near Clermont, in Auvergne. 
 This most valuable collection is not yet arranged ; it com- 
 prises many species and genera of pachyderms allied to the 
 Anoplotheria ; rodents, carnivora, marsupials, ruminants, and 
 saurian and batrachian reptiles. There are several fossil egg- 
 shells, either of birds or reptiles. 
 
 H. [8.] Bones, teeth, <kc. of Ruminants and Pachyderms, 
 from the Diluvium or Drift. (Unarranged.) 
 
144 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 MINERALS. 
 
 TABLE-CASE 1. [47.] Carbonates of lime and magnesia. 
 Rhomb-spar ; dolomite ; brown spar ; flexible dolomite, from 
 Pittsfield, Massachusetts, North America. 
 
 2. [14.] In this and Cases 15 and 16, are deposited 
 most of the oxides of iron. Magnetic iron ore ; crystallized 
 varieties ; natural magnets ; magnetic ironsand. 
 
 3. [46.] Calcite ; pisiform limestone, or pea-stone, from the 
 hot springs of Carlsbad, in Bohemia. Tufaceous limestone. 
 Human skull incrusted, from the Tiber, at Rome. Tufaceous 
 casts, from the Baths of San Filippo, near Tivoli. 1 
 
 4. [15.] Iron-glance, or specular oxide, from Elba, Strom- 
 boli, Vesuvius : red ironstone, and red hematite. 
 
 5. [45 A and .] Marbles of various kinds. In [45 A.~\ 
 specimens of the Corinthian lumachella, or fire-marble : the 
 beautiful play of colours is produced by the fossil laminated 
 shells imbedded. 
 
 6. [16.] Hydrous oxide of iron, or brown ironstone. Speci- 
 mens of argillaceous, or clay ironstone, as the reniform, 
 columnar, and pisiform, or pea-ore. 
 
 7. [45.] Prismatic modifications of crystallized calcite, with 
 stalactites and fibrous varieties, from Sweden, Cumberland, &c. 
 
 8. [17.] Oxides of copper ; red, or ruby copper ; black 
 oxide ; oxide of bismuth ; red oxide of zinc ; red and yellow 
 earthy cobalt. Oxide of uranium. 
 
 9. [43,44.] Crystallized varieties of calcite or calc spar; 
 specimens illustrative of double refraction, cleavage, super- 
 numerary joints, colour, &c. ; secondary, obtuse, and acute 
 rhombohedrons. Crystallized sandstone of Fontainbleau. 
 
 10. [18.] Oxide of lead ; native minium. Oxide of tin or 
 tinstone. Metallic tin ; some thick tin wires, brought from 
 Soudan, in Africa, by Captain Clapperton. 
 
 11. [11.] Various forms of aragonite. A variety of car- 
 bonates of lime, containing a small percentage of carbonate of 
 strontia ; coralloidal aragonite varieties of carbonate of lime, 
 or calcite. 
 
 12. [19.] Alumina and Aluminates. Corundum ; Emery ; 
 Indianite. Aluminates of magnesia ; the spinel ; chryso- 
 beryls, in large crystals, from Brazils and the Urals ; and in a 
 
 1 See ' Wonders of Geology," vol. i. p. 75. 
 
ROOM III. MINERALS. 145 
 
 matrix of quartz and felspar, with garnets from Haddam, in 
 Connecticut. 
 
 13. [41.] Carbonates of soda; of barytes, or witherite ; 
 barytocalcite ; carbonate of stroutia. 
 
 The remainder of this Case is filled with varieties of 
 aragonite. 
 
 14. [20.] Amethystine quartz. Rock crystal in various 
 modifications and colours, from Gibraltar, Bristol, &c. ; rock 
 crystal in a wrought state ; among these is the celebrated 
 Dr. Dee's show-stone. (See Sir Walter Scott's "Demonology.") 
 
 15. [40.] Silicates, with one or more borates. Tourmaline; 
 axinite ; rubellite ; of the latter a remarkable example, pre- 
 sented by the King of Ava to the late .Col. Symes. In- 
 dicolite, <fcc. 
 
 16. [21.] Common quartz in great variety; numerous 
 pseudomorphous crystals, derived from modifications of cal- 
 careous and fluor spars. Stalagmitic quartz from the hot 
 springs of the Geysers in Iceland, Santa Fiora in Tuscany, 
 and from Luzon, one of the Philippine Islands. Specimens 
 of " lightning tubes," from England and from Africa. Hyalite, 
 Haytorite, aventurino quartz, &c. 
 
 17. [39.] Molybdic acid and molybdates. Oxide of chro- 
 mium and chromates. Boracic acid, or sassoline, from Vul- 
 cano ; borate of magnesia ; datholite, &c. 
 
 18. [22.] Varieties of quartz. Prase; hornstone; among the 
 specimens of hornstone is a splendid example of the silicified 
 stem of a palm (psarolinite) ; cat's eye, from Ceylon ; chert ; 
 flint ; groups of stalactitical flint passing into calcedony ; 
 flint nodules, containing water ; calcedonies. 
 
 19. [38.] Silicates containing yttria and protoxide of cerium. 
 Combinations of columbic, or tantalic acid, with protoxides of 
 iron, lime, magnesia, yttria, zirconia, &c. Oxides of antimony. 
 Tungstates. Vanadic acid and vanadates. 
 
 20. [23.] Calcedonic substances, cut and polished. Car- 
 nelian ; plasma ; heliotrope ; bloodstone ; chrysoprase from 
 Kosemiitz, in Silesia. Agates; a beautiful agate nodule, 
 from the trap formation of Central Asia, presented by C. 
 Fraser, Esq. 
 
 21. Table containing polished slabs of various marbles. 
 
 22. Table with polished slabs of coralline marbles. 
 
 L 
 
146 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. II. 
 
 23. The MAIDSTONE IGUANODON. (See" Wonders of Geology" 
 PI. I.) In the hexagonal case placed on the ground beneath 
 the central north window is a block of Kentish rag, or sand- 
 stone, containing a considerable portion of the skeleton of a 
 young Iguanodon ; the bones are separated, and displaced. 
 Discovered in a quarry of Kentish rag, near Maidstone, Kent, 
 by Mr. Bensted, 1834. This is the most remarkable specimen 
 of the Iguanodon hitherto obtained. 
 
 24. Table of Serpentine. Table inlaid with porphyries, &c. 
 
 25. This table contains a fine series of bivalve shells 
 (Conchifera), one division from the Tertiary strata chiefly 
 from the Crag ; the other from the Inferior Oolite, and other 
 secondary deposits ; arranged and named by Mr. Woodward. 
 
 26." In the centre of the room is a table formed of an 
 extremely beautiful stalagmitic marble, from Hartle, Derby- 
 shire. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 PART II. 
 FOSSIL REPTILES. 
 
 AGB OF REPTILES FOSSIL BONES OF REPTILES FOSSIL TURTLES^PI ATEMYS 
 CHELONIA HARVICENSIS CHELONIA BRF.VICEPS WEALDEN TURTLES CHE- 
 LONIA BELLII EMYDIANS TRETOSTERNUM BAK.EWELLI. 
 
 THE AGE OF REPTILES. The announcement of the illus- 
 trious Founder of Palaeontology, that there was a period when 
 the lakes and rivers of our planet were peopled by reptiles, 
 and cold-blooded ogriparous quadrupeds of appalling magni- 
 tude were the principal inhabitants of the dry land, when 
 the seas swarmed with saurians exclusively adapted for a 
 marine existence, and the regions of the atmosphere were 
 traversed by winged lizards instead of birds, was an enuncia- 
 tion so novel and startling, as to require the prestige of tlie 
 name of CUVIER to obtain for it any degree of attention or 
 credence, even from those who were sufficiently enlightened 
 to perceive that a universal deluge would not account for the 
 mutations which the surface of the earth and its inhabitants 
 had, in the lapse of innumerable ages, undergone. 1 
 
 Subsequent discoveries have, however, established the truth, 
 of this proposition to an extent beyond what even its pro- 
 mulgator could have surmised ; and the " Age of Reptiles " 2 is 
 now admitted into the category of established facts. 
 
 1 " Nous remontons done a un autre age du monde ; a cet age oil la 
 terre n'etoit encore parcoume que par des reptiles & sang froid oil la 
 merabondoit en ammonites, en belemnites, en tre"bratules, en encri- 
 nites, et ou tous ces genre?, aujourd'hui d'une rarete prodigieuse, faisoient 
 le fond de sa population/' Ossemens Fossiles, torn. v. p. 10. 
 
 2 "The Age of Reptiles" was the title given by the author to a 
 popular summary of the evidence bearing on this question, which was 
 published in the Edinburgh PhilosophicalJournal for 1831. The name, 
 as now generally employed, comprises those geological epochs which are 
 characterized by the predominance of oviparous quadrupeds, viz. from 
 the Trias to the Chalk inclusive. 
 
148 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 During the incalculable ages which the deposition of the 
 various systems of sedimentary strata must have comprised, 
 we find no evidence in the fossils hitherto observed, of the 
 existence of Birds and Mammalia as the characteristic types 
 of the faunas of the dry land. On the contrary, throughout 
 the immense accumulations of the spoils of the ancient islands 
 and continents, amidst innumerable relics of reptiles of various 
 orders and genera, portions of six or seven lower jaws, and a 
 few bones, of two genera of extremely small terrestrial quad- 
 rupeds, and the bones of a species of wading bird, are the 
 only indications of the presence of the two grand classes, Mam- 
 malia and Aves, which constitute the chief features of the 
 terrestrial zoology of almost all countries. 
 
 The earliest indications of air-breathing vertebrata in the 
 ancient secondary formations, are the supposed footprints of a 
 chelonian reptile on the Potsdam limestone (Lower Silurian) of 
 North America, 1 and the bones of small* saurian reptiles in 
 the Carboniferous strata ; a few vestiges occur in the suc- 
 ceeding group, the Permian. In the next epoch, the Tr lassie, 
 colossal Batrachians (Labyrinthodons) appear ; and on some of 
 the strata of this formation are the footmarks of numerous 
 bipeds, presumed to be those of birds, which have already 
 engaged our attention ; but at present the evidence required 
 to establish the hypothesis is incomplete, for no bones of the 
 animals that made those imprints have been discovered. 
 
 In the succeeding eras, the Liassic, Oolitic, Wealden, and 
 Cretaceous, swarms of reptiles of numerous genera and species 
 everywhere prevail ; reptiles fitted to fly through the air, to 
 roam over the land, to inhabit the lakes, rivers, and seas ; and 
 yet not one identical with any existing forms ! These beings 
 gradually decline in numbers and species as we approach the 
 close of the Secondary periods, and are immediately succeeded, 
 in the Tertiary epochs, by as great a preponderance of warm- 
 blooded vertebrata Birds and Mammalia as exists at the 
 present time, and an equal decadence in the Class of Reptiles. 
 With the Cretaceous Formation the " Age of Reptiles " may 
 therefore be said to terminate. 
 
 1 A discovery recently made by Mr. Logan is supposed to establish 
 this fact. Casts of these very equivocal imprints may be seen in the 
 highly instructive and beautifully arranged Museum of Practical 
 Geology, in Jermyn Street, London. 
 
BOOM in. FOSSIL BOXES OF REPTILES. 149 
 
 FOSSIL BOXES OF REPTILES. The state of mineralisation 
 of the fossils we have now to examine, differs considerably 
 from that presented by the ornithic relics from New Zealand. 
 The osseous carapaces and plastrons of the turtles, and the 
 bones and teeth of the crocodiles and lizards, are almost 
 without exception heavy, and of various shades of brown or 
 umber, from the permeation of their structures by solu- 
 tions of carbonates or oxides of iron. 
 
 In some instances, bones of a jet black are imbedded in 
 white calciferous grit; the phosphoric acid in the original 
 organism having combined with iron and produced a deep 
 blue or black phosphate of that mineral, and left the sur- 
 rounding stone uncoloured. 
 
 Infiltration of calcareous spar is a mode of fossilisation 
 equally common ; and the cancellous structure, and the 
 medullary cavities of the long bones, are very often filled, 
 more or* less, with white calc-spar; brilliant pyrites also 
 enters into the composition of these fossils, frosting over with 
 a golden metallic deposit the linings of the cavities and fissures. 
 
 The petrifaction of the teeth by mineral matter, produces 
 beautiful examples of the intimate tissues of those organs ; 
 the dentine is often stained throughout with a rich sienna 
 tint, and sections viewed under the microscope by transmitted 
 light, reveal the character and distribution of the calcigerous 
 tubes more denned even than in recent specimens. 
 
 It is extremely rare that osseous structures are found sili- 
 cified, or, in other words, petrified by flint ; among the many 
 thousands of bones which I have extricated from the rock, 
 or have seen in collections, I know but of a solitary instance, 
 a caudal vertebra of a Mosasaurus, which I obtained from 
 a chalk-pit near Brighton. But notwithstanding the weight 
 and apparent solidity imparted by these modes of minerali- 
 sation, the osseous substance is generally rendered extremely 
 brittle, so that the development of the bones from the stone 
 in which they are imbedded, and the removal of the hard fer- 
 rugino-calcareous crust investing them, is no easy task, but 
 requires much tact and experience and patience to execute 
 successfully. 
 
 The observer, therefore, must not suppose that specimens 
 like the fossil Turtles and Reptiles in the first Cases, or 
 the colossal bones from the Wealden, in Case B, or the 
 
150 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 splendid skeletons of Plesiosauri spread out on slabs of grey 
 limestone in Cases D and E, are to be found in the strata in 
 a condition that would admit of their being even recognised 
 as organic remains by the uninstructed eye. On the con- 
 trary, mere shapeless masses of rock, with here and there 
 fragments of bone scarcely distinguishable from the surround- 
 ing stone, are in general the sole indications of these precious 
 monuments of distant ages, that have been enshrined for an 
 incalculable period, and which require the skill and labour of 
 the practised explorer to develop and render intelligible to 
 the comparative anatomist. 
 
 The degree of distortion which the strong and massive 
 bones of the colossal reptiles of the Wealden have in many 
 instances sustained, is truly remarkable. Leg and thigh- 
 bones, and the bodies of vertebrae of enormous size, and 
 which were originally of a sub-cylindrical form, are found 
 twisted, contorted, and pressed almost flat, and yet with but 
 slight indications of fracture. It is clear that the skeletons 
 of the stupendous saurians must have been rendered plastic 
 by long maceration in water before the mud and sand in 
 which they were engulfed had consolidated around them, 
 and ere their tissues were permeated by mineral matter. 
 
 The Maidstone Iguanodon, (Table-Case 23 of the plan, 
 ante, p. 138,) is a striking example of this kind; in the 
 entire series of bones exposed, there is scarcely one that is 
 not more or less altered by compression. The humerus and 
 thigh-bones especially, are completely distorted ; the ver- 
 tebrae pressed almost flat, or squeezed into abnormal shapes ; 
 one of the clavicles is twisted and thrown into the most 
 fantastic position ; and so great was the transformation the 
 bones had sustained, that although Mr. Bensted had spent 
 weeks in clearing out the most obvious masses of bone, and 
 had marked the relative connexion of the principal pieces 
 into which the specimen had been fractured by the explosion 
 of the rock, it was several months, and with the' aid of 
 a mason, before I succeeded in cementing the pieces together, 
 and restoring the fractured parts to their present state ; nor 
 could this have been successfully effected, had I not previ- 
 ously obtained perfect specimens of almost all the parts of the 
 skeleton of the Iguanodon, which in this instructive fossil 
 were found associated together for the first time, to guide 
 
ROOM III. FOSSIL TURTLES. 151 
 
 my chisel, and enable me to avoid the destruction of con- 
 cealed portions of bone. 1 
 
 With these prefatory remarks to prepare the uninstructed 
 visitor for the general appearance of the fossilized osseous 
 remains deposited in this apartment, we proceed to examine 
 somewhat in detail, the various relics of petrified reptiles it 
 contains. 
 
 FOSSIL TURTLES. Wall-Cases A and B. [1, 2.] The 
 earliest indications of the presence of Reptiles on our planet, 
 are those afforded by the foot-prints of Turtles or Chelo- 
 nians, apparently of terrestrial species, on the surfaces of the 
 layers of sandstone of the New Red formation, in Dumfries- 
 shire in Scotland, at Storton, near Liverpool, and in several 
 places in Germany. 2 But no osseous remains of Chelonia 
 have hitherto been found in strata antecedent to the Oolite. 
 
 The Solenhofen quarries have yielded the bones and cara- 
 paces of several species of marine Turtles : and scutes and 
 bones of animals of this family have been found at Stones- 
 field, and in the Bath and Portland Oolite. In the Jura 
 limestone at Soleure, two large species of Emydians (fresh- 
 water tortoises) have been discovered. 
 
 The Wealden formation contains Chelonian remains of 
 fluviatile and marine genera ; many specimens have been 
 collected in the Isle of Purbeck ; and my own researches 
 in the strata of Tilgate Forest have brought to light several 
 species, and in particular an interesting Chelonian related to 
 the soft-skinned, fresh-water Tortoises (Trionyces). 
 
 In the Cretaceous formation of England the remains of 
 these reptiles are not frequent. The Greensand of Cam- 
 bridgeshire and of Kent has yielded marine species ; and in 
 the White Chalk a few beautiful examples have been obtained. 
 
 On the Continent, fossil turtles have been found in the 
 slate of Glaris ; and in the upper Cretaceous strata at 
 Maestricht. At Melsbroeck, near Brussels, very fine specimens 
 of fresh- water (JZmydes), and marine (Chelonia) turtles have 
 been discovered. 3 
 
 1 Consult " Medals of Creation, or First Lessons in Geology," for 
 additional remarks on this subject. 
 
 2 See Dr. Buckland's Bridgewater Essay, vol. i. p. 259. 
 
 3 " Oss. Foss" Tome v. pp, 236, 239. 
 
152 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 From the Eocene strata of England remains of several 
 genera have been obtained. The Isles of Sheppey and 
 Wight, and the coasts of Hants and Essex, have yielded fossil 
 Chelonians in considerable numbers. 
 
 The Eocene Strata of France contain several fresh-water 
 Tortoises, some of which belong to the family of Emydes, 
 and others to Trionyces. 
 
 Testudinata, or Land-Tortoises, are exceedingly rare ; no 
 unquestionable remains of this kind are known in the British 
 strata ; J but the Tertiary formations of India have furnished 
 decided examples; and among the innumerable relics of 
 vertebrata which the indefatigable labours of Dr. Falconer 
 and Major Cautley have brought to light, and skilfully 
 developed, are the remains of Land-Tortoises of prodigious 
 magnitude, to which we have already adverted when pointing 
 out the model of the Colossochelys Atlas, at the entrance of 
 Room I. (ante p. 11). These remains are associated with the 
 bones of gigantic extinct mammalia, allied to the Palceotheria 
 and other pachydermata of the Paris basin ; and with those 
 of Gavials, and of small Land-Tortoises, of species that still 
 inhabit India. 
 
 The fossil remains of Chelonian reptiles generally consist 
 of the detached plates of the carapace and plastron, but consi- 
 derable portions of the convex shell formed by the expanded 
 and united costal plates, and of the plates of the sternum, 
 are not uncommon. In a few instances, as in the Isle of 
 Wight Eocene Turtles, collected and developed with consum- 
 mate skill by the Marchioness of Hastings, and some of the 
 Sewalik Chelonians chiselled out of the rock by Mr. Dew, 
 and placed in Room VI. the entire carapace or buckler, and 
 sternum or floor, are as perfect as in the recent skeleton. 
 The cranium and bones of the pelvic and pectoral arches, 
 and of the paddles, are often found detached, and occasionally 
 in connexion with the carapace. 
 
 CHELONIANS. Wall-cases A-B. The fossil Turtles in this 
 
 1 At the head of British Chelonia (Brit. Rep. p. 190), Testudo Dun- 
 cani (Owen), is placed ; but the Report does not contain the description 
 of any Chelonian remains that can be referred to this species. Equivo- 
 cal imprints on stone are surely insufficient, in the absence of all corro- 
 borative evidence, to justify either generic or specific distinctions. 
 
ROOM III. CHELONIA HARVICENSIS. 153 
 
 apartment are placed on the shelves in the angle uniting 
 Wall-cases A and B of the plan (ante p. 138). The following 
 diagram will assist the visitor in finding the objects described. 
 CASE marked CHELONIANS in Room III. : 
 
 Upper Shelf. CEningen Salamander. 
 Fossil Turtles from Harwich ; Chelonia Harvicensis. 
 
 Turtles from the Isle of Sheppey. 
 Turtles from the Wealden of Tilgate Forest. 
 Vertebrae of Mosasaurus from Maestricht ; and from the Chalk at Lewes. 
 
 , Pterodactyle from ( Geosaurus Soemmeringii. \ , 
 
 Lyme Regis. Two very interesting specimens SSiSftSXfZ 
 
 of the skeleton of this Crocodilian ""," teeth ' &c ' of 
 Models of Pterodactyles.l. reptile, from Monheim. J 
 
 Platemys Bullockii. 1 Wall-case A-B. One of the most 
 conspicuous of the fossil Turtles in the angle uniting the 
 Cases A and B, is labelled as above ; the specific name indi- 
 cating its former possessor, the late Mr. Bullock, in whose 
 museum in Piccadilly it was exhibited many years since. 
 
 This Turtle was discovered in the Eocene clay of the Islo 
 of Sheppey ; the plastron or floor is 16 inches in length and 
 14 inches in breadth, and is almost flat ; the carapace is 
 remarkably low. It belongs to the family of Marsh-Tortoises 
 (Paludinosa) which much resembles the true Land-Tortoises 
 (Testudinidce.) 
 
 CHELONIA Harvicensis. Wall-case A-B. Two fine speci- 
 mens, one exhibiting the inner surface or concavity, and 
 the other the convexity of the carapace of a large marine 
 Turtle, are placed in the centre of this compartment ; they 
 are from the Eocene argillaceous beds on the Essex coast. 
 As remains of this Turtle were often found on the shore, 
 near Harwich, my friend the late Mr. Samuel Woodward, 2 
 figured and described the species as C. Harvicensis in a valu- 
 able work, which was the first attempt to tabulate the 
 British fossils ; a labour since so ably carried out by 
 
 1 Prof. Owen, in Palzeontographical Society's Trans., 1849. PI. XXI. 
 
 2 The father of Mr. S. P. Woodward of the British Museum, one of 
 the Curators of the Palaeontological department. 
 
154 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 Mr. Morris ; the frontispiece of that volume represents a fine 
 carapace in the Norwich Museum. 1 
 
 Mr. Woodward states that the buckler or shell of this 
 Chelonian reptile often forms the nuclei of the septaria or 
 cement-stones which occur in the eocene clay of the Norfolk 
 coast ; the one figured was dredged up from the Stour Ridge, 
 Avhich lies four miles out at sea from Harwich Harbour ; it is 
 22 inches long and 18 wide. Specimens of the convex or 
 outer surface of the carapace are less common than those that 
 expose the interior. 
 
 This Turtle was figured and described by Mr. Konig, under 
 the name of Testudo plana in the I cones Sectiles, fig. 192 ; 
 and Prof. Owen has figured the Museum specimen (which is 
 13| inches long, and 10 inches wide), in his " Monograph on 
 the Fossil Reptilia of the London Clay," PL XL and XII. , 
 as Chelone crassicostata ; a name derived from the great 
 thickness of the ribs which is peculiar to this species ; but it 
 appears to me improper to expunge the specific name of 
 a fossil that has been figured and described by an original 
 observer, with sufficient clearness to enable the species to be 
 identified. In every department of natural history unneces- 
 sary changes in nomenclature are most serious impediments 
 to the advancement of scientific knowledge. 
 
 CHELONIA Breviceps. ("Pictorial Atlas," PI. LXIX. fig. 
 2, 3.) A nearly perfect cranium of a marine turtle from the 
 Isle of Sheppey, named Emys Parkinsonii by Mr. Gray, and 
 Chelone breviceps (short-skull) by Professor Owen, is placed 
 jn this Case : it approaches in form the recent C. my das. 
 In Mr. Bowerbank's collection there is a cranium of the same 
 species, attached to the carapace and plastron: it is a small 
 turtle, about seven and a half inches long. 2 
 
 In the late Mr. Dixon's collection (now added to the Na- 
 tional Museum) there were several species of eocene turtles, 
 which are figured and described in his work ; as, for example, 
 C. declivis, C. trigoniceps, &c. ; but these interesting fossils 
 are not at present exposed to view. 
 
 FOSSIL TURTLES OP THE WEALDEN. Wall-case A. B. 
 
 1 " Synoptical Table of British Organic Kemains;" by Samuel Wood- 
 ward: Norwich, 1830. 
 
 2 Figured in " Palaeontographical Monograph," 1849, PI. I. II. 
 
ROOM III. FOSSIL TURTLES OP THE WEALDEN. 155 
 
 (" Fossils of Tilgate Forest," 1827, PL VI. and VII.) Water- 
 worn comminuted bones and costal plates of Chelonian rep- 
 tiles, are abundant in the Wealden deposits of the Isle of 
 Purbeck, and Isle of Wight, and in the clays and sand- 
 stones of the Weald of Sussex. Their occurrence in the 
 Purbeck beds was made known by Mr. Webster; and in the 
 Wealden, by my early gleanings from the strata of Tilgate 
 Forest. 
 
 With the increase of collectors, and activity of research, 
 that followed the publication of my works on the Fossils 
 of Sussex, remains of Chelonians of considerable interest 
 were brought to light ; but with the exception of a few almost 
 perfect examples of the carapace and plastron from near 
 Swanage, and considerable detached portions of the same 
 parts from the Hastings beds of Sussex, I am not aware 
 that more instructive relics have been discovered than those 
 in the Case before us, which were collected by me nearly 
 thirty years ago. 1 
 
 In my " Fossils of Tilgate Forest," (published in 1827,) 
 PI. VI. and VII., 2 are figured costal-plates of the carapace, 
 portions of the plastron, and of the scapular arch, which are 
 referable to three distinct groups of Chelonians. 
 
 CHELONIA Bellii. (" Medals of Creation," p. 776) Ribs 
 and portions of the marginal border of the carapace, and 
 plates of the plastron, with a smooth outer surface, referable 
 to a large species of marine turtle, were among the first 
 vestiges of Chelonians obtained from the quarries near 
 Cuckfield in 1820. Some of these indicate a total length of 
 three feet. The most remarkable character in the inconsi- 
 derable portions of the skeletons of this extinct reptile that 
 have come under my examination, is the narrow dimensions 
 to which the intercostal spaces are reduced, from the ossifica- 
 tion and confluence of the ribs extending to within a short 
 distance of their distal extremities. Professor Owen states 
 that in the convexity of the under side of the vertebral ribs, 
 
 1 Notice of the occurrence of three kinds of Chelonians in the strata 
 of Tilgate Forest, is given in my " Fossils of the South Downs," (p. 47) 
 published in 1822; and of Mr. Lyell's recognition of their analogy to 
 specimens from Stonesfield. 
 
 2 With the exception of fig. 8, PI. V., which later discoveries have 
 proved to belong to a Crocodilian and not to a Chelonian reptile. 
 
156 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. ^CHAP. III. 
 
 and in the modifications of the form of the episternal, hyos- 
 ternal, and hyposternal bones, this species offers the nearest 
 
 LIGN. 33. DISTAL EXTREMITY OF THE RIB OF A TURTLE. TILGATE FORKST. 
 
 (Nat. size) 
 (CHELONIA BELLii. 1 ) 
 
 a. Apical extremity of a rib. 
 
 b. Distal portion of a costal plate. 
 
 resemblance to the Chelone planimentum of the Harwich 
 eocene clay. 
 
 EMYDIANS, or Freshwater Turtles, (Platemys Mantelli.) 
 Wall-case A-B. Of this group of Chelonians, in which the 
 carapace is much flatter than in the land or marine Turtles, 
 there are the remains of a species which Baron Cuvier (to 
 whom I transmitted specimens in 1820) supposed to be 
 identical with one discovered in the Jura limestone at So- 
 leure by M. Hugi, and described in " Ossemens Fossiles" 
 tome v. p. 232. The proportions of the fragments discovered 
 indicate the breadth of the carapace to have exceeded twenty 
 inches. A fine plate of the plastron, the left hyposternal, 2 
 
 1 Named in honour of the eminent zoologist, Thomas Bell, Esq. 
 Secretary of the Eoyal Society. 
 
 2 Marked No. 2338 on the specimen, and labelled in my museum, 
 " Sternal plate of a Marine Turtle," belongs to this species, according 
 to the observations of Professor Owen. 
 
ROOM III. TRETOSTERNUM BAKEWELLI. 157 
 
 in Tilgate grit, is placed with the Wealden Chelonian remains 
 in this case. 
 
 LIGX. 34 COSTAL PLATE OF A FRESHWATER TURTLE. TILGATE FOREST. 
 
 (TRETOSTERNUM BAKEWELLI.) 
 
 ( nat. size.) 
 
 TRETOSTERNUM (Trionyx Bakewelli. 1 } The most numerous, 
 and at the same time the most enigmatical remains of Chelo- 
 nians, obtained in my earliest, researches in the Wealden of 
 Sussex, were fragments of very flat costal plates of the cara- 
 pace of a species of freshwater turtle, having a granulated 
 external surface, and resembling in this respect the bony 
 case of the recent fluviatile sub-genus, named Trionyx, from 
 their having but three free toes on each foot. These Che- 
 lonians are distinguished by the intercostal spaces, the ribs 
 not being ossified throughout, and their extremities having 
 no osseous border of support; the external surface of the 
 carapace is covered with delicate pits or hollows, for the 
 attachment of the soft skin, which is the only dermal integu- 
 ment ; for the animals of this genus are destitute of scutes, 
 and consequently the dorsal and costal plates of the carapace 
 do not exhibit furrows or grooves, produced by the margins 
 of the scales of tortoise-shell, as in the other sub-genera. 
 
 Such are the characters of the recent turtles, whose cara- 
 
 1 Notice of the occurrence of this Turtle in the Wealden was first 
 given in my " Geol. of Sussex," 1822; it was figured and described 
 in "Foss. Tilgate Forest," in 1827; and again, as T. Bakewelli, in 
 " Geol. S. E. of England," 1833. 
 
158 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 paces have a shagreen or pitted surface, closely resembling 
 the granulated plates under examination ; but in the latter 
 there are deep grooves on the sculptured surface, showing 
 that the original was protected by scutes of tortoise-shell, 
 as in the other tribes of Chelonia. 
 
 "In the rib" (placed on the lowest shelf in Case A. } ) 
 " these imprints are very distinct, and it is observable that 
 this costal plate, instead of being nearly of an equal width 
 throughout, as in the freshwater and marine turtles, gradually 
 enlarges till one termination is twice as wide as the other. 
 This is a character observable in the land tortoises only, and 
 therefore presents another anomaly in the structure of the 
 fossil animal. From the slight degree of convexity of this 
 rib, it is clear that the original was of a flattened form, like 
 the common turtle, Testudo mydas ; its shagreened surface 
 proves .its analogy to Trionyx; but the imprints of scales 
 show that it cannot be identified with any recent species". 
 Among the numerous portions of the osseous border of the 
 carapace found in Tilgate Forest, we have not observed any 
 with a shagreen surface; a negative proof that the fossil, like 
 the recent Trionyx, was destitute of that appendage." 2 
 
 Specimens far more perfect have since been met with; 
 some of which are in the collection of Sir P. Egerton, and 
 described in " Brit. Assoc. Reports." According to the pre- 
 sent state of our knowledge of this remarkable type of 
 freshwater turtles, the carapace was very flat and large, and 
 its surface rugous, as in the Trionyces, but covered with 
 dermal scutes, as in the Emydians : it therefore had not the 
 soft integument of the existing Chelonians, to which it is 
 otherwise nearly related. 
 
 Except in having a defensive coat of tortoise-shell, the 
 Tretosternum Bakewelli, with its sculptured carapace and 
 rudimentary marginal plates, and unossified centre of its 
 
 1 Figured in "Foss. Tilg. Forest," PI. VI. fig. 1. 
 
 2 " Fossils of Tilgate Forest," pp. 60, 61. The palaeontologist en- 
 gaged in establishing the nomenclature of British Fossils, will remark 
 that the above quotation is from a work published in 1827; and that 
 the distinctive characters are sufficiently pointed out to warrant the 
 author in assigning a specific name, six years afterwards (" Geol. S. E. 
 of England," p. 255), to a fossil exhumed from the strata with his own 
 hands, and described and figured in his works alone. 
 
ROOM III. FOSSIL TURTLES OF THE WEALDEN. 1.39 
 
 plastron, must have closely resembled the existing species of 
 Trionyces; and doubtless, like its modern prototypes, inha- 
 bited muddy deltas and estuaries, and preyed on the eggs 
 and young of the large reptiles, and the soft bodies of the 
 mollusks, with whose remains its bones are associated in the 
 strata of Tilgate Forest. 1 
 
 1 The TRETOSTERNUM BAKEWELLI is described as T. punctatum by 
 Professor Owen in his "Report on British Fossil Reptiles," 1841 ; with 
 the following remark : " Portions of ribs of the Tretosternum puncta- 
 tum, which from their specific punctation and sculpturing of the outer 
 surface have been referred to the genus Trionyx, have been discovered 
 by Dr. Mantell in the Wealden of Tilgate, ' Illustrations of the Geology 
 of Sussex,' 4to, PL VI. figs. 1, 3, 5." Not the slightest allusion is made 
 to my having figured and clearly pointed out the remarkable characters 
 of this extinct Chelonian, many years before Professor Owen had written 
 a single line on any palaeontologieal subject. 
 
 A& the original discoverer and interpreter of this Turtle, I proposed 
 to distinguish it by the specific name Bakewelli (" Geology S. E. of 
 England," p. 255), as a tribute of respect to the late Mr. Robert Bake- 
 well, the eminent geologist, whose " Introduction " was one of the 
 earliest and ablest English works for the student in geology. With a 
 melancholy pleasure I once more associate the name of my lamented 
 friend with a department of palaeontology in which he felt peculiarly 
 interested : a privilege, " which, besides the claim of priority, in the 
 honest result of labour devoted to the elucidation of the subject." * 
 
 (Quoted from Professor Owen's Brit. Assoc. Report, p. 163.) 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 PART III. 
 FOSSIL BATRACHIANS AND SAUKIANS. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY TEETH OF REPTILES VERTEBRA OP REPTILES BICONVEX 
 CAUDAL VERTEBRA SWANAGE CROCODILE GEOSAURUS MACROSPONDYLUS 
 
 CKOCODILUS TOLIAPICUS CROCODILUS SPENCERI TELEOSAURUS PRIS- 
 
 CUS TELEOSAURUS CHAPMANNI (ENINGEN SALAMANDER PTERODACTYLES 
 MOSASAURUS POLYPTYCHODON. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. The fossil reptilian remains we 
 have now to examine, consist of the bones of the skeleton, 
 either detached, or imbedded in the rock somewhat in their 
 original relative position, of the osseous dermal scutes and 
 spines, which in certain gigantic extinct saurians are greatly 
 developed, of the bony sclerotic plates of the organs of 
 vision, and, very rarely, of the cartilaginous expansions and 
 dermal integuments of the paddles and other parts in a car- 
 bonized state. These softer tissues appear, in some instances, 
 to have been converted into adipocire, and subsequently per- 
 meated by mineral matter. 
 
 The Gallery contains examples, more or less illustrative, of 
 species and genera of the following orders of the class Reptilia, 
 viz. : 1. Batrachians, or the Frog-tribe ; 2. Ophidians, or 
 Serpents ; 3. Lacertians, or Lizards ; 4. Enaliosatirians, or 
 marine Lizards ; 5. Pterosaurians, or flying Lizards ; 6. Cro- 
 codilians; 7. Dinosaurians, or extinct colossal Lizards. 
 
 In the " Medals of Creation," ! I have given a concise expo- 
 sition of the most important and easily recognisable characters 
 of the bones and teeth, and other parts of these animals, that 
 are met with in a fossil state, for the guidance of the collector 
 unacquainted with the rudiments of osteology ; and to that 
 
 1 Vol. ii. chap. xvii. pp. 688707. 
 
ROOM III. TEETH OF REPTILES. 161 
 
 work I must refer the general reader desirous of acquiring 
 more particular information respecting the specimens to be 
 reviewed in the present chapter : for anatomical details, and 
 explanations of all the technical terms employed to designate 
 the respective parts, would extend this volume beyond the 
 limits of a hand-book. 
 
 TEETH OF REPTILES. The teeth, from their dense struc- 
 ture, are the most durable parts of the skeleton, and these 
 organs occur even in rocks of immense antiquity, in the most 
 beautiful state of preservation ; and the various modifications 
 of form and structure, and implantation in the jaws, obser- 
 vable in the existing tribes, are found in the extinct races. 1 
 They exhibit considerable diversity of shape, but the 
 characteristic type is that of a simple cone, with either a 
 rounded or pointed apex, and a single fang ; for no known 
 reptile, whether fossil or recent, has a tooth with the base 
 terminating in more than one root, and that is never bifur- 
 cated. 
 
 These dental organs are only fitted for seizing and retaining 
 the prey or food; for no living reptiles have the power of 
 performing mastication. In the Crocodile the tooth has 
 a cylindrical shank, and a conical, longitudinally striated, 
 enamelled crown, with a ridge on each side. In the Hylce- 
 osaurus, the shank is cylindrical, and the crown expanded and 
 lanceolate, with blunt margins ; in the Megalosaurus the 
 tooth is laterally compressed, trenchant, and bent backwards 
 like a sabre, with serrated edges ; in the Iguanodon the shank 
 is subcylinclrical, and the crown of a prismatic form, greatly 
 expanded, with broad denticulated edges, and a few longi- 
 tudinal ridges in front ; in the Serpents, the teeth are very 
 long and pointed ; in the Lizards, may be seen every modifi- 
 cation of the conical form, down to a mere hemispherical 
 tubercle or plate. The Turtles are edentulous, i.e. destitute 
 of teeth : their masticating organs consisting of the horny 
 trenchant sheaths with which the jaws are covered. 
 
 There are five essential modifications in the mode of 
 
 1 Teeth of Reptiles. See " Medals of Creation," vol. ii. p. 688. 
 Lower Jaw of Reptiles. Ibid. p. 694, Lign. 137. 
 Vertebra of Reptiles. Ibid. p. 695. 
 Sacrum, &c. Ibid. p. 699. 
 Dermal bones. Ibid. p. 701. 
 
 M 
 
162 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. ITI. 
 
 implantation of the teeth, viz. : 1, in distinct sockets, as in 
 Crocodiles ; 2, in a continuous groove or furrow, as in the 
 Ichthyosauri ; 3, attached laterally by the shank to the 
 alveolar parapet, as in the Iguanas (pleurodonts) 4, anchy- 
 losed to the base of a shallow socket, (thecodonts) ; and 5, 
 attached to an osseous support without sockets or an alveolar 
 parapet (acrodonts), as in the Mosasaurus. 
 
 The compound structure of the lower jaw of reptiles is 
 also peculiar ; there are six distinct bones on each side, and 
 these elements undergo various modifications of form and 
 arrangement in the respective families. 
 
 VERTEBRA OF REPTILES. The vertebrae, as the elements 
 which form the spine are termed, are the most numerous and 
 important parts of the skeletons of the extinct reptiles, that 
 come under the observation of the palaeontologist, and which 
 present in the gigantic terrestrial saurians, extraordinary de- 
 viations from the homologous bones in the existing species. 
 
 Unfortunately, connected series of vertebrae are but rarely 
 met with in the fluviatile deposits in which the exuviae of the 
 most remarkable land lizards occur ; and it is, therefore, often- 
 times extremely difficult to determine whether cervical, dorsal, 
 and caudal vertebrae, discovered apart from each other in the 
 rocks, belong to a spinal column typical of one species or 
 genus, or to several genera. Hence specific and generic 
 distinctions founded on isolated bones, can only be admitted 
 as provisional ; for in more than one instance different parts 
 of the same vertebral column have been biade the basis of 
 three distinct genera ; and, on the other hand, a supposed 
 generic vertebral character not unfrequently proves to be 
 distributed through an entire family of saurians. 
 
 The fragmentary and isolated condition of the vertebras 
 imbedded in the Wealden strata of the South-East of England, 
 is a sufficient excuse for error in the interpretation of a piece 
 of bone, or in the reference of an entire bone to a particular 
 species or genus. My own mistakes in this respect I have 
 always unreservedly pointed out; and it is much to be 
 regretted that other labourers in the same department of 
 natural history, of far higher pretensions, do not imitate the 
 noble example of the illustrious Cuvier, and admit and 
 correct the errors into which they have fallen by the ascrip- 
 tion of specific and generic distinctions without sufficient 
 
ROOM III. VERTEBRA OP REPTILES. 163 
 
 data. It is only by a strict regard to truth, and the substi- 
 tution of facts for hypotheses, that the science of Palaeontology 
 can be extended, and its principles securely established. 
 
 From the great number of vertebrae in many reptiles, 
 amounting in the individuals of some species to nearly two 
 hundred, these bones are, perhaps, the most abundant of all 
 the fossil relics of this class of animals. In many deposits, 
 the vertebrae are almost always deprived of their processes, 
 the body or centrum alone remaining, (as in Lign. 35, fig. 8). 
 In other strata, entire series, with the processes more or less 
 perfect, and in connexion with other parts of the skeleton, 
 are found imbedded ; as in the beautiful specimens of Ichthyo- 
 sauri and Plesiosauri in the lias limestones and shales. 
 
 As vertebrae, or their detached processes, are frequently 
 the only vestiges of peculiar types of extinct saurians, a few 
 explanatory remarks are necessary to enable the reader to 
 appreciate the interest and importance of some of the speci- 
 mens in this collection, which are apparently but of very 
 little value. 
 
 The bones composing the spine are designed to form a 
 flexible column of support to the trunk, and afford protection 
 to the great nervous chords constituting the spinal marrow, 
 and which extend from the brain to the tail, giving off nume- 
 rous lateral branches in their course, and conferring sensation 
 and motive power to every part of the body. To effect this 
 purpose, the upper part of each vertebra consists of a ring, 
 called the annular part or neural-arch, which is composed of 
 two processes (Lign. 35, &.), arising from each side of the 
 body, or centrum (Lign. 35, a.), with which they are connected 
 by suture, and these unite above into a solid piece, termed 
 the spinal process (Lign. 35, d). On each side of the annular 
 part there is a transverse process, (Lign. 35, e f e.), for the 
 attachment of muscles ; and, in some reptiles, as the Croco- 
 diles, the ribs are articulated to these processes. 
 
 The vertebrae of the tail have, in addition to the above 
 apophyses, an inferior spinous process, termed the chevron- 
 bone (Lign. 35, jig. 2 and 3, /), which supports the inferior 
 layers of caudal muscles, and is articulated to the inferior 
 margin of the body of the vertebra, either by two distinct 
 heads, or by the confluence of the two laminae into a single 
 tubercle, (as in fy. 2) ; in either case an interspace is left 
 
164 
 
 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 LIGN. 35. FOSSIL VERTEBRA OF REPTILES ; TILGATE FOREST. 
 
 (The figures are reduced in the proportions specified by the fractions.) 
 Fig. 1. Caudal vertebra of an unknown reptile. 
 
 2. Chevron bone of IGUANODON: seen in front. 
 
 3. Caudal vertebra of IGUANODON, viewed laterally in an oblique direction. 
 
 3". Front view of the same. 
 
 4. Caudal vertebra of IGUANODON, without either transverse process or 
 chevron-bone. The letter o marks the deep hollow left by the removal 
 of the transverse process, at the suture of the annular part. 
 
 5. Vertebra of STREPTOSPONDYLUS? -^ na t. size. 
 
 6. Lumbar vertebra of IGUANODON, with the spinous process broken off. 
 
 7. Cervical vertebra of STREPTOSPONDYLUS? -^ na t. s i ze% 
 
 c. The pair of posterior oblique processes. 
 
 8. The bodies of two dorsal vertebrae of IGUANODON : viewed laterally. 
 The same letters refer to the analogous parts in the respective figures ; with 
 the exception of c, in fig. 7. 
 
 a. The body, or centrum, of the vertebra: the letter denotes the anterior part. 
 
 b. The annular part (neurapophysis), which surrounds the spinal cord, 
 c, c. The anterior articular or oblique processes. 
 
 d. The spinous process of the annular part. 
 
 e, e. The transverse processes, or parapophyses. 
 
 f. The chevron-bone (hcemapophysis), or inferior spine of the vertebra. 
 
 g. The single articulating head of the chevron-bone : the interspace seen 
 
 in the front view, fig. 2, is for the passage of the large blood-vessels 
 which supply the tail. 
 h. The spine of the chevron-bone. 
 
 i. The shaded spot, d, denotes the medullary cavity of the annular part. 
 o, o. Mark the sutures which connect the annular part with the body of the 
 
 vertebra. 
 
 w, w. Indicate the place of attachment of the chevron-bone, which in the 
 Iguanodon is always single. 
 
ROOM III. VERTEBRAE OF SAURIANS. 165 
 
 for the passage of the large blood-vessels which supply the 
 tail. 
 
 In most of the existing reptiles, (as for example the Croco- 
 dile, Iguana, &c.) the bodies of the vertebrae are concave in 
 front and convex behind, 1 forming a series of ball and socket 
 joints; but in many extinct genera both the articulating 
 surfaces are flat, or slightly concave ; 2 or flat in front and 
 concave behind. 3 
 
 In quadrupeds the annular part is anchylosed to the ver- 
 tebral centre ; in reptiles it is generally united by suture ; 
 but all traces of this mode of connexion are often obliterated 
 in aged individuals. By reference to Lign. 35, and its de- 
 scription, the form, arrangement, and connexion of the dif- 
 ferent vertebral elements in certain fossil reptiles, may be 
 easily comprehended. The bones in the spinal column of 
 the same animal are considerably modified in the several 
 regions of the neck (cervical), back (dorsal), and tail (caudal). 
 The cervical are generally of the most complicated structure, 
 and the caudal, the most simple. 
 
 From this exposition, the reader will perceive that every 
 vertebra consists of the following essential parts, namely, the 
 body, or centrum, and the annular part, or neurapophysis, so 
 termed, because it protects the nervous chord ; while a caudal 
 vertebra has, in addition, the chevron-bone, called also hcema- 
 pophysis, from its affording a passage to the large blood- 
 vessels. 
 
 The bodies of the vertebrae are in general solid, and con- 
 sist of the ordinary osseous structure ; but in certain fossil 
 reptiles the centre of the bone is filled with calcareous spar, 
 indicating an irregular medullary cavity ; but this structure 
 also obtains in the caudal vertebrae of mammalia, for example, 
 in our domestic Ox. 4 
 
 1 Named by Professor Owen proccdian vertebrae; from two Greek 
 words, signifying concave before. 
 
 2 Amphicaelian, concave at both ends. 
 
 3 Platycodian, flat in front, concave behind. 
 
 4 I am not aware that this fact was noticed by any anatomist, till 
 pointed out by me in a Lecture on the Structure of Fossil Saurians, 
 delivered in the LONDON INSTITUTION. As some Palaeontologists have 
 ascribed a specific and even generic value to this character, I annex 
 figures of transverse and longitudinal sections of a vertebra of the 
 
166 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 The Sacrum, which is the key-stone of the pelvic arch that 
 sustains the weight of the body on the hinder extremities, is 
 formed in existing Saurians of two vertebrae, the bodies of 
 which are coalesced ; and the posterior extremity of the 
 distal vertebra instead of having a ball or convexity, as in all 
 the bones composing the anterior part of the spine, is 
 concave. The transverse processes are very strong, thick, and 
 broad. 
 
 In the colossal Saurians of the Wealden and Oolite, the 
 Iguanodon, Hylseosaurus, Megalosaurus and Pelorosaurus, 
 (and I believe also in two other genera,) the sacrum is com- 
 posed of five or six vertebrae anchylosed into a solid bony 
 arch, as in Mammalia and Birds, with peculiar modifications 
 in the arrangement of the apophyses ; of which we shall have 
 to treat more particularly in the sequel. 
 
 BICONVEX CAUDAL VERTEBRA (Lign. 37). The first caudal 
 vertebra in the existing species of Crocodilian reptiles is 
 remarkable on account of its double convexity, a peculiarity 
 that appears to have escaped the observation of Baron Cuvier, 
 and other anatomists. 
 
 In 1835, the discovery of the remains of a fossil Crocodile 
 in the Wealden strata near Swanage, (in Case A,) led me to 
 institute a careful examination of the vertebral column of 
 a large Gavial, in the collection of my distinguished friend 
 Dr. Grant, of University College j for at that time there was 
 not an articulated skeleton of a crocodile in the Hunterian 
 Museum. I then observed that the body of the first caudal 
 
 tail of an Ox, to show the relatively large medullary cavity; a fact, 
 of M T hich those who indulge in the luxury of Ox-tail soup may easily 
 satisfy themselves. 
 
 LIGN. 36. SECTIONS OF CAUDAL VERTEBRAE OF THE Ox. 
 
 (^ nat. size.) 
 Fig. 1. Longitudinal section. 
 
 2. Transverse section. 
 a, b, Medullary cavity in the bodies of the vertebrae. 
 
ROOM III. BICONVEX CAUDAL VERTEBRA. 167 
 
 vertebra in the adult Gavial is convex at both ends ; a remark- 
 able modification, required to connect the caudal series with 
 the sacrum, in consequence of the concavity of the posterior 
 articulation of the distal sacral vertebra ; this mechanism 
 confers freedom of motion without risk of dislocation. The 
 value of a knowledge of this fact to the palaeontologist was 
 quickly shown by the occurrence of a biconvex vertebra 
 among some Crocodilian bones from the Sewalik Hills, trans- 
 mitted to Dr. Buckland by Major Cautley and Dr. Falconer. 
 This bone had given rise to many vague conjectures before 
 the announcement of my discovery of this peculiarity in the 
 first caudal, which is the only vertebra of the series that pre- 
 sents such a structure, 1 and the only anterior caudal that has 
 no chevron-bone or hsemapophysis, (see Lign. 37). 
 
 I must pass over other osteological characters, and proceed 
 to describe the interesting specimens which have called forth 
 these preliminary remarks. The student in comparative 
 anatomy, whose interest may be awakened by these brief com- 
 ments on the anatomical structure of the extinct types of 
 
 1 On my return to Brighton, after a careful admeasurement of the 
 different parts of Dr. Grant's fine skeleton of a Gavial, in order to deter- 
 mine the generic relation of the Swanage Crocodile, I was surprised to 
 find that the double convexity of the first caudal was not mentioned in 
 the works of Cuvier, or in those of any other author to which I had 
 access; I therefore wrote to my kind friend, Dr. Robert Grant, and 
 requested him to examine the skeleton ; the following is an extract 
 from his reply : 
 
 " You are quite correct. The first caudal vertebra of the Gavial, 
 the Crocodile, and the Alligator is, like the last cervical of Tortoises 
 and Turtles, convex at both ends of its body. It is not so in the Moni- 
 tors, nor I believe in the other families of Sauria, nor in the Chelonian 
 reptiles. 
 
 " In a very young Gavial before me, these sacro-coccygeal surfaces are 
 as flat as in the vertebrae of quadrupeds, while in the Crocodile and 
 the Alligator at the same early period, the first coccygeal is as convex 
 anteriorly as you have observed it in the adult Gavial. The last sacral 
 is, of course, deeply concave posteriorly to receive the anterior ball of 
 the first caudal vertebra. I am not aware that you have been antici- 
 pated by any one in your observations on this part of the osteology of 
 the Gavial." 
 
 " London, 15th March, 1836. " EGBERT E. GRANT." 
 
 To place this fact on record as a guide to future investigators, I 
 sent a short description, with a sketch, to the " Lancet," which was 
 published in that Journal, June, 1836. 
 
 The annexed figure, (Lign. 37,) represents, on a reduced scale, the 
 
168 
 
 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 oviparous quadrupeds that peopled the islands and continents 
 in the earlier ages of the world, should consult Cuvier's 
 " Ossemens Fossiles" and the works of later writers on the 
 subject ; especially those of Professor Owen on this branch 
 of British Palaeontology. 
 
 FOSSIL CROCODILE OF SWANAGE. (Gfoniopholis crasssidens.y 
 Wall-case A. Swanage is a little town on the east coast of 
 the Isle of Purbeck, whose inhabitants carry on a brisk trade 
 in the exportation of stone from the numerous quarries in the 
 vicinity, there being a good bay and anchorage for vessels. The 
 town stands at the mouth of the bay, about six miles E.S.E. 
 of Corfe Castle. The coast presents a section of the Creta- 
 ceous and Wealden strata, from the Chalk to the Purbeck 
 beds; the Portland oolite, on which the lowermost fresh- 
 water strata repose, appearing on the south. Remains of 
 Turtles, and fishes of species peculiar to the Wealden forma- 
 tion, are often found j and occasionally bones and teeth of 
 large saurians. 2 
 
 parts described, from Dr. Grant's articulated skeleton, which is 16 feet 
 in length. I have felt it necessary to append this note, as in a recent 
 publication the importance of a knowledge of this fact to the compara- 
 tive anatomist is put prominently forth, but without the slightest 
 allusion to the original observer. 
 
 LIGN. 37. SACRUM AND FIRST CAUDAL VERTEBRA OF A GAVIAL. FROM A 
 SKELETON, 16 FEET LONG, IN THE ANATOMICAL MUSEUM OF PROFESSOR ROBERT 
 E. GRANT, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE. 
 
 (^ not. size.) 
 
 1, 2. The SACRUM, consisting of two coalesced vertebrae. 
 
 3. The First Caudal Vertebra, having both the articular extremities convex. 
 
 1 " Goniopholis, in reference to the rectangular form, size, number, 
 and firm junction of the osseous scutes (0o7u'5es)." Prof. Owen, British 
 Association Reports, 1841. 
 
 2 See my " Geological Excursions round the Isle of Wight, and along 
 the coast of Dorsetshire :" 2d Edit. p. 345. 
 
ROOM III. FOSSIL CROCODILE OF SWANAGE. 169 
 
 In the summer of 1835, the workmen employed in a 
 quarry near Swanage, on splitting asunder a large slab of 
 Purbeck limestone, perceiving teeth and portions of bones 
 exposed on the corresponding surfaces of the slabs they had 
 separated, carefully preserved the two pieces of stone : and, 
 fortunately, my friend Robert Trotter, Esq., who was on 
 a visit in the neighbourhood, heard of the discovery, and 
 purchased the specimens for me. 
 
 The slabs when first received by me gave but obscure 
 indications of the remains that careful chiselling subsequently 
 brought to light. After much labour, I succeeded in de- 
 veloping the detached parts of the skeleton now visible, and 
 fortunately without fracturing the stone by which they were 
 concealed ; consequently, the two corresponding surfaces are 
 in a beautiful state of preservation ; and being placed toge- 
 ther in the same case, may be examined with facility ; they 
 are now as interesting groups of Crocodilian remains as have 
 been discovered in this country. 
 
 On the left-hand slab are seen the posterior parts of the 
 left side of the lower jaw with two teeth attached, and several 
 detached teeth distributed about the stone ; there are many 
 ribs ; numerous amphiccelian, or biconcave vertebrae, having 
 a small irregular medullary cavity in the centre of the 
 body of the bone ; slender chevron-bones, with a bifurcated 
 or double process of attachment, as in the crocodile ; the 
 ischium, pubis, ilium, and other parts of the pelvic arch ; and 
 a few bones of the extremities. 
 
 The vertebrae, the largest of which are nearly two inches 
 long, are fractured across the middle, at right angles to their 
 articulations, so that in every instance the articular ends of the 
 body are concealed; transverse vertical sections of the centrum, 
 with the spinous process, and long straight transverse pro- 
 cesses attached, are the only parts visible. (Lign. 38. 2, 2). 
 But several nearly perfect vertebras of the same type, collected 
 from the strata of Tilgate Forest, show that the articular sur- 
 faces are very slightly concave, as is the case in almost all the 
 crocodilian vertebrae of the secondary formations. The suture 
 uniting the annular part of the vertebrae to the body is well 
 defined ; the sacral vertebrae are beautifully displayed. 
 
 With these are the remains of the dermal cuirass, con- 
 sisting of numerous scutes or dermal bones, scattered at 
 
170 
 
 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 random among the other detached parts of the skeleton. 
 There are, likewise, numerous scales and teeth of a small 
 ganoid fish (Lepidotus minor), of a species that is common in 
 
 LIGN. 38. FOSSIL REMAINS OF A CROCODILIAN REPTILE, FROM THE 
 
 WEALDEN DEPOSITS. SWANAGE, 1835. 
 
 (Goniopholis crassidens.) 
 
 (The original is 3J feet long, and 3 feet wide.) 
 
 1. Part of the left side of the lower jaw, with two teeth attached. 
 
 2. Detached vertebrae, fractured across, and showing vertical sections of the 
 
 centrum, or body. 
 
 3. Dermal scutes the smooth inner surface exposed 
 
 3'. showing the deeply sculptured external surface. 
 
 4. Ribs, all imperfect. 
 
 5. Chevron-bones, or hsemapophyses. 
 
 6. 6. The two pubic bones (Pubis). 
 
 7. 7. The two ischiac bones (Ischium.) 
 
 8. 8. Bones of the Pelvis ; consisting of the coalesced sacral vertebrae, and the 
 
 two iliac bones. 
 
 the Purbeek strata. In the small diagram, Lign. 38, outlines 
 of the most important parts are given, and numbered, so as 
 to admit of easy reference. On the opposite stone are seen 
 
ROOM III. 
 
 TEETH OF GONIOPHOLIS. 
 
 171 
 
 the corresponding portions of several of the bones, as 
 well as others of which there are no traces, on the left-hand 
 piece. 1 
 
 Teeth of Goniopholis. (Lign. 39.) The teeth of this reptile 
 are of the usual crocodilian type ; they are cylindrical, and 
 smooth at the base, and have a rounded 
 obtusely conical enamelled crown, the 
 surface of which is strongly marked 
 by numerous well denned longitudinal 
 grooves and ridges, with a prominent me- 
 dian ridge on each side, placed anteriorly 
 and posteriorly. Teeth of this kind are not 
 uncommon in the strata of Tilgate Forest, 
 aud other localities of the Weald of Sussex : 
 they were described by me in 1822 ("Fos- 
 sils of the South Downs," p. 50), and 
 subsequently in the " Fossils of Tilgate 
 Forest," (p. 64, PL V. figs. 1,2, 3, 7) : speci- 
 mens which I transmitted to Baron Cuvier, 
 are figured and described in " Ossemens 
 Fossiles" tome v. p. 161, PL X. ; together LIGN. 39. A TOOTH OP 
 with vertebra, which were supposed to GoNIOP ^ a L ;. 8 , c z :;; ssiDENS - 
 belong to the same species of saurian. 2 
 
 The teeth and bones vary considerably in size : some 
 appear to have belonged to individuals not more than eight or 
 
 1 A lithograph of the left-hand specimen is given in the third edition 
 of my " Wonders of Geology," 1839. 
 
 2 " Des os de Crocodiles des sables ferrugineux du dessous de. la 
 Craie, trouves dans le Comte de Sttssex, par M. Mantell." After de- 
 scribing the geology of that part of England from the account given in 
 my " Fossils of the South Downs," then recently published, Baron 
 Cuvier observes : " M. Mantell a bien voulu me communiquer quelques- 
 uns de ses morceaux, et j'y ai reconnu, comme lui, des dents et des 
 vertebres appartenaut manifestement & ce genre (Crocodiles). II se 
 trouve parmi les vertebres une quatrieme dorsale, une du milieu de la 
 queue, et une d'un peu plus loin, provenant d'un individu de neuf a dix 
 pieds de long. Les vertebres sont un peu concaves aux deux extremity's, 
 ce qui les rapproche du crocodile de Caen, et du deuxieme de ceux de 
 Honfleur. Les dents sont pour la plupart plus obtuses me" me que dans 
 nos crocodiles vulgaires, et ressemblent en ce point & la seconde du 
 Jura que j'ai decrite ci-dessus." Oss. Foss. tome v. p. 163. Paris, 
 1824. 
 
172 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 ten feet in length ; others are twice as large, and indicate 
 reptiles eighteen or twenty feet long. 
 
 It is not unusual to find specimens of these teeth partly 
 decomposed, and disclosing the successional germ ; proving, 
 that as in the crocodile, the tooth is composed of a series of 
 cones enclosed within each other, the outer or old crown 
 being burst by the pressure of the upward growth of the 
 included one. Hence, at whatever age the tooth of a crocodile 
 is removed, we find, either in the socket, or in the cavity of 
 the old tooth, a smaller cone ready to supply the place of the 
 latter, when broken or destroyed. This succession is very 
 frequently repeated, and it is from this cause that crocodilian 
 teeth in a fossil state are always so sharp and well defined, for 
 they are as perfect in the adult and aged animals as in the 
 young state. 1 
 
 DERMAL BONES OF GONIOPHOLIS. (Lign. 40.) The most 
 remarkable character in the interesting specimen we are now 
 examining is the dermal cuirass, of which the remains, con- 
 sisting of osseous scutes, are scattered promiscuously over 
 both blocks of stone, some having the inner, and others 
 the external surface exposed. Several of these dermal 
 plates are entire (one is represented in Lign. 40) ; they are 
 six inches in length, and two and a-half in width. Frag- 
 ments of these scutes are often found in the Wealden 
 strata ; anil the earliest specimens I collected, from the 
 resemblance of their corrugated surface to that of the costal 
 plates of the carapace of 'the soft-skinned turtles (Trionyces), 
 were figured and described as such in my " Fossils of 
 Tilgate Forest," PI. VI. fig. 8 ; that opinion being sanctioned 
 by Baron Cuvier, who, with his characteristic liberality and 
 kindness, sent me models of the eocene turtles of Paris, for 
 comparison. The occurrence of similar scutes associated 
 with crocodilian bones in the Swanage specimen, first led 
 me to suspect their true character, which became manifest 
 on clearing out a perfect specimen : their nature I will briefly 
 explain. 
 
 In the loricated tribe of reptiles, as the Crocodiles, the 
 external integument encloses numerous bony scutes, or scut- 
 
 1 There were a considerable number of teeth of crocodilian reptiles 
 from the Wealden in my collection, but I do not know in what part of 
 the Museum they are placed. 
 
ROOM III. 
 
 DERMAL BOXES OF GONIOPHOLIS. 
 
 173 
 
 cheoDs, variously arranged, and which are the supports of the 
 dermal scales and spines. 
 
 In the gigantic Gavial that inhabits the Ganges, and other 
 rivers of India, and which is remarkably distinguished by its 
 extremely slender, prolonged, beak-like muzzle, the nape of 
 the neck is protected by a complete shield, formed of sixteen 
 or eighteen transverse rows of dermal plates, of which there 
 are also six longitudinal series that extend down the back. 
 
 These scutes are deeply corrugated externally, a struc- 
 ture adapted for the firm adhesion of the scaly integument ; 
 the largest in Dr. Grant's Gavial are 4| by 3 inches in 
 dimension. 
 
 In the Swanage Crocodile the external surface of the dermal 
 plates (Lign. 40, fig. 1), is covered by numerous, irregularly 
 
 LIGS. 4C. DERMAL BONE OF THE SWANAGE CROCODILE. 
 
 1. The external surface. 
 
 2. The inner surface. 
 
 a. The lateral connecting process. 
 
 not. size.) 
 
 round and angular pits, or depressions, while the inner surface 
 (fig. 2) is smooth and glossy, and finely striated by decussating 
 lines, as in the dermal process of the Hylseosaurus. 
 
 These scutes differ from those of all known recent and 
 fossil crocodilians in possessing a lateral conical projection 
 (a, Lign. 40), which fits into a depression on the under surface 
 of the opposite angle of the adjoining plate, resembling, in 
 
174 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 this respect, the scales of the large Wealden fish, the Lepidotus, 
 with which the remains of Gouiopholis are frequently as- 
 sociated. 
 
 Numerous hexagonal and pentagonal scutes, united by 
 marginal sutures, also entered into the composition of the 
 dermal cuirass of this reptile, which must, therefore, have 
 possessed a flexible and impenetrable coat of armour, capable 
 of affording protection against the attack of any assailant. 
 
 From the structure of the skeleton of the Gfoniopholis, we 
 may infer that the original was a powerful carnivorous reptile, 
 resembling in its habits the existing Crocodiles and Gavials, 
 and frequenting the rivers and marshes of the country inha- 
 bited by the colossal terrestrial lizards with whose remains its 
 bones and teeth are generally found associated throughout 
 the Wealden deposits of England and Germany. 
 
 FOSSIL CROCODILIANS. As the cabinet under review con- 
 tains the remains of several other species and genera of 
 crocodilian reptiles, it will be convenient to notice them 
 under this section, and afterwards examine the Batrachians, 
 Pterosaurians, &c. that are placed next in order to the Swanage 
 Crocodile above described. 
 
 The loricated, or mailed saurians, the Alligators, Crocodiles, 
 and Gavials, are the largest living forms of cold-blooded ovi- 
 parous quadrupeds. No relics of any recent species of these 
 genera have been observed in a fossil state ; but remains of 
 Crocodilians of the existing generic types, having the spinal 
 column composed of concavo-convex vertebra, have been 
 found in the Isle of Sheppey, on the coasts of Western 
 Sussex and Hampshire, and other localities of the London 
 clay. 
 
 It may be stated in general terms, that of the Crocodilians 
 with broad muzzles, as the Cayman, and Alligator, no repre- 
 sentatives have been found in formations more ancient than 
 the Tertiary ; those of the Secondary deposits being all 
 referable to the division with elongated beaks, like the 
 Gavials, which are characterised by their long and extremely 
 narrow jaws, with teeth that are nearly of equal size, and alike 
 in form ; their feet are palmated. They inhabit the Ganges 
 and other rivers of India, and sometimes attain a length of 
 thirty feet. The fossil Crocodilians of the Gavial type are sub- 
 divided into two groups ; the Teleosaurus, in which the nasal 
 
ROOM III. GEOSAURUS MACROSPONDYLUS. 175 
 
 apertures terminate in two distinct orifices, instead of being 
 blended into a single opening as in the recent Gavials ; and 
 the Steneosaurus, in which the breathing canals end in two 
 nearly semicircular vertical orifices at the extremity of the 
 muzzle. 1 
 
 Geosaurus (G. Scemmeringii). Wall-case A B. (See ante, 
 p. 153.) The remains of a small crocodilian reptile, con- 
 sisting of a considerable portion of the vertebral column 
 with the ribs, and the anterior part of the skull with the jaws 
 and teeth, are deposited on the lowermost ledge in the angle 
 between the Wall-cases A and B. These fossils are men- 
 tioned in the official " Synopsis of the British Museum," as 
 the head and other parts of the Geosaurus, (Lacerta gigantea, 
 of Scemmering,) found in the white Lias, at Monheim, in 
 Franconia ; being the original specimens figured and described 
 by Soemmering, in the Transactions of the Academy of 
 Munich. They are also figured and described by M. Cuvier, 
 (" Oss. Foss." tome v. p. 338, PI. XXI. figs. 28.) 
 
 The vertebral column, in two portions, partially imbedded 
 in fissile marlstone, is placed in the long cases in the centre ; 
 and the two parts of the cranium and jaws are in the small 
 cases on the right hand. 
 
 The teeth of this extinct crocodilian reptile are flat, 
 pointed, and recurved backwards like a sabre, the edges being 
 finely serrated ; there are seventeen on each side the upper 
 jaw. The eye was very large, and the sclerotic coat protected 
 by a zone of osseous plates, as in the Ichthyosaurus. The 
 vertebrae are biconcave and slightly contracted in the middle } 
 their transverse processes are very large and strong. 
 
 From the form and structure of the cranium, M. Cuvier 
 inferred that the original held an intermediate place between 
 the crocodiles and monitors, but was most nearly allied to 
 the latter. The length of the reptile was probably nine or 
 ten feet. 
 
 Macrospondylus. Wall-case B. Uppermost Shelf. The 
 
 1 " In the Teleosaurus the nostrils form almost a vertical section of the 
 anterior extremity of the beak ; in the Steneosaurus this anterior termi- 
 nation of the nasal canal had nearly the same arrangement as in the 
 Gavial, opening upwards, and being almost semicircular on each side." 
 Dr.BucklancTs " Bridge-water Essay " p. 252, PI. XXV. 
 
176 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 fossil thus labelled consists of the cranium and part of the 
 vertebral column, with many ribs, of a small saurian reptile, 
 from the Lias at Boll, which has been referred to a distinct 
 genus by H. von Meyer. I have not been able to obtain 
 any further information respecting this specimen. 
 
 Crocodilus toliapicus. Wall-Case B. [2.] The discovery 
 of the cranium of this species in the London clay of the Isle 
 of Sheppey described by Baron Cuvier, afforded the first 
 certain proof of the existence of a true crocodile in the eocene 
 deposits of England. The specimen in the Case before us is 
 remarkably fine : it is above two feet long, and both jaws 
 and teeth are in a beautiful state of preservation. The 
 recent Crocodilus acutus of the West Indies is stated to 
 be the nearest living representative of this ancient tertiary 
 species. 
 
 Crocodilus Spenceri. Wall-Case B. A remarkably fine 
 skull of a crocodile, two feet in length, and ten inches in 
 width, from the Isle of Sheppey, is placed on the ledge near 
 the specimen -last described ; a cranium of this species is 
 figured in Dr. Buckland's " Bridgewater Essay," PI. XXV. '; 
 and described in " Brit. Assoc. Report," p. 65. 
 
 Professor Owen states that the most characteristic diffe- 
 rences which this species presents in comparison with the 
 Crocodilus biporcatus, or other existing species of Crocodile 
 or Alligator, are the larger size of the temporal holes, as com- 
 pared with the orbits, the more regular and rapid diminution 
 of the head towards the snout, the straight line of the alveolar 
 tract, and the greater relative length and slenderness of the 
 muzzle. It most nearly resembles the Bornean species (Croc. 
 
 Eemains of this Crocodilian reptile have been obtained 
 from the London clay at Bracklesham, on the Sussex coast ; 
 and I have collected several vertebrae, dermal bones, teeth, 
 and portions of the cranium, from the eocene strata near 
 Lymington. 2 
 
 In Mr. Dixon's collection there was a chain of eight ver- 
 tebrae, including the sacral and biconvex first caudal, which is 
 
 1 For details consult "Brit. Assoc. Report," (1841), pp. 66, 67. 
 
 2 " Geological Excursions round the Isle of Wight, and along the 
 aijacent coast of Hampshire/' p. 163. 
 
ROOM III. TELEOSAURUS. 177 
 
 figured in PL XV. of his beautiful work on the fossils of some 
 of the cretaceous and tertiary deposits of Sussex. 
 
 TELEOSAURUS. To this genus belong several interesting 
 fossils contained in the Wall-case B. In reference to the 
 general characters of the extinct Crocodiles comprised in this 
 group, the eminent palaeontologist Herm. von Meyer observes 
 that " the form of the head approaches that of the Gavials, 
 but the beak or mandible is longer and more slender, and the 
 teeth more numerous : the first tooth is generally very long, 
 and the other teeth are alternately longer and shorter. The 
 head is from three to four feet in length. The hinder arti- 
 cular surface of the bodies of the vertebrae is concave ; and 
 their processes show considerable departure from those of 
 Crocodiles. The skin was covered by broader and thicker 
 scales than in the Crocodilians, and these scutes overlaid 
 each other in such manner as to constitute a strong flexible 
 coat of mail. The scales are deeply pitted externally by 
 hemispherical depressions ; and their form, structure, and 
 arrangement, led M. Geoffrey to conclude that the living 
 Teleosauri must have been more decidedly aquatic than the 
 Crocodiles, and were probably marine animals. 
 
 In their general shape the Teleosauri are more slender than 
 the Gavials, and the feet are better adapted for swimming than 
 for walking ; the fore-feet being not more than half the size 
 of the hinder ones. This disproportion of the organs of pro- 
 gression, together with the scaly dermal integument, must 
 have rendered the motions of these animals difficult on land, 
 but in the water they could move with great facility, and 
 there can be little doubt that these ancient gavial-like 
 saurians inhabited the seas of the Secondary Epochs. 1 
 
 Teleosaurus. Wall-case B. A cranium with the jaws 
 and teeth most beautifully preserved, the extremity of the 
 muzzle being entire, and exhibiting the apertures of the 
 nostrils, is placed in the recess near the Crocodilus tolia- 
 picus ; but I have not been able to obtain any information 
 respecting this fine specimen. On the same ledge is the 
 upper part of the cranium of another example of Crocodilus 
 Spenceri. 
 
 1 From " Palseologica zur Geschichte der Erde und ihrer Geschb'pfe, 
 von Hermann von Meyer." Frankfort, 1822. 
 
 H 
 
178 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 Teleosaurus priscus. Wall-case B? The beautiful rep- 
 tilian fossil thus labelled, is entered in the " Museum Synopsis" 
 as " another species of Gavial, (considered as a distinct genus, 
 by H. von Meyer, to wbich he has given the name of JEolo- 
 don,y from the lias at Monheim in Franconia, being the 
 unique specimen figured and described by Soemmering in the 
 Memoirs of the Academy of Munich, as Crocodilus priscus"* 
 
 This specimen is also described by Cuvier (Oss. Foss. 
 tome v. p. 120, pi. VI.) under the name of " Gavial de 
 Monheim" 
 
 It consists of a considerable portion of the skeleton of a 
 reptile about three feet in length, imbedded in a layer of 
 yellowish grey calcareous schist ; the slab having been split 
 asunder (as in the Swanage specimen), each of the exposed 
 surfaces displays portions of the enclosed osseous remains. 
 On the stone there are casts of discoidal shells, the impression 
 of the tail of a small fish, and remains of insects. The 
 quarry whence the specimen was obtained is worked for 
 lithographic stones, and is celebrated for the remains of 
 Pterodactyles, fishes, crustaceans, insects, &c. which we shall 
 notice in the sequel. 
 
 1 The following diagram may assist the visitor in identifying the 
 specimen : 
 
 Top of Case B. 
 
 Teleosaurus, with the four I Cast of Mystriosaurus Egertoni ; 
 
 extremities. from Altdorf. 
 
 In Case B. [2.] 
 Teleosaurus Chapmanni. 
 
 Teleosaurus priscus. 
 
 Hylaeosaurus : vertebral column, from Bolney, Sussex. 
 Hylaeosaurus : from Tilgate Forest. 
 
 2 Indicative of the alternating size of the teeth. 
 
 3 Trans. Academy of Munich, 1814." CROCODILUS PRISCUS. Eostro 
 elongate cylindrico, dentibus inferis alternatim longioribus, femoribus 
 dupla tibiarum longitudine." Soemmering. The description is accom- 
 panied by figures of the natural size, of which 1 have a copy, presented 
 to me by the distinguished author, nearly thirty years since. 
 
ROOM III. TELEOSAURUS PRISCUS. 179 
 
 The largest slab contains the bones of the head, trunk, and 
 tail of the animal, from one extremity to the other, but little 
 deranged from their natural connections. The skull, however, 
 is twisted over, and the lower jaw lies uppermost in the 
 position in which the specimen is exposed to view. The 
 bones of one of the hind-feet are detached from the trunk and 
 imbedded above the anterior part of the skeleton ; and the 
 extremity of the tail is dislocated and somewhat broken. 
 Portions of the dermal scaly covering are preserved. I will 
 now point out the most important osteological peculiarities 
 observable in this specimen ; reminding the visitor that the 
 upper part of the skull is the lowermost in its present 
 position, and referring to M. Cuvier's work for those details 
 which the scientific observer will require. 
 
 The form of the skull resembles that of the Gavial, but 
 the bones of which it is composed present manifest differ- 
 ences from those of the recent species ; the symphysis of 
 the lower jaw is relatively shorter. The teeth are 106 in 
 number, and placed in distinct sockets, as in the Crocodiles ; 
 they are more acuminated and curved, and stand out more 
 prominently than in the Gavial, and their surface is finely 
 striated longitudinally. There are twenty-five or six on each 
 side the lower jaw, 1 and they are alternately longer and 
 smaller, counting from the fourth tooth, so that the fifth 
 and seventh are only half the height of the sixth and eighth, 
 and so on. In the upper jaw the teeth are of equal size, 
 except the first two, which are small, and the third tooth, 
 which is very large. T^he palatine surface of the upper jaw 
 is exposed. The occipital condyle, and the facet of the 
 tympanic bone to articulate with the lower jaw, are dis- 
 tinctly shown. 
 
 There are seventy-nine biconcave vertebrae ; the articular sur- 
 faces of their bodies are but slightly depressed; the cervicals 
 have lost their transverse processes. The caudal vertebrae 
 exceed by ten the number in the tail of any known crocodile. 
 There are twenty-three ribs which are displaced, but are more 
 or less entire. There are some of the bones of the pectoral and 
 pelvic arches, namely, one of the coracoids, an ilium, ischium, 
 and fragments of the sternum. The left hind foot is in its 
 
 1 The uppermost part of the specimen as seen in the Case. 
 
180 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 place, but detached, and the bones dislocated ; those of the 
 right foot are in natural connection, but altogether separated 
 from the trunk, and lying above the lower jaw, according to 
 the present position of the fossil in Case B. The length of 
 the femur is double that of the tibia. The number of fingers 
 and toes accord with those of the Crocodile. There are 
 many dermal scutes scattered among the bones ; the median 
 dorsal ones are carinated; in one part there are twenty-six in 
 natural apposition ; the original must have been covered 
 by a strong flexible scaly integument. In this small rep- 
 tile, and in the remains of the large Swanage Goniopholis, 
 we have instructive examples of the modification of cro- 
 codilian structure which so largely prevailed during the 
 Wealolen and Oolitic ages. 
 
 Teleosaurus Chapmanni. Wall-case B. 1 "The head and 
 other parts of the skeleton of a Gavial from the Lias at 
 Whitby, which, though correctly determined by its discoverer, 
 Capt. W. Chapman, and also by Wooller, (Philosophical 
 Transactions for 1758,) was subsequently mistaken for an 
 I chthy osaurus. ' ' 2 
 
 The fine specimen in the lower compartment of Case , 
 appears to be the one above specified. It consists of a slab 
 of Lias limestone, on which are imbedded the cranium and 
 mandibles attached to a part of the vertebral column, with 
 many ribs and dermal bones. The skull and jaws are between 
 three and four feet in length. The head is retroverted, so 
 that the under surface of the lower jaw is exposed. 
 
 In the upper part of the same Case there is a specimen of 
 
 1 The following is the arrangement of the Teleosauri in this part of 
 Wall-case B : 
 
 Uppermost. Teleosaurus Chapmanni, 9 feet long. 
 
 Shelf. Several portions of crania and jaws. Vertebra and dermal bones 
 of Teleosauri. 
 
 Teleosaurus Chapmanni.-(Philos. Trans, for 1758.) | Cast of Teleosaurus 
 
 | cadomensis, 
 
 On the bottom. Portions of gigantic jaws with teeth of Gavials from the 
 Eocene strata of the Sewalik Hills. Presented by 
 G. H. Smith, Esq. 
 
 2 " Synopsis of the British Museum ;" p. 89. 
 
ROOM III. TELEOSAURUS CHAPMANNI. 181 
 
 this species of Teleosaurus, nine feet in length ; the cranium is 
 very fine, the vertebral column is arched, and almost perfect 
 to the extremity of the tail ; a row of dermal scutes ex- 
 tends along the dorsal region. Of the fore-limbs the 
 humerus only remains ; but of the hinder right limb, the 
 femur, bones of the leg, and many of the feet, are preserved. 
 This fossil is probably from the same locality as the one 
 above described. The lias of the Yorkshire coast is celebrated 
 for the abundance and variety of the remains of fossil plants, 
 and of reptiles and other animals, that may be easily obtained 
 by a little assiduity and perseverance. 
 
 There is also on the same ledge part of the cranium and 
 jaws with teeth of another individual from Saltwich near 
 Whitby ; presented to the Museum in 1834 ; it is figured in 
 Dr. Buckland's Bridgewater Essay, pi. XXV. 
 
 On the top of this Wall-case there is a much larger and 
 finer specimen of the Teleosaurus than either of the above. 
 The skeleton from the point of the muzzle to the end of 
 the tail is preserved ; most of the bones of the extremities 
 are exposed, and numerous remains of the osseous dermal 
 scutes. In the Case above the Teleosaurus priscm, there 
 is an example of this species about seven or eight feet in 
 length. 
 
 Dr. Buckland figures a specimen (pi. XXV.) which he 
 describes as one of the finest of fossil Teleosanri yet disco- 
 vered. " Its entire length, if perfect, would be about eighteen 
 feet, the breadth of the head one foot ; the snout is long and 
 slender as in the Gavial ; the teeth, 140 in number, are all 
 small, slender, and placed in nearly a straight line. Some of 
 the unguical phalanges that are preserved on the hind feet of 
 this animal, show that the toes were terminated by long and 
 sharp claws, adapted for motion on land." 1 
 
 The anatomical structure and natural affinities of this 
 species of saurian are fully considered by Professor Owen, 
 in the Reports on British Fossil Reptiles, to which I must 
 refer the scientific inquirer ; it will suffice for our present 
 purpose to state the leading characters which distinguish it. 2 
 
 1 Bridgewater Essay, p. 253. 
 
 2 British Association Report for 1841 ; pp. < 280. 
 
182 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 The cranium is broad posteriorly and square-shaped ; it 
 begins to contract anterior to the orbits, and gradually 
 extends into a narrow depressed snout. The orbits are 
 subcircular, and are directed upwards and outwards. The 
 columella or ossicle of the ear is cylindrical, and relatively 
 larger than in any known reptile. The entire length of the 
 cranium and mandibles in some individuals was from four 
 to five feet. The teeth are slender and sharp pointed, and 
 amount to 140. 
 
 The spine is composed of sixty-four biconcave vertebrae; 
 viz. : seven cervical, sixteen dorsal, three lumbar, two sacral, 
 and thirty-six caudal. The largest vertebras are three inches 
 in length. The ribs possess the usual crocodilian character; 
 the number of dorsal ribs exceeds that of any existing croco- 
 dilian, amounting to sixteen pairs. The scapulae and cora- 
 coids correspond with those of the Crocodile, but are smaller. 
 The humerus and bones of the fore-arm are much shorter 
 than in the Crocodile. The femur (15J inches long) is of 
 the usual double-curved crocodilian form. The tibia and 
 fibula (eight inches long), resemble those of the Teleosaums 
 prisons (ante, p. 178) in their relative shortness as compared 
 with the femur. All the long bones, and even the metatarsals, 
 are stated to have distinct medullary cavities. 
 
 The dermal scutes are arranged as in the existing gavials, 
 both in longitudinal and transverse series : the pits on the 
 external surface are nearly circular, and do not present the 
 irregular forms observable in the scales of the Swanage Cro- 
 codile, (ante, p. 173.) The posterior margin of one scute 
 covers the base of the succeeding one, and they overlap 
 each other laterally ; but there are no lateral points or 
 processes as in the Goniopholis. The largest scutes are about 
 3 1 inches square. 
 
 TELEOSAURUS CADOMENSIS. (On the right of Teleosaums 
 Chapmanni.) This is a cast of the cranium and part of the 
 vertebral column of a Teleosaurus, from the Oolite of Caen, 
 in which locality remains of this species are common. 
 This reptile was described by M. Ciivier as " Gavial de 
 Caen," in " Oss. Foss." tome v. p. 127. It has 180 teeth ; 
 its beak, or mandible, is longer than in Teleosaurus priscus ; 
 the dermal scutes are rectangular, and thin at the margin ; 
 there are fifteen or sixteen transverse rows between the 
 
ROOM III. FOSSIL BATRACHIANS. 183 
 
 first dorsal vertebra and the origin of the tail, and ten 
 ranged longitudinally. It equalled in size the species above 
 described. 
 
 MYSTRIOSAURUS EGERTONL (On the top of Wall-case B.) 
 
 The specimen thus labelled is the cast of a Teleosaurus, about 
 four feet in length, the original of which was obtained from 
 the Lias, at Altdorf. The cranium and elongated mandibles, 
 the skeleton of the trunk, and the bones of the four limbs, are 
 well displayed : there are many dermal scutes dispersed over 
 the trunk. 
 
 The abundance of the fossil remains of this group of 
 amphibious loricated reptiles throughout the Liassic and 
 Oolitic formations, shows how numerous must have been 
 these carnivorous saurians in the marshes, deltas, and estuaries 
 of the islands and continents of those remote ages ; doubtless 
 the Teleosauri, like the Gavials of India, swarmed in the rivers 
 and lakes, and preyed on fishes and on the feebler tribes of 
 reptiles that inhabited the waters. 
 
 FOSSIL BATRACHIANS. The reptiles termed Batrachians are 
 characterised by the transformation which they undergo in 
 the progress of development from the young to the adult 
 state ; the Frog, Toad, and Newt, are familiar examples of 
 this order. Their organs of aerial respiration consist of a pair 
 of lungs ; but in youth they are provided with gills, supported 
 as in fishes, by cartilaginous arches. These organs disappear 
 in most species, when the animals arrive at maturity ; but in 
 a few genera, as the Siren and Proteus, they are persistent. 
 The skeletons of these reptiles present corresponding modifi- 
 cations. The skull is, for the most part, much depressed, and 
 the cerebral cavity small ; it is united to the vertebral column 
 by two distinct condyles, situated on the sides of the occipital 
 or cranio-spinal aperture. The vertebral column, which in 
 some genera (as for example, in the frog) is very short, and 
 reduced to eight or ten bones, is composed in the higher 
 organised Batrachians of concavo-convex vertebrae, as in the 
 Crocodile ; but in the lower types, as the Siren, Proteus, and 
 Axolotl, the vertebrae are biconcave, as in numerous fossil 
 saurians. The ribs are rudimentary ; a condition which has 
 relation to the mode of reproduction in these animals. Some 
 of the Batrachians are edentulous, like the Turtles, but others 
 have numerous small, conical, uniform, closely-arranged teeth, 
 
184 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 placed either in a single row, or aggregated like the rasp-teeth 
 in fishes. 
 
 The skeletons, vestiges of the soft parts, and imprints of the 
 feet of several genera of Batrachians, occur in various tertiary 
 deposits, and, like the existing races, belong to fresh-water or 
 terrestrial species. In the pliocene strata on the banks of 
 the Rhine, and in the papierkohle of the Eifel, many speci- 
 mens of fossil frogs, toads, and newts, have been discovered. 
 But by far the most remarkable of the remains of this order 
 are obtained from (Eningen, and a specimen from that place, 
 deposited in the case whose contents are now under review 
 (ante p. 153), requires especial notice. 
 
 FOSSIL SALAMANDER OF (ENINGEN. (Wall-case A-B.) 
 Among the tertiary lacustrine deposits of the continent, that 
 of (Eningen, near Constance, has long been celebrated for the 
 perfection and variety of its organic remains, and particularly 
 for Batrachian reptiles. A short, but graphic memoir, by our 
 distinguished countryman, Sir Roderick Murchison, presents, 
 in a few lines, the history of these ancient lacustrine deposits. 
 
 The Rhine, in its course from Constance to Schaffhausen, 
 cuts through the tertiary marine formation, called the molasse, 
 which rises into hills from 700 to 800 feet high, on each side 
 
 LIGN. 41. FOSSIL SALAMANDER OF 
 
 (CRYPTOBRANCHUS SCHEUCHZERI,) 
 (The original is three feet in length.) 
 
 of the river. On the right bank, a little above the town of 
 Stein, is the village of (Eningen, near which, in a basin, or 
 depression of the molasse, there is a series of deposits, com- 
 posed of laminated marls, and cream-coloured fetid limestone, 
 amounting in thickness to between thirty and forty feet. 
 
ROOM III. FOSSIL SALAMANDER OF (ENINGEN. 185 
 
 In these marls are imbedded the foliage and stems of 
 various kinds of dicotyledonous trees, shells, remains of 
 insects, crustaceans, fishes, turtles, and of large batrachians. 
 These fresh-water beds have manifestly been accumulated in 
 a lake at some very remote period, for their deposition must 
 have long preceded the present condition of the country, as 
 by far the greater number of the animals and plants are 
 either extinct forms, or belong to species not known as in- 
 digenous in Europe ; and the Rhine has worn a channel 
 through the entire series and the molasse on which they are 
 superposed, to the depth of several hundred feet. 1 
 
 In the early part of the eighteenth century, the fossil 
 Batrachians of (Eningen, deeply interesting as they are to the 
 palaeontologist, acquired far greater notoriety than they would 
 ever have obtained as objects of scientific research, in conse- 
 quence of the opinion which then generally prevailed that all 
 petrifactions had been produced by an universal deluge ; and 
 in 1725, the fancied resemblance of a cranium attached to 
 a portion of a skeleton, discovered in the quarry at (Eningen, 
 to a human skull pressed flat, led M. Scheuchzer, an eminent 
 physician of his day, to declare, that at length the petrified 
 remains of one of the sinful individuals who had perished in 
 that catastrophe were brought to light ! Under this delusion 
 he published the well-known treatise entitled, " Homo diluvii 
 testis et theoscopos" 2 This memoir contained an excellent figure 
 of the fossil skeleton, which the author described as "the 
 remains of one of that accursed race which was overwhelmed 
 by the waters of the deluge, and whose bones and flesh were 
 incorporated into stone." 
 
 The rounded form of the head, the size of the orbits, and 
 other batrachian characters of the supposed " petrified man," 
 were, however, so obvious from Scheuchzer's own figure and 
 descriptions alone, that the true nature of the original was 
 suggested by M. Cuvier, before he had seen any of the fossil 
 remains. In 1811, Cuvier visited the Teylerian Museum at 
 
 1 Sir Roderick Murchison, on the Lacustrine deposits of (Eningen, 
 " Geol. Trans." vol. iii p. 277, and " Geol. Journal," for 1846, p. 54. 
 
 2 " The MAN who had witnessed the Deluge, and beheld God." A brief 
 notice of Scheuchzer's fossil man was published in the " Philos. Trans." 
 for 1726, vol. xxxiv. p. 48. 
 
186 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIE TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 Haarlem, in which Scheuchzer's specimen was preserved, and 
 obtained permission to remove such parts of the stone as were 
 likely to conceal any characteristic bones ; and, as he had 
 predicted, the anterior part of the skeleton of a large aquatic 
 Salamander, with remains of the fore-legs, was exposed to 
 view. 1 
 
 The specimen in the Case before us, (of which a reduced 
 figure is given in Lign. 41,) originally belonged to Dr. 
 Ammann, of Zurich, and was examined by Baron Cuvier 
 when in England. 2 It consists of the cranium, vertebral 
 column, bones of the anterior and posterior extremities, and 
 vestiges of the tail. The skull, which is pressed flat, nearly 
 equals in size that of a man ; around the semicircular jaws 
 there are the remains of a double row of very fine teeth : the 
 orbits are large ; the occipital condyle is double ; the remains 
 of the posterior horns of the os hyoides are seen on each side 
 of the occiput. There are nineteen or twenty dorsal, and 
 sixteen caudal vertebrae. The ribs are very short, as in all 
 Batrachians. The scapula and humerus are exposed on each 
 side the anterior part of the spine ; the femora, parts of the 
 tibia, and fragments of the pelvis are also visible. The result 
 of Baron Cuvier's investigations proved that the original of 
 the celebrated (Eningen fossil was an aquatic Salamander of 
 a gigantic size in relation to all known existing species of the 
 genus. 3 
 
 1 " Osseme.ns Fossiles," tome v. p. 437. The removal of the stone 
 from the concealed parts was made by M. Cuvier in the presence of the 
 officers of the Teylerian Museum. "Nous avons place" devant nous un 
 dessin du squelette de la Salamandre, et ce ne fut pas saus une sorte de 
 plaisir, qu'a mesure que le ciseau enlevoit un e"clat de pierre, nous 
 voyons paroitre au jour quelqu'un des os que ce dessin avoit annonce 
 d'avance. C'est ainsi que cette table de schiste, gravge et regravee 
 vingt fois, depnis un siecle comme elle Test, PI. XXV. 2, fut mise dans 
 l'6tat ou on la voit, PI. XXVI. 2. 11." 
 
 2 It is figured in " Oss. Foss" tome v. PL XXVI. 
 
 3 The most remarkable specimen from the quarry at (Eningen that 
 came under my own observation, was the almost perfect skeleton of 
 a carnivorous terrestrial quadruped, which was purchased of the quarry- 
 men by Sir Eoderick Murchison, in 1828. As is usually the case with 
 the bones imbedded in those lacustrine limestones, this skeleton was 
 invested with a hard calcareous crust, so that the general outline of the 
 concealed bones was alone visible. At the request of my distinguished 
 friend, I undertook the development of this choice relic, and after 
 devoting the leisure hours of some weeks, succeeded in completely 
 
ROOM III. PTERODACTYLES. 187 
 
 PTERODACTTLES. Flying Reptiles, Wall-case A-B. (ante 
 p. 153.) It was not merely in magnitude, observes the 
 illustrious Cuvier, 1 that Reptiles stood pre-eminent in an- 
 cient days, but they were distinguished by forms more 
 varied and extraordinary than any that are now known to 
 exist on the face of the earth. Among these extinct beings 
 of ages incalculably remote, none are more marvellous than 
 those we are about to examine the Pterodactyles (wing- 
 fingered), which had the power of flying, not by means of 
 their ribs, like the Draco volans, nor by a membrane stretched 
 over four elongated fingers, with a rudimentary thumb, as in 
 bats nor by a wing without distinct fingers, as in birds but 
 by a wing sustained principally on a very elongated toe, while 
 the other members preserved their normal shortness, and were 
 armed with claws ; and with this remarkable conformation 
 were associated a long neck, and beaks armed with teeth. 
 
 With the exception of the unique specimen of Ptero- 
 dactyle from Lyme Regis, and a few detached bones from the 
 Wealden (collected by the author), the Museum only contains 
 casts of the remains of this extraordinary tribe of reptiles. 
 The specimens from which these models were taken, were 
 obtained from the lithographic stone of Solenhofen, in which 
 bones of Pterodactyles are associated with fossil dragon-flies 
 and other insects. The following are figured and described 
 by Goldfuss, viz. : Pterodactylus longirostris, P. brevirostris, 
 P. Munsteri? and P. crassirostris. 
 
 The extinct beings referred to this genus, and of which 
 nearly twenty species are now determined, varying in size 
 from that of a snipe to species with wings sixteen feet in 
 
 exposing the skeleton of a FOX, closely related to the common species, 
 
 the private collection 
 of Sir Roderick Murchison ; it is certainly one of the most interesting 
 relics hitherto discovered in the celebrated locality of the Homo dilumi 
 tfstis. I would refer the reader interested in the history of the ancient 
 lake of (Eningen, to Sir Roderick Murchison's Memoir above cited. 
 " Geol. Trans." new series, vol. iii. pp. 277 290. 
 
 1 Cuvier, "Oss. Foss." tome v. p. 358. Art. vi.^ "Ce netoit pas 
 >eulement par la grandeur que la classe des reptiles," &c. 
 
 2 " Reptilien aus dem lithographischen Schiefer," von Dr. Goldfuss. 
 The figures given by Goldfuss, and Count Munster, of these specimens, 
 have been copied into almost every subsequent work on fossil remains. 
 
188 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 expanse, have a remarkably small skull, with beaks furnished' 
 in some species, with upwards of sixty sharp-pointed teeth? 
 and generally very long. The teeth are simple, of a conical 
 form, recurved, and implanted in distinct sockets, with con- 
 siderable intervals between them. The orbits are very large, 
 and the neck elongated. The sternum and pectoral arch are 
 
 LIGN. 42. PTERODACTYLE, FROM SOLENHOFEN. ($ nat. size.) 
 (PTERODACTYLUS CRASSIROSTRIS.) 
 
 constructed as in reptiles. The peculiar organization of the 
 fore-foot, and which entirely differs from that of any other 
 reptile, whether recent or fossil, consists in the great extension 
 of the fore-finger, which is composed of five bones, and exceeds 
 in length the entire spinal column ; the other digits are Of 
 the ordinary relative proportions, and armed with claws, i 
 Impressions of the delicate membranous expansion, or wing, 
 which this finger was designed to support, are occasionally 
 
 1 There are excellent figures of Pterodactyles in Dr. Buckland's 
 " Bridgewater Essay," PI. XXI. and PI. XXII. 
 
ROOM III. PTERODACTYLUS MACROXYX. 189 
 
 observed on the stone surrounding the phalangeal bones (as 
 in Lign. 42). 
 
 The nature of the original animal was traced by Baron 
 Cuvier with his accustomed terseness and perspicuity ; and 
 later discoveries, though enlarging our knowledge of this 
 remarkable order of reptiles, and presenting us with far 
 more colossal forms than could have been rationally predicated, 
 have added nothing of importance to the original sketch by 
 the master-hand. 
 
 " The Pterodactyle," observes M. Cuvier, " was an animal 
 which in its osteology, from the teeth to the extremities of the 
 claws, and from its skull to the end of the tail, presented the 
 classic characters of the saurians. We therefore cannot doubt 
 that it had the same modifications in the integuments and soft 
 pails j their dermal covering, circulation, organs of generation, 
 <fcc. At the same tune, it was provided with large mem- 
 branous wings, and its powers of flight must have far ex- 
 ceeded those of the Draco volans, the only existing reptile 
 that can traverse the air, and probably equalled those of the 
 Bat. It doubtless could flit and soar on the wing as long as 
 the strength of its muscles permitted, and suspend itself to 
 trees or rocks by its short unguiculated toes. Its position, 
 when in repose, would probably be like that of birds, on its 
 hind legs, with the neck straightened and curved back, to 
 preserve its equilibrium." 
 
 PTERODACTYLUS MACROXYX. Wall-case A-B. l These unique 
 remains of a species of Pterodactyle, which, when living, was 
 about the size of a raven, were discovered in 1828, by the 
 late Mary Anning, the well-known intelligent collector of the 
 fossils from the liassic deposits that form the cliffs along the 
 coast of Dorsetshire, near Lyme Regis. I have not heard that 
 any other relics of this species have been met with. 
 
 This specimen was figured and described by Dr. Buckland 
 in " Geol. Trans." vol. iii. PL XXVII. with the specific name 
 macronyx, suggested by the great length of the claws. 2 It 
 consists of a few fragments of the cervical and dorsal vertebrae, 
 and three caudals ; the scapulae and coracoids ; and the bones 
 
 1 Figured and described by Dr. Buckland in " Geol. Trans." voL iii. 
 new series, p. 217. 
 
 2 The specimen was purchased of Miss Anning by the Trustees of the 
 British Museum. 
 
190 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 of the arms, and fingers, more or less displaced. These several 
 parts are enumerated by Dr. Buckland as follows : 
 
 "One cervical vertebra, f of an inch in length ; near this bone are 
 small cylindrical ossified tendons, resembling the tendons which run 
 parallel to the caudal vertebrae of rats. 
 
 Dorsal and lumbar vertebrae, in a fragmentary state. 
 
 Three caudal vertebrae. 
 
 Two scapulae, or omoplates, long and narrow, as in crocodiles. 
 
 Two coracoids, large, as in birds, for the support of the wings in flight. 
 
 Sternum, broken and indistinct. 
 
 Humeri. The right humerus and scapula are much displaced ; the 
 left humerus, and other bones of the left wing , are nearly in their natural 
 j uxta-position. 
 
 Fore-arm : there are no traces of an ulna. 
 
 Carpus : in the left, four bones are well preserved, three in contact 
 with the radius, the fourth with the largest metacarpal. The right 
 carpal bones are all dispersed. 
 
 Metacarpals ; first, second, and third of the right hand, and also of 
 the left ; and the fourth of each hand supporting the respective wing- 
 fingers. 
 
 Three fingers of the left hand, terminating in long claws; there are 
 two phalanges in the first, three in the second, and four in the third 
 finger, as in crocodiles. 
 
 All the bones of the first and third fingers of the right hand. 
 
 First bone of the fourth or wing-finger ; there is no vestige of a fifth 
 finger. 
 
 Pelvis : the three bones of the right side, viz., the ilium, ischiuni, 
 and pubis, are very distinct. 
 
 The two femora ; the right one displaced. 
 
 The tibiae ; the left one compressed : there are no traces of fibulee. 
 
 Tarsus, but faintly indicated. 
 
 Metatarsus ; four of the left foot distinct and undisturbed, their 
 under aspect being exposed. 
 
 Phalanges of the left toes, the claws wanting. 
 
 Toes of the right foot, much displaced ; one claw only remains. 
 
 The length of the foot, and of the tibia and femur, shows 
 that the animal must have stood firmly on the ground, on 
 which, probably, with its wings folded, it moved after the 
 manner of birds. It could, perhaps, also perch on trees, and 
 cling to their branches by means of its feet and toes, like birds 
 and lizards." l 
 
 WEALDEN PTERODACTYLES. Wall-case A-B. In the Weal- 
 den deposits, and likewise in the Stonefield calcareous slate, 
 
 1 Dr. Buckland. " Geol. Trans." p. 222. The above details are 
 inserted for the use of the scientific visitor who may be desirous of 
 examining this unique specimen. 
 
ROOM III. WEALDEN PTERODACTTLES. 191 
 
 fragments of bones of such tenuity as to indicate that they 
 belonged to animals capable of progression through the air, are 
 not uncommon. Their occurrence in the Wealden deposits 
 was first noticed in my earliest work, " On the Geology of 
 Sussex;" but, although thirty years have since elapsed, I 
 have not seen a specimen with articular extremities so perfect as 
 to demonstrate with certainty whether it belonged to a bird 
 or to a flying reptile. In the Case before us there are a few 
 portions of long bones which are probably metacarpals and 
 phalangeals of pterodactyles ; and in some of the closed 
 cabinets there are a few specimens more illustrative. There is 
 one bone, especially, which was formerly supposed to be the 
 tarso-metatarsal of a bird, but has since been ascertained to 
 be a humerus, and, probably, of a Pterodactyle ; although 
 there are certain points in which it unquestionably differs 
 from the arm-bone of any flying reptile hitherto observed. 
 
 In the absence of obvious distinctive osteological cha- 
 racters, it was hoped that an investigation of the intimate 
 structure of these enigmatical remains would throw light on 
 the subject, and that the microscopical examination of the 
 most characteristic bones by Mr. Quekett and Mr. Bowerbank 
 might afford a solution of the problem. 
 
 In a paper communicated to the Geological Society by Mr. 
 Bowerbank, that able observer affirms that there is a recog- 
 nisable difference in the form and proportion of the bone-cells 
 in birds and reptiles, which he believes to be constant, and by 
 which the smallest fragment of bone may with great pro- 
 bability be referred to its proper class. 
 
 In birds, under a power of 500 linears, Mr. Bowerbank 
 found the cells to have a breadth in proportion to their 
 length, as one to four or five ; while in reptiles the length 
 exceeds the breadth ten or twelve times. For example, in the 
 albatross the width of the cell is one-fourth the length, and 
 in the crocodile one-twelfth. 1 Applying this test to the 
 bones supposed by Professor Owen to be those of a bird allied 
 
 1 Professor Owen remarks, " Such a statement as that these cells in 
 Birds have a breadth, in proportion to their length, of from one to four 
 or five, while in Reptiles the length exceeds the breadth by ten or twelve 
 times, only betrays the limited experience of the assertor /" and he 
 quotes " MantelTs Wonders of Geology," vol. i. p. 441. Now as the 
 statement in my work was submitted to Mr. Bowerbank's revision before 
 it was printed, the amiable Professor has missed his mark, and hit 
 
192 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 to the albatross, 1 Mr. Bowerbank pronounced them to belong 
 to a Pterodactyl e ; probably to the colossal species (named by 
 him P. giganteus), of which he had obtained jaws with teeth, 
 and other remains, from the same chalk quarry ; a conclusion 
 which has since been satisfactorily established. 
 
 On the other hand, certain bones from the Wealden and 
 Oolite are regarded both by Mr. Quekett, and Mr. Bowerbank, 
 as exhibiting unequivocally a structure peculiar to birds. 
 
 With regard to the value of such evidence, I would venture to 
 express my opinion, that although in the entire absence of more 
 obvious and certain diagnostic characters, it would be unsafe 
 to admit the relative proportions of the bone-cells as conclu- 
 sive proof, it is not unreasonable to infer that the intimate 
 structure of the solid parts of the skeleton may have relation 
 to the peculiar organisation of a class, and that the micro- 
 scopic test, if applied with due caution, will prove an impor- 
 tant auxiliary in the interpretation of the true nature of the 
 fossil bones of unknown animals. 
 
 Some of these presumed birds' bones are so' extremely thin 
 
 the distinguished Honorary Secretary of the Palaeontograpblcal Society, 
 to whose indulgent consideration I therefore leave him.* 
 
 1 These bones from the Kentish Chalk are described in Professor 
 Owen's " BRITISH MAMMALS AND BIRDS," under the name of" CIMOLIORNIS 
 DIOMEDEUS. Long-winged Bird of the Chalk" "Bird allied to the Alba- 
 tross? (Diomedea}. In the late Mr. Dixon's work, edited by Professor 
 Owen, and published last year (1850), he again figures the specimen 
 (though not a Sussex Fossil), and affirms, " I have yet obtained no evi- 
 dence which shakes my original conclusion, that the bone is part of the 
 shaft of a humerus of a longipennate bird, like the A Ibatross." (Dixon. p. 
 402.) And after commenting on Mr. Bowerbank's observations, he remarks, 
 " When such obvious ornithic characters as these, and especially those of 
 thetrochlear end of the bone, determine their nature," &c. And yet Pro- 
 fessor Owen accuses me of " misrepresenting him,"f and of being guilty 
 of an "unamiable exaggeration"^ of his mistake, because, in a popular 
 work, " The Wonders of Geology," I stated that he had regarded the 
 bone as belonging to an extinct species of Albatross" using the word 
 species in its general sense, as a sort, or kind. If I had written " a species 
 of the genus Diomedea or A Ibatross," it might have borne the interpre- 
 tation Professor Owen now affects to put upon it. The same unamiable 
 expression was employed in my " Medals of Creation " (p. 804), pub- 
 lished seven years ago, and then gave no offence ! 
 
 * See Professor Owen's " Fossil Reptilia of the Cretaceous Formation/' 
 Monographs of the Palaeontographical Society. 1851. p. 83. 
 t Ibid. p. 82 p. 83. 
 
ROOM III. THE MOSASAURUS OF MAESTRICHT. 193 
 
 and fragile, as to render it extremely improbable that they 
 could have sustained such an instrument of flight as the 
 powerful wing of the Albatross ; their tenuity is indeed such 
 as to suggest their adaptation to support an expanded mem- 
 brane rather than pinions. 1 
 
 I have recently collected from the Wealden strata of Tilgate 
 Forest some fragments of very .large cylindrical bones, the 
 walls of which are extremely thin, and unquestionably belong 
 to Pterodactyles. 
 
 In concluding these notes on the flying Reptiles, I may 
 add that Mr. Bowerbank has procured from the Kentish 
 chalk, portions of jaws with teeth, more colossal than any 
 previously known : some portions of the upper maxilla prove 
 the total length of the head to have been upwards of sixteen 
 inches ; and the bones of the anterior extremity indicate a 
 width of from sixteen to eighteen feet, from the extremity of 
 one wing to the other ! 
 
 The Mosasaurus, or Fossil Reptile of Maestricht. Wall- 
 case B. Maestricht, a large city in the interior of the Nether- 
 lands, situated in the valley of the Meuse, stands on a series 
 of calcareous arenaceous deposits belonging to the Upper 
 Chalk, and which gradually pass below into the pure white 
 chalk with bands of siliceous nodules. Extensive quarries 
 have for many centuries been worked in the sandstone, espe- 
 cially in the eminence called St. Peter's Mountain, which is 
 a cape or headland between the Meuse and the Jaar, formed 
 by the termination of a range of hills that bounds the western 
 extremity of the river valley. The mountain commences at 
 the distance of a mile south of the city, and extends in a 
 direction towards Liege for about three leagues ; it presents 
 an almost perpendicular escarpment towards the Meuse. 
 
 The calcareous freestone, which is extensively quarried, is 
 soft and easily cut when first removed, but dries and hardens 
 by exposure to the air ; the total thickness of the strata is 
 above five hundred feet. 
 
 1 A new part of the" Palseontographical Monographs" has just appeared ; 
 in which, commenting on this idea, Professor Owen states that the 
 wings of the Pterodactyles were composed of leather ! Start not, gentle 
 reader ! here are the very words. " It was reserved for the Author of 
 the 'Wonders of Geology* to prefer the leathern wings of the Bat and 
 the Pterodactyle as the lighter form." Prof. Owen, "Pal. Mon" 1851. 
 p. 83. 
 
194 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 From the extensive works that have so long been carried 
 on, immense quantities of stone have been removed, and the 
 centre of the mountain is traversed by galleries, and hollowed 
 by vast excavations. Innumerable marine shells, corals, and 
 crustaceans, bones and teeth of fishes, and remains of turtles, 
 are imbedded in this sandstone, and as the friable character of 
 the rock admits of the easy extrication of the fossils, they are 
 obtained in great perfection. 1 
 
 But the organic remains for which the strata of St. Peter's 
 Mountain are most celebrated, are the bones and teeth of an 
 
 LION. 43. REMAINS OF THE JAWS OF THE FOSSIL REPTILE OF MAESTRICHT. 
 
 (Mosasaurus Hoffmanni.) 
 (The original is 4| feet by 2 feet.) 
 
 enormous lizard, to which our eminent countryman, the Eev. 
 W. D. Conybeare, gave the name of Mosasaurus, or Lizard of 
 the Meuse. 
 
 The discovery of some remains of this animal had in the 
 middle of the last century drawn the attention of naturalists to 
 these quarries, and in 1770 M. Hoffman, the military surgeon 
 attached to the Fort, who had long been an assiduous collector 
 
 1 See " Wonders of Geology," p. 309. 
 
ROOM III. THE MOSASAURUS OF MAESTRICHT. 195 
 
 of the fossils of the vicinity, had the good fortune to obtain 
 a specimen which has conferred an enduring celebrity on his 
 name. 
 
 Some workmen, on blasting the rock in one of the caverns 
 of the interior of the mountain, perceived to their astonish- 
 ment the jaws of a large animal attached to the roof of the 
 chasm. The discovery was immediately made known to 
 M. Hoffman, who repaired to the spot, and for weeks presided 
 over the arduous task of separating the mass of stone con- 
 taining these remains, from the surrounding rock. His 
 labours were rewarded by the successful extrication of the 
 specimen, which he conveyed in triumph to his house. This 
 extraordinary discovery, however, soon became the subject of 
 general conversation, and excited so much interest, that the 
 Canon of the cathedral which stands on the mountain resolved 
 to claim the fossil, in right of being lord of the manor ; and 
 succeeded, after a long and harassing lawsuit, in obtaining 
 this precious relic. It remained for years in his possession, 
 and Hoffman died without regaining his treasure, or receiving 
 any compensation. At length the French Revolution broke 
 out, and the armies of the Republic advanced to the gates of 
 Maestricht. The town was bombarded \ but at the suggestion 
 of the committee of savans who accompanied the French 
 troops to select their share of the plunder, the artillery was 
 not suffered to play on that part of the city in which the 
 celebrated fossil was known to be preserved. In the mean 
 time, the Canon of St. Peter's, shrewdly suspecting the reason 
 why such peculiar favour was shown to his residence, removed 
 the specimen, and concealed it in a vault ; but when the city 
 was taken, the French authorities compelled him to give up 
 his ill-gotten prize, which was immediately transmitted to the 
 Jardin des Plantes, at Paris, where it still forms one of the 
 most striking objects in that magnificent collection. 1 
 
 The beautiful model in Case B, is a faithful representation 
 
 1 Faujas St. Fond, from whose beautiful work on the Fossils of 
 St. Peter's Mountain (Histoire Naturette de la Montague de St. Pierre) 
 the above account is taken, observes with much sangfroid "La Justice, 
 quoiqufi tardive, arrive enfin avec le temps." The reader will probably 
 think that although the reverend Canon was justly despoiled of his ill- 
 gotten treasure, the French Commissioners were but very equivocal 
 representatives of Justice! 
 
196 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP III. 
 
 of the original, and was presented to me by Baron Cuvier in 
 1825. It is four and a half feet in length, and two and 
 a half in width. It consists of both jaws, with numerous 
 teeth, (the pterygoids bearing teeth as in the Iguanas,) and the 
 os quadratum; and there are likewise fragments of costal 
 processes, and one of the metatarsal or metacarpal bones : 
 two of the large echinoderms that abound in the Maestricht 
 deposits are imbedded in the block. The parts preserved in 
 this celebrated specimen are the following : 
 
 The superior maxillary, or jaw-bone, of the right side, with eleven 
 teeth ; seen on its inner aspect. 
 
 The anterior part of the upper maxillary bone of the left side, which 
 is displaced, and lies across the posterior part of the left ramus of the 
 lower jaw. 
 
 The right pterygoid, with eight teeth. 
 
 The left pterygoid ; all the teeth are wanting. 
 
 The premandibular part of the left ramus of the lower jaw, with 
 fourteen teeth, seen on its outer aspect : a row of ten or twelve vascular 
 foramina runs parallel with the alveolar ridge. 
 
 The right ramus of the lower jaw, with the teeth, seen on the inner 
 aspect ; the posterior part is somewhat concealed by the palatine bones. 
 
 The left os quadratum, or tympanic bone, lying above the concave 
 articular facet of the lower jaw. 1 
 
 The crown of the tooth of the Mosasaurus is of a pyra- 
 midal form, slightly recurved backwards, with a smooth coat 
 of enamel ; the largest is from 2| to 3 inches in length. 
 The tooth expands at the base into a large conical mound or 
 root (If inch in diameter), which is anchylosed to the 
 summit of the alveolar ridge ; a mode of implantation that 
 is termed acrodont. The outer face of the crown is very 
 slightly convex, and separated by two sharp crests from the 
 inner, which is semi-conical. The pulp cavity is generally 
 found open in the centre of the base of the crown j and 
 the germ of the successional tooth appears on the inner 
 side of the expanded base. The teeth of the pterygoid bones 
 are symmetrical, their transverse section being elliptical. 
 
 Part of a lower Jaw of Mosasaurus. On the ledge over 
 the specimen above described is placed a very fine example 
 
 1 For details, consult " Ossemens Fossiles" tome v. p. 319. I cannot 
 explain why the tympanic bone, which is so striking an object in the 
 model, is omitted in the figures of Faujas St. Fond, Cuvier, &c. and in 
 the hundred engravings of this fossil that have since appeared. 
 
ROOM III. VERTEBRAE OF MOSASAURUS. 197 
 
 of the premandibular part of the lower jaw, with fifteen 
 teeth, seven of which have the enamelled crowns perfect. 
 Near it there is a fragment of another jaw with three mature 
 teeth, and the germs of as many successional ones. These 
 valuable fossils were presented to the British Museum by the 
 distinguished Dr. Peter Camper in 1784. 
 
 Vertebrce of Mosasaurus. The only other parts of the 
 skeleton of the Maestricht reptile in the collection, are a few 
 vertebrae placed in the recess above the Geosaurus (ante 
 p. 153), which exemplify the general character of the spinal 
 column; they present the ordinary structure of the vertebrae in 
 the existing lizards and crocodiles, the body being concave in 
 front and convex behind, and the neural arch united to the 
 centrum by suture. 
 
 The entire vertebral column appears to have consisted of 
 131 vertebrae, of which 97 belonged to the tail. The struc- 
 ture of these elements of the spine is minutely described, 
 and their homologies considered, in the classic work on the 
 fossil vertebrata, to which the collector who may obtain any 
 specimens of this kind should refer. 1 
 
 The peculiar character of the posterior caudal vertebrae 
 requires, however, a brief notice, in consequence of the 
 interesting discovery which I had the good fortune to make 
 in 1820, of the occurrence of remains of this genus in 
 another division of the cretaceous 
 formation, and far from the only 
 locality previously known. The 
 posterior caudal vertebrae of the Mo- 
 sasaurus differ from the anterior by 
 the want of transverse processes; 
 these form a large proportion of 
 the tail. Their faces are elliptical, 
 at first transverse, and then more m L l?5:_ 44 : 
 
 and more compressed at the sides. 
 A great number are destitute of CHALK, LEWM. 
 
 chevron bones, and in many this 
 
 apophysis is not articulated to the body, but soldered to it, 
 so as to form a part of the bone itself; and it is attached, 
 
 1 " Ossemens Fossiles" tome v. pp. 326334. 
 

 198 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 not to the juncture of two vertebrae, nor to the extremity 
 of the body, but to the middle of the centrum. 1 
 
 VERTEBRAE OF MOSASAURUS, from the chalk near Lewes. 
 (M. /Stenodon.) Wall-case A-B. On the recess above the 
 specimens of Geosaurus, is a small block of chalk, to which 
 are attached two caudal vertebrae, possessing the characters 
 above described, and by which I was enabled to identify them 
 with the corresponding bones of the celebrated Maestricht 
 reptile, of which I had then read, but never, in my most 
 sanguine moments, had indulged the hope of finding any 
 vestiges in my native hills. 2 A posterior dorsal vertebra from 
 the same locality is placed near them ; I have subsequently 
 obtained a caudal vertebra imbedded in flint (from near 
 Brighton) ; a few other portions of the vertebral column 
 have, I believe, been collected from the Sussex chalk since 
 my removal from Sussex. The remarkable character above 
 pointed out, of the coalescence of the chevron-bone with 
 the body of the vertebra, is well shown in these two caudals 
 from Lewes. M. Cuvier observes, that there is no known 
 reptile in which this bone is soldered to, (" soude"), and makes 
 a part of, the centrum; it is a character peculiar to fishes, and 
 must have greatly augmented the solidity of the tail. 
 
 No teeth similar to those in the jaws of the Mosasaurus have 
 been obtained from the English chalk ; but some large smooth 
 conical teeth of an acrodoiit reptile, symmetrically elliptical 
 like the pterygoidal teeth of Mosasaurus, were found in the 
 same stratum as the vertebrae, and are probably referable to 
 the same species. In 1831, a portion of the lower jaw with 
 teeth of a similar character, was found in the chalk near 
 Norwich, and of which I received drawings from the late 
 Mr. Samuel Woodward. Other specimens of equilateral 
 
 1 " Elles fonnent une grande partie de la queue, et les faces de leur 
 corps sont en ellipses, d'abord transverses, et ensuite de plus en plus 
 comprimees par les cotes. L'os en chevron n'y est plus articule, main 
 soude, etfait corps avec elles" Ossemens Foss. loc. cit. p. 327. 
 
 2 In "The Fossils of the South Downs; or, Illustrations of the Geo- 
 logy of Sussex," 1822, there are figures and descriptions of these speci- 
 mens, pp. 242246 ; tab. xxxiii. and xli. I would especially direct the 
 observer's attention to the deep incision observable on the posterior 
 vertebra in this specimen, which must have been made before the bones 
 were imbedded in the chalk. 
 
ROOM III. VERTEBRAE OF MOSASAURUS. 199 
 
 teeth anchylosed to the alveolar ridge of the mandibular 
 bone, have been discovered; and assuming the probability 
 that these jaws, teeth and vertebrae, of the Mosasaurian 
 type belonged to the same genus, but differed specifically 
 from the Maestricht animal, Mr. Charlesworth proposed to 
 distinguish it provisionally by the name of Mosasaurus 
 stenodon. 
 
 To resume. The jaw of the Maestricht animal is three 
 feet nine inches in length ; the entire length of the skeleton 
 is estimated at twenty-four feet ; thus the head is nearly one- 
 sixth of the total length a proportion according with that 
 of the crocodiles, but differing from the monitors. The tail 
 is only ten feet long, and therefore but half that of the 
 total length ; while in the crocodile the tail exceeds the entire 
 length of the body by one-seventh ; its shortness is owing to 
 the abbreviation of the bodies of the vertebrae. 
 
 This animal formed an intermediate link between the tribe 
 of saurians without pterygoidal teeth, the monitors, and 
 those with them, the iguanas : its only approach to the cro- 
 codiles was in a few partial characters, and in those general 
 bonds of connexion which re-unite the entire family of 
 oviparous quadrupeds. The bones of the extremities are but 
 imperfectly known ; those attributed to the Mosasaurus are 
 said to indicate members adapted for natation rather than 
 for progression on land, and to support the inference of 
 M. Cuvier, that the original was a marine animal of great 
 strength and activity, having a large vertically expanded tail, 
 capable of being moved laterally with such force as to consti- 
 tute a powerful instrument of progression, capable of stemming 
 the most agitated waters. 1 
 
 Teeth in every respect analogous to those of the Maestricht 
 reptile were discovered by Dr. Harlan of Philadelphia, from 
 the equivalent deposits of the cretaceous formation, the 
 
 1 In the Memoir of M. Adrien Camper, " Sur quelques parties moins 
 connues du squelette des Sauriens Fossiles de Maestricht," there are 
 figures of several metacarpal or metatarsal bones from Maestricht, which 
 the author describes as resembling those of the Crocodile, and probably 
 belonging to the great saurian ; among them is a small conical shaped 
 bone, termed an ungual phalanx, but which has more the character of 
 a dermal tubercle or spine ; the figure, however, is too small and inde- 
 finite to show the true nature of the original. 
 
200 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 ferruginous sands of New Jersey, in the United States. In 
 1830, my lamented friend, the late Dr. Morton of Phila- 
 delphia, (whose early death is so much to be deplored,) sent 
 me specimens and casts of teeth of Mosasaurus, which 
 agreed in every respect with those from the Netherlands ; 
 teeth of this kind are figured in Dr. Morton's " Synopsis 
 of the Organic Kemains of the United States :" Philadelphia, 
 1834. Of late years, vertebrae and other bones of the 
 same genus have been found in these deposits ; some of 
 which, collected by Prof. Rogers, are figured and described 
 in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of 
 London. 
 
 POLYPTYCHODON. Wall-case B. In a frame on the top 
 of this Case there is a group of bones, some of which are 
 nearly entire, others mere fragments, imbedded in plaster, and 
 belonging to a large marine reptile ; they are from the green- 
 sand strata near Hythe in Kent, and were collected and pre- 
 sented to the Museum by H. B. Mackeson, Esq. No part of 
 the cranium or jaws has been discovered ; but in. the same 
 deposits, as well as in the white chalk, very large conical 
 longitudinally ridged teeth frequently occur ; these have 
 received the name of Polyptychodon. Prof. Owen, assuming 
 that the teeth he has thus designated belong to the same 
 species of reptile as the bones found in the same strata, has 
 described the above isolated parts of the skeleton under the 
 same name. 
 
 These consist of fragments of bones referred to the cora- 
 coid, ilium, ischium, and pubis ; and portions of the humerus, 
 part of a femur, tibia, and fibula, and several metatarsal 
 bones. Of these, the thigh-bone, of which above two feet of 
 the shaft remains, at once separates the reptile to which it 
 belonged, from the Iguanodon and other gigantic saurians 
 whose relics are occasionally found in the same formation, 
 for it has no medullary cavity, its centre being occupied 
 by a coarse cancellated structure, as in the cetaceans ; this 
 fragment is fifteen inches in circumference. The metatarsal 
 bones are the most perfect of these remains ; the longest 
 was two feet in length, and four inches in transverse diameter 
 in the middle. 
 
 Neither teeth nor vertebrae have been found, and the pro- 
 visional name "Polyptychodon" simply indicates that the 
 
ROOM III. POLYPTYCHODON. 201 
 
 large, conical, ridged teeth, and these detached bones, may 
 probably appertain to the same genus or species of aquatic 
 saurians. 
 
 In a subsequent section we shall enter upon the most in- 
 teresting department of our present subject, the history of 
 those gigantic terrestrial saurians whose remains have been 
 chiefly obtained from the strata of the south-east of England, 
 and of which this division of the Gallery contains an interest- 
 ing series. 
 
 
202 
 
 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 
 LIGN. 45. IGUANODON QUARRY, NEAR CUCKFIELD, SUSSEX. 1820. 
 
 1. Blue clay, forming the floor of the quarry. 
 
 2. Tilgate grit. 
 
 3. Soft sandstone. 
 
 4. Drift, or diluvium. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 PART IV. 
 GEOLOGY OF THE SOUTH-EAST OF ENGLAND. 
 
 Ah, happy hills ! ah, pleasing shade ! 
 
 Ah, fields beloved in vain ! 
 Where once my careless childhood stray'd, 
 
 A stranger yet to pain ! 
 I feel the gales that from ye blow 
 A momentary bliss bestow." GRAY. 
 
 QUARRY IN TILGATE FOREST STRATA OF TILGATE FOREST CHARACTER OF 
 THE ORGANIC REMAINS DISCOVERY OF THE FLUVIATILE ORIGIN OF THE 
 STRATA GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF THE SOUTH-EAST OF ENGLAND DRIFT 
 
 OR DILUVIUM TERTIARY OR EOCENE STRATA CHALK FORMATION 
 
 WEALDEN FORMATION ORDER OF SUPERPOSITION OF THE STRATA PHY- 
 SICAL STRUCTURE OF THE COUNTRY SECTION FROM LONDON TO THE 
 
 SOUTHERN COAST LONDON AND BRIGHTON RAILWAY SECTION JOURNEY 
 BY COACH FROM BRIGHTON TO LONDON GEOLOGICAL MUTATIONS FAUNA 
 AND FLORA OF THE WEALDEN SUMMARY. 
 
 QUARRY IN TILGATE FOREST. From the motley crowds of 
 strangers attracted to our overteeming metropolis by the 
 " CRYSTAL PALACE and its wonders," thronging in countless 
 numbers every place of public resort the Gallery of 
 Organic Remains of the British Museum not excepted, 
 I would transport the Courteous Header for a brief space, 
 and conduct him to the verdant hills and refreshing glades of 
 my native county, and forgetting awhile "the noise, the 
 hum, the din of men," visit the quarries, and examine the 
 rocks and strata, whence the fossil remains of the colossal 
 reptiles that will next engage our attention were exhumed. 
 
204 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 In the good old times, when a well-appointed four-horse 
 coach conveyed the traveller from Brighton to London in six 
 or seven hours, the first resting stage for the passengers after 
 leaving the Queen of Watering-places on a summer's morning, 
 was the neat little town of Cuckfield in Sussex; whose single 
 street straggles up the southern slope of a steep acclivity, 
 formed by the anticlinal ridge of Wealden grit, which 
 emerges from beneath the clays and sands of the adjacent 
 valley of Cuckfield Park, near the seat of my friend, Warden 
 Sergison, Esq. 
 
 On the summit of this ridge is " Whiteman's Green," and 
 there, some thirty years since, was an extensive quarry, that 
 had been occasionally worked for a quarter of a century, and 
 was then in unwonted activity ; the calciferous grit, a hard 
 calcareous sandstone formed by an infiltration of crystalline 
 carbonate of lime into beds of sand, which had always 
 been in request for various economical purposes, having sud- 
 denly acquired increased value from the great demand for 
 road materials, occasioned by the competition between the 
 various boards of trustees, in consequence of the rapidly 
 augmenting number of coaches and passengers, which the 
 rising prosperity of Brighton had called forth. 
 
 From that quarry, long since filled up, and the area 
 covered by pasturage and gardens, I collected the first and 
 most interesting of the fossil remains of the Iguanodon, 
 Hylseosaurus, Pelorosaurus, and other stupendons creatures 
 whose existence was previously unknown and unsuspected. 
 
 The sketch, (Lign. 45,) represents the section exposed on one 
 side of the quarry in 1 820. The spire of Cuckfield Church 
 is seen in the middle ground ; the hills in the extreme 
 distance are part of the range of South Downs to the west of 
 Ditchling Beacon, an eminence of the chalk that rises to the 
 height of 856 feet. 
 
 1. The lowermost bed, forming the floor of the quarry, is 
 a stiff blue clay, in which bones and freshwater shells are 
 occasionally met with. 
 
 2. The succeeding strata are composed of the fine calci- 
 ferous grit or Tilgate-stone, which was extensively used as 
 a road material, and occasionally for walls and buildings \ 
 but, owing to its extreme hardness, the difficulty of reducing 
 it to blocks of convenient size, together with the adaptability 
 
ROOM III. STRATA OF TILGATE FOREST. 205 
 
 of the softer sandstone for the purpose, was but seldom 
 employed in architecture. In some of the beds pebbles of 
 quartz and jasper are so thickly interspersed, that the rock 
 acquires the character of a conglomerate. 
 
 3. Above the Tilgate-grit are strata of fawn-coloured sands 
 and sandstones, having the same lithological features as the 
 cliffs at Hastings, and the rocks at Tunbridge Wells, Uck- 
 field, <fec. The upper part of these sandstones are in the 
 state of laminated friable shales. 
 
 4. A thick bed of diluvial loam caps the whole, and forms 
 the immediate subsoil of the surrounding country. 1 
 
 STRATA OF TILGATE FOREST. The quarry above described 
 exhibits the usual character of the strata exposed in natural 
 sections, and in the various stone-pits, and other artificial 
 openings, in the surrounding country, and which extend, 
 with but little variation, over the area of Tilgate -and St. 
 Leonard's Forests, to Horsham on the west, and along the 
 Forest Ridge on the east. As a general term for these 
 deposits was required for the convenience of description, I 
 adopted that of " Strata of Tilgate Forest" on account of the 
 proximity of the locality in which the saurian remains were 
 first observed, to the district which, though now cultivated, and 
 smiling with gardens and villas, still retains a name handed 
 down from the earlier centuries, when it formed an integral 
 part of the Roman Sylva Anderida, and in later times of the 
 Saxon forest of Andreadswald? 
 
 It was in this quarry, to which my attention was accidentally 
 drawn by observing a fragment of bone in a block of stone by 
 the road side, that I first obtained teeth, scales, and bones of 
 reptiles and fishes, and fresh- water mollusks and crustaceans, 
 and remains of terrestrial plants of a tropical character ; 
 a discovery which has invested this locality with a high degree 
 of geological interest, since it was the first step in those 
 researches which ultimately revealed the true nature and 
 origin of the strata composing what is now termed the 
 
 1 Consult the "Fossils of Tilgate Forest," (published in 1827,) 1 vol., 
 royal 4to. for details of the stratification, and figures of the principal 
 fossils then obtained from the quarry : or, " Geology of the South-East 
 of England," 1 vol. 8vo. 1833. 
 
 2 See Horsfield's " History of the County of Sussex." 
 
206 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 Wealden formation a name happily suggested by my friend 
 J. P. Martin, Esq. of Pulborough, to designate this remarkable 
 series of fluviatile deposits. 
 
 PECULIAR CHARACTER OF THE ORGANIC REMAINS. The 
 most novel and extraordinary fossil remains which I obtained 
 from the locality above described, and from other quarries 
 around Horsham, Bolney, and Crawley, to which my researches 
 extended, were the fragments of enormous mammalian-like 
 bones, and the stems, branches, and foliage of terrestrial vege- 
 tables, and fluviatile mollusks ; the univalves resembling the 
 river-snails, or paludinse, and the bivalves the fresh-water 
 mussels or uniones. These phenomena were quite unex- 
 pected; for although, so far back as Woodward's time, the 
 shells composing the limestones commonly known as the 
 Sussex and Petworth marbles were supposed to be river-shells, 
 yet that opinion had long been given up, and the whole series 
 of strata forming the tract of country between the North and 
 South Downs were regarded as unequivocally marine, and an 
 integral part of the Cretaceous formation ; the sands and 
 sandstones being grouped together under the name of the 
 Iron Sand; and several species of ammonites, nautili, and 
 other deep-sea shells, were figured and described by Mr. 
 Sowerby, and other eminent naturalists of that period, (1820,) 
 as characteristic fossils of that group of deposits. 
 
 In that excellent work, Messrs. Conybeare and Phillips' 
 " Outlines of the Geology of England and Wales," published 
 in 1822, there is an admirable review of the geological rela- 
 tion of the " Iron Sands'" below the chalk, according to the 
 state of geological knowledge at that time, and which will be 
 found in accordance with the account above given. 1 
 
 DISCOVERY OF THE FLUVIATILE ORIGIN OF THE STRATA. 
 For many years previously to my discovery of organic remains 
 in the Wealden strata, I had diligently collected the fossils 
 from the chalk, chalk -marl, gait, &c. around Lewes, where I 
 then resided, and had acquired a tolerably extensive suite of 
 the usual teeth, shells, corals, and other zoophytes of the 
 
 1 " Outlines of the Geology of England and Wales, by the Kev. W. D. 
 Conybeare, and William Phillips, 1822," pp. 136140. This volume 
 appeared about three months before my first work on the Geology of 
 Sussex, " The Fossils of the South Downs." 
 
ROOM III. FLUVIATILE ORIGIN OF THE WEALDEX. 207 
 
 Cretaceous formation ; these were arranged in separate drawers 
 according to their respective localities. In the course of a few 
 months after my first visit to the quarry at Cuckfield, I had 
 obtained from the Weald, specimens of the rocks and organic 
 remains in sufficient number to fill a cabinet of moderate 
 size ; and I soon became aware of the important difference 
 between these fossils and the characteristic species from the 
 chalk deposited in my other drawers : and by degrees the 
 fluviatile origin of the strata spread over the Wealds of the 
 South-East of England suggested itself to my mind. 
 
 The absence of ammonites, echinites, corals, terebratulae, 
 and other marine organisms, which constituted so large a 
 proportion of my cretaceous collection, was the first striking 
 anomaly that forced itself on my attention ; and many a long 
 and weary journey have I undertaken, to examine the mate- 
 rials thrown up from a newly-made well, or the section 
 exposed by recent cuttings on the road-side, in the hope of 
 obtaining data by which the problem might be solved ; but it 
 was many years ere the validity of my arguments received 
 general assent. By reference to the various . works on the 
 Geology of the South-East of England 1 the reader interested 
 in the history of the Wealden, may form some idea of the 
 difficulties encountered, the mass of evidence required, and 
 the prejudices of long cherished opinions to be overcome, 
 and the able assistance and warm encouragement I received 
 from my distinguished friend Sir Charles Lyell, and subse- 
 quently from other eminent British geologists, ere the 
 fluviatile origin of the strata composing the Wealden was 
 established. 
 
 As a considerable number of the organic remains that will 
 come under our notice in Room V. of the Gallery of the 
 British Museum, were obtained from the cretaceous and 
 tertiary deposits of the South-East of England, it will be 
 convenient to review the geological phenomena of the whole 
 district in the present section of this work, which is in a great 
 measure restricted to the consideration of the characters 
 
 1 See " Wonders of Geology," 6th edit, lecture iv. p. 366, for a con- 
 densed exposition of the geology and fossil remains of the Wealds of 
 Sussex, Kent, and Surrey. For the history of the character and rela- 
 tions of the strata below the chalk, consult the able Memoirs by Dr. . 
 Fitton in the " Geological Transactions." 
 
208 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 and relations of the rocks and strata in which the most impor- 
 tant fossils were discovered. 
 
 GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF THE SOUTH-EAST OF ENGLAND. 
 The various strata that appear on the surface of the South- 
 Eastern part of our island, constitute four natural groups or 
 formations, namely, 1. The Drift, or Diluvium; 2. The 
 Eocene, or Tertiary strata ; 3. The Chalk formation ; 4. The 
 Wealden. 
 
 The Drift, or Diluvium. These are the superficial accumu- 
 lations which are irregularly spread over the surface, and form 
 the immediate subsoil. They consist of layers of loam, clay, 
 sand, gravel, and boulders, of variable extent and thickness, 
 composed of waterworn materials which bear unequivocal 
 evidence of having been drifted or transported from a distance 
 by floods or inundations, or other agents of a like nature. 
 Over considerable areas, as, for example, on both sides of the 
 valley of the Thames, a fine silt or mud appears to have been 
 deposited upon the drifted boulder-clay since the country 
 had acquired its present physical configuration ; and in this 
 deposit, as well as in the ancient drift beneath, are found 
 skeletons and detached bones and teeth of extinct species of 
 Elephant, Rhinoceros, Hippopotamus, Elk, Ox, Horse, &c. ; 
 and, in some places, the remains of species still existing, are 
 associated with those no longer known. Bones of carnivora, 
 as the Hysena, Bear, Tiger, Wolf, also occur in the drift, as 
 well as in the ossiferous caves of which we shall treat when 
 describing the contents of another department of the Museum. 
 
 The Tertiary or Eocene Strata of London. The metropolis 
 of England, like that of France, is built on the surface of a 
 tertiary formation, consisting of beds of blue, yellow, and 
 mottled clays, several hundred feet in thickness, with inter- 
 calations of loam, sand, gravel, &c. Some of the strata 
 abound in extinct species and genera of marine shells, fishes, 
 Crustacea, &c. 
 
 The Chalk Formation. The white calcareous rock of this 
 formation is well known by the name of Chalk; but in the 
 nomenclature of Geology, the term Chalk Formation comprises 
 not only the pure limestone that extends over a considerable 
 part of the country, but likewise subordinate strata of sand 
 and sandstone, clays, marls, and limestones, very dissimilar in 
 appearance and mineralogical character, but which present 
 
ROOM III. GEOLOGY OF THE S. E. OF ENGLAND. 209 
 
 such an accordance in the nature of the fossil remains im- 
 bedded in them, as to indicate that the entire series was accu- 
 mulated while the same conditions of animal life prevailed. 
 The organic remains of the chalk are essentially marine, and 
 consist of many hundred species of shells, corals, radiarise, &c. 
 Numerous species and genera of fishes and crustaceans, and a 
 few remains of reptiles, &c. obtained from the district under 
 review, are deposited in the Gallery of the Museum. In some 
 localities, drifted wood and fruits of terrestrial plants, and 
 bones and teeth of reptiles, and other spoils of the land, have 
 been discovered collocated with the usual marine productions, 
 and these remains have evidently been carried down by rivers 
 and streams into the sea, and transported by currents far 
 from land, till they subsided in the depths of the ocean. 
 One of the most remarkable instances of this kind is the 
 portion of a skeleton of an Iguanodon discovered near Maid- 
 stone, in that division of the cretaceous greensand called the 
 Kentish rag. 
 
 The, Wealden. An extensive series of clays, sands, and 
 sandstones and shelly limestones, upwards of 1,000 feet in 
 thickness, characterized by the terrestrial and fluviatile 
 nature of the organic remains, and the almost entire absence 
 of any relics of marine animals or plants. 
 
 ORDER OF SUPERPOSITION. Such is the chronological se- 
 quence of the formations of the south-east of England; in 
 other words, these several groups of marine and freshwater 
 strata have been deposited in the following order, beginning 
 with the lowermost or most ancient system : 
 
 I. THE WEALDEN : the delta of a river, composed of the 
 alluvial debris of an extensive continent. These strata are 
 spread over the uppermost beds of the Oolite, a vast oceanic 
 formation, but which does not come within the scope of our 
 present observations. 1 
 
 II. THE CHALK : the sediments of an ocean of great ex- 
 tent, deposited upon the Wealden. 
 
 III. THE TERTIARY OR EOCENE : accumulated in depres- 
 sions on the surface of the Upper or White Chalk, consisting 
 of marine, nuvio-marine, and lacustrine deposits. 
 
 With the view of simplifying the subject, the drift, or beds 
 
 1 See " Geology of the Isle of Wight," p. 348. 
 P 
 
210 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 of superficial transported materials, are omitted in the follow- 
 ing commentary. 
 
 As each of these systems or formations is many hundred 
 feet in thickness, it follows that the inferior strata would have 
 been for ever concealed from observation, had the original 
 order of superposition of the respective deposits remained 
 undisturbed. But not only portions of each of the upper 
 series, but even of the lowermost deposits, appear on the sur- 
 face, and form an extensive tract of country, diversified by 
 hills and valleys, and constituting one of the richest agricul- 
 tural provinces of the British Isles. This distribution of the 
 strata has originated from the displacements occasioned by 
 those disturbing forces which have been in activity from the 
 earliest periods of the present physical condition of the earth, 
 and by which the beds of the ancient oceans and rivers have 
 been elevated above the water, and converted into dry land. 
 The nature of those changes we will now consider. 
 
 The Eocene deposits form the area on which London is 
 situated r and extend over the surrounding country to a dis- 
 tance varying from ten to twenty or thirty miles. Around 
 the margin of this series of strata the Chalk appears, and 
 forms a distinct chain of hills on the south, w T est, and north ; 
 but on the east the range is broken by the valley through 
 which the Thames winds its way to the sea. From this geo- 
 logical character of the metropolitan district, it results that 
 all the lines of railway that proceed from London, traverse 
 for the first ten or twenty miles beds of tertiary clay, loam, and 
 loosely aggregated sand and gravel ; hence the numerous slips 
 that have taken place in the embankments at New Cross, 
 Wandsworth, Hanwell, &c. ; and in all these lines it is ob- 
 vious from the nature of the soil and the steepness of the 
 cuttings, that similar subsidences will again occur. 
 
 The next geological feature observable along the London 
 railways is the Chalk, which is intersected by steep cuttings 
 and tunnels ; as for example in the South-eastern line, from 
 Croydon to Merstham ; and in the Great Western, from 
 Maidenhead to beyond Wallingford. After passing through 
 the Chalk, the lower subdivisions of the Cretaceous forma- 
 tion, viz. the Marl, Firestone, Gait, and Greensand, successively 
 appear ; and these are followed by the Oolite on the Great 
 Western and Birmingham lines, and by the Wealden on the 
 
ROOM III. GEOLOGY OF THE S. E. OF ENGLAND. 211 
 
 South-eastern; but on the South-western the Chalk and the 
 Tertiary strata only are exposed. 
 
 The Chalk, as is well known, constitutes the predominant 
 geological feature of this part of England. The Upper or 
 White Chalk rises into chains of hills called Downs, which are 
 remarkable for their smooth and undulated outline, and form 
 a well-defined geographical boundary. The southern range 
 extends from Hampshire through Sussex to the sea-coast, 
 terminating in the bold promontory of Beachy Head; the 
 northern passes from Hampshire, through Surrey and Kent 
 to the British Channel, and ends in the line of cliffs near 
 Dover. 
 
 The lower Cretaceous strata compose ranges of hills less 
 uniform in elevation and extent, which skirt the inner margin 
 and escarpments of the Downs, and in some parts of Surrey 
 and Western Sussex, attain an altitude equal to that of any 
 portion of the North or South Downs. Leith Hill, in Surrey, 
 is nearly 1,000 feet above the level of the sea. 1 
 
 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE COUNTRY. The Wealden 
 deposits fill up the whole area between the North and 
 South Downs, and are bounded on the west by the cretaceous 
 strata of Hampshire, and on the east by the British Channel ; 
 they form the sea-coast from Pevensey in Sussex to Hythe in 
 Kent. 
 
 Looking down upon the Wealden from any of the heights 
 that command a view across the district, and of the distant 
 boundary of chalk downs as for example from Leith Hill, 
 or from the summit of the escarpment of the North Downs, 
 near Reigate the observer might suppose that these fresh- 
 water sediments occupy a depression or basin on the surface 
 of the chalk, and that the strata of the North and South 
 Downs extend under the whole of the deposits in the inter- 
 vening area. 
 
 GEOLOGY OF THE SOUTH-EAST OF ENGLAND. A slight 
 examination of the natural sections of the respective strata 
 where their relative position can be ascertained, is, how- 
 ever, sufficient to show the incorrectness of this hypothesis, 
 
 1 For details, vide a Memoir by the Author, "On the Geological 
 Structure of the Country seen from Leith Hill," in the County History 
 of Surrey; published by Mr. Ede of Dorking. 
 
212 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 and to prove that the Wealden extends beneath the Chalk, 
 both on the north and south, as shown in Lign. 47; and 
 it is therefore certain that the Cretaceous strata were 
 deposited upon the Wealden, and that they originally ex- 
 tended over the entire district between the North and South 
 Downs, and were connected on the west with those of Hamp- 
 shire and Wiltshire, and also occupied the area now covered 
 by the British Channel ; the chalk of the Isle of Wight being 
 then continuous with the corresponding strata of the opposite 
 coast of the Continent. 
 
 A careful examination of the phenomena under review, 
 demonstrates that the removal of the chalk was not effected 
 simply by denudation, but by a force acting from beneath, 
 which broke up and elevated masses of the Tertiary, Cre- 
 taceous, and Wealden formations, in a line bearing a general 
 direction from east to west ; by this movement an anti- 
 clinal l position was given to the strata on each side the axis 
 of greatest elevation. This axis is shown in the physical 
 geography of the district by the chain of hills called the 
 Forest-Range, that extends from the sea-coast at Hastings 
 through the interior of the country by Crowborough Hill 
 an elevation of nearly 600 feet to Loxwood, west of Horsham, 
 where- the Wealden disappears beneath the overlying green- 
 sand strata. 
 
 SECTION FROM LONDON TO THE SOUTH-COAST. In all trans- 
 verse sections of the district, i. e. from north to south, the 
 strata on the north of the central line dip to the north-east, 
 and those on the south to the south-west. There are, of 
 course, many local variations in the inclination of the rocks, 
 arid numerous lesser anticlinal axes, or saddles, as they are 
 provincially termed, and also longitudinal ridges and corre- 
 sponding valleys, running parallel with the principal line of 
 the disturbing force. 
 
 In consequence of this displacement of the strata, a sec- 
 tion drawn from London through the North Downs, across 
 the Wealden district, and through the South Downs, and 
 carried on to the southern coast of the Isle of Wight, would 
 present the arrangement shown in Lign. 46; in which are 
 
 1 Anticlinal a geological term, signifying inclined towards each 
 other, like the ridge-tiles of the roof of a house. 
 
ROOM III. LONDON AND BRIGHTON RAILWAY SECTION. 
 
 213 
 
 il 
 n 
 
 -1 3 
 
 represented the Tertiary of the London 
 
 basin resting on the chalk; the Chalk of 
 
 the North Downs, dipping northwards; the 
 
 anticlinal position of the Wealden; the Chalk 
 
 of the South Downs, dipping southwards, 
 
 a with Tertiary strata on the southern flank: 
 
 > then the depression which forms the chan- 
 
 g nel of the Solent sea; the Tertiary strata 
 
 extending over the northern portion of the 
 
 5 Isle of Wight; the Chalk Downs of the 
 
 2 island, dipping northward ; and, lastly, a 
 
 ; small portion of the Wealden, emerging from 
 
 \ beneath the chalk, on the south coast, at 
 
 " Brook and Sandown bays. 
 
 LONDON AND BRIGHTON RAILWAY SECTION. 
 * A portion of this section is well displayed 
 g along the line of railway from London to 
 
 1 Brighton. Leaving the station at London 
 Bridge, the Tertiary clays with their charac- 
 teristic fossils, are seen from beyond Dept- 
 ford, by New Cross, Sydenham, &c. ; and 
 approaching Croydon, beds of gravel appear, 
 
 | with interspersions of olive-green sand. The 
 "* valley beyond Croydon, along the side of 
 | which the railway proceeds, is a thick bed of 
 gravel resting on the chalk. 
 
 2 Beyond the station called Stoats-nest, is a 
 i fine section of the Chalk with flint, and the 
 
 * T North Downs are perforated by a long tun- 
 | nel carried through the solid rock, which 
 ^ g emerges near Merstham, where the firestone 
 ^ Z and chalk-marl rise to the surface. The 
 
 sands and clays of the greensand group 
 =2 are passed at the Red-hill and Godstone 
 ! 9 - stations. The Wealden clays appear at 
 ^ Horley, and are succeeded by shales, lime- 
 to stones, sands, and sandstones, to the Crawley 
 
 station. 1 
 
 1 The Horsham Railway, which branches off from the Brighton line, 
 traverses the Wealden beds ; and near that old quiet market-to 
 
214 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 Passing near Bletchingley, in Surrey, through a tunnel 
 in the Wealden, we arrive at Balcombe, in Sussex, where 
 laminated sandstones and shales are seen on each side the 
 cutting. The general dip of the strata hitherto passed is to 
 the north-east; but after crossing the deep Wealden valley 
 beyond Balcombe, over a magnificent viaduct, the line runs 
 along alternating layers of sands and clays, which dip to the 
 south-west; we have therefore arrived on the southern side of 
 the grand anticlinal axis of the Forest Ridge excavated by the 
 tunnel through which we passed. 
 
 The Wealden strata continue with the same general inclina- 
 tion by Hay ward's Heath, 1 which is traversed by a tunnel, to 
 beyond St. John's Common, (formed of Weald clays and 
 Sussex marble,) where they disappear beneath the lowermost 
 greensand beds of the Chalk formation. The gait, firestone, 
 and chalk-marl succeed ; and, lastly, the white chalk of the 
 South. Downs, at Clayton Hill, through the base of which 
 a long tunnel is carried, and emerges on the Downs on the 
 south. The remainder of the line to the Brighton station, 
 runs over, or through, hills and valleys of the white chalk. 
 
 Thus this railway passes through two ranges of chalk hills, 
 viz. the North and South Downs, by tunnels ; two of green- 
 sand, viz. near Red Hill in Surrey, and Hurstperpoint in 
 Sussex ; and two principal ridges of Wealden, viz. at Balcombe, 
 and Hayward's Heath. There is not a railroad in the king- 
 dom that in the distance of fifty miles exhibits geological 
 phenomena of greater interest. 
 
 If we take a line bearing more to the west, as, for example, 
 from London to the southern shore of the Isle of Wight, at 
 Sandown Bay, we shall have the section represented in 
 Lign. 46, which exhibits the entire series of the deposits, and 
 their relative position. 
 
 JOURNEY FROM LONDON TO BRIGHTON BY COACH. It may 
 
 Sussex, are Tower Hill quarry, Stammerham quarry, and other pits in 
 which the Tilgate grits and sandstones are exposed, and where the 
 characteristic fossils of the strata may be obtained of the workmen ; 
 wit] i bones of the Iguanodon, Goniopholis, and other Saurians, stems 
 of Clathraria, &c. See my " Geology of the S. E. of England," p. 212, 
 or " Wonders of Geology," sixth edition, p. 372. 
 
 1 Hayward's Heath station is within 1 J mile of Cuckfield, which lies 
 to the right of the line. 
 
ROOM III. JOURNEY FROM LONDON TO BRIGHTON. 215 
 
 interest the reader, who now can only catch a glimpse of the 
 physical structure of this interesting district as he is whirled 
 along by the railroad at the rate of thirty miles an hour, to 
 learn the appearances presented to the outside passenger on 
 the stage coaches that plied from Brighton to London at the 
 period to which the introduction of this part of our little 
 volume refers. 
 
 I had once the gratification of acting as cicerone to my 
 friend, M. AGASSIZ, who has added to his high European repu- 
 tation by his scientific labours in the new fields of research 
 which his genius and perseverance have explored on the other 
 side of the Atlantic ; and leaving Brighton on the outside of 
 " The Age" on a bright May morning, I described the geo- 
 logy of the district to the Swiss philosopher, who, though 
 just returned from the sublime and majestic scenery of the 
 Alps, was delighted with the lovely landscapes, and the inte- 
 resting physical phenomena, of the Downs and Wealds of my 
 native county, over which we travelled on our route to the 
 metropolis. . ""' 
 
 The direct turnpike roads from London to Brighton pass 
 over the entire series of tertiary and secondary strata of the 
 South-East of England. Proceeding from the Thames, the 
 traveller successively traverses the ancient silt that forms the 
 present banks of the river, then a level tract of drift and 
 diluvium, consisting of loam and gravel, in which remains of 
 Elephants and other large terrestrial mammalians are occa- 
 sionally found ; and if he proceeds by the Reigate road, he 
 goes through the beautiful suburban districts of Clapham, 
 Tooting, &c. and passes over beds of gravel and clay, the 
 ancient shores of the London basin. 1 
 
 At Sutton he ascends the chalk hills of Surrey, and travels 
 along an undulated tract, formed of the elevated masses 
 of the chalk-ocean. Arriving at the precipitous southern 
 escarpment of the North Downs, a magnificent landscape, 
 displaying the physical geography of the Weald, and its varied 
 and picturesque scenery, suddenly bursts on his view. At his 
 feet lies the deep valley of Gait, in which Reigate is situated, 
 and immediately beyond the town appears the elevated ridge 
 
 1 See Memoir on the Geology of Surrey," by the Author, in Brayley's 
 History of the County, published by Mr. Ede, of Dorking. 
 
216 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIE TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 of Greensand, which, stretching westward, at Leith Hill rises 
 to an elevation of a thousand feet ; the highest point of land 
 in the South-East of England. To the east, this division of 
 the cretaceous deposits forms a chain of sand hills that stretches 
 by Godstone in Sussex, and Sevenoaks in Kent, to the sea- 
 shore near Folkstone and Hythe. The Forest Range of the 
 Wealden occupies the middle region, extending westward to 
 Horsham, and eastward to Crowborough Hill, its greatest 
 altitude, and thence to Hastings, having on each- flank the 
 Wealden valleys of Kent and Sussex : while in the remote 
 distance, the unbroken and gently undulated outline of the 
 South Downs appears on the verge of the horizon. 
 
 Pursuing his journey, the traveller passes through the town 
 of Reigate, along the valley of Gait, and over the ferruginous 
 cretaceous sands of Cockshut Hill, and descending the steep 
 escarpment, soon arrives at a marshy plain, where the abun- 
 dance of rushes indicates the commencement of the argilla- 
 ceous beds of the Wealden. 
 
 The Weald-day, containing bands of shelly fresh-water 
 limestone, appears at Horley Common ; and while in the 
 beginning of the journey the roads were seen to be re- 
 paired with chalk-flints, and near Reigate with cherty sand- 
 stone, or the iron-grit locally termed clinker, the materials 
 now chiefly employed are the bluish grey shelly limestones of 
 the Weald. 
 
 At Crawley, Wealden sands and sandstones appear, and the 
 road is constructed of calciferous grit, and limestone containing 
 bivalve shells, bones, portions of terrestrial plants, &c. Tra- 
 versing Tilgate Forest and Handcross, over a succession of 
 gentle anticlinal ridges of sandstone, and across clay valleys, 
 he rapidly descends from the sandstone ridge of Bolney, to 
 Cuckfield, leaving on the right the site of our Iguanodon 
 quarry, near which a windmill now stands, and again journeys 
 along a district of Weald-clay with fresh-water limestones. 
 
 Ferruginous greensand like that of Reigate reappears at 
 Hickstead, and is succeeded by a tract of Gait and Chalk- 
 marl; and finally the road, entering a defile in the South 
 Downs, passes on to Brighton ; the traveller having in the 
 course of his journey crossed from one system of chalk hills 
 to another; that is, over the North Downs of Surrey, and 
 the South Downs of Sussex, (through which he passed by 
 
ROOM 1IT. 
 
 GEOLOGICAL MUTATIONS. 
 
 217 
 
 - 
 
 J S 
 
 i 
 
 tunnel on the railroad,) and across 
 the intervening region composed of 
 the sediments of a delta of incalculable 
 antiquity. 1 
 
 GEOLOGICAL MUTATIONS. The pre- 
 sent distribution of the strata, as shown 
 by the preceding observations, appears 
 to admit of the following explanation. 
 Assuming the original deposition of 
 the strata to have been horizontal, and 
 in the sequence above pointed out, the 
 Wealden resting on the Oolite, the 
 Chalk on the Wealden, and the Ter- 
 tiary on the Chalk the whole surface 
 of the country must have originally 
 consisted of the same Tertiary strata 
 as those of London and its vicinity. 
 If by a force acting from beneath, 
 in the direction of the arrow, A, 
 Lign. 47, the entire series were broken 
 through, the chalk with the super- 
 incumbent tertiary strata would be 
 thrown into highly inclined positions 
 towards the north and south ; and if a 
 similar disturbance took place along the 
 area occupied by the British Channel, 
 England would be separated from the 
 Continent, and the small portion, now 
 the Isle of Wight, be forced into its 
 present position, by a subsidence in 
 the direction of the arrow, B, Lign. 
 47, along the course of the present 
 bed of the Solent Sea. The actual 
 position of the strata, could our obser- 
 vations extend to a sufficient depth, 
 would probably present the section 
 sketched in Lign. 47, which is in 
 accordance with the local phenomena 
 observable in the Isle of Wight, and 
 other places introduced in the diagram. 
 
 See Geological Excursion in " Medals of Creation," voL ii. p. 908. 
 
218 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 It is obvious, were the Forest Range of the county of 
 Sussex swept away by the encroachments of the sea, and the 
 area it occupied buried beneath the waves, the North Downs 
 would present a strict correspondence in geological structure 
 with the Isle of Wight ; for a portion of the Wealden would 
 appear on the south shore at the base of the chalk escarp- 
 ment, and be succeeded on the north by the greensand, gait, 
 firestone, marl, and white chalk ; and the latter surmounted 
 by tertiary deposits. 1 
 
 FAUNA AND FLORA OF THE WEALDEN. The most important 
 organic remains of the animal kingdom imbedded in the 
 Wealden strata are, unquestionably, in a physiological point 
 of view, the teeth and bones of the colossal terrestrial 
 reptiles, which in their osteological characters approach nearer 
 to the mammalian type than any of the existing species 
 of oviparous quadrupeds. But as these are the relics of 
 land animals transported from a distance and imbedded in 
 the sediments brought down by the waters, they yield but 
 little aid to the geological inquirer in his attempts to deter- 
 mine the origin and formation of the rocks and strata. The 
 vestiges of the beings which inhabited the waters by which 
 the sediments were deposited, can alone afford information as 
 to the physical conditions which then prevailed. Hence, the 
 durable remains of zoophytes, echinoderms, mollusks, crusta- 
 ceans, fishes, and aquatic reptiles, are the objects to which 
 the geologist more particularly directs his attention ; and 
 shells, from their durability, and the indications they afford 
 as to the structure and economy of the animals that inha- 
 bited them, are sought for with avidity. 
 
 I have already mentioned how much the absence of marine 
 shells and corals in the Wealden contributed to awaken my 
 
 1 For fuller information on the subjects embraced in this sketch, see 
 " Elements of Geology," by SIR CHARLES LYELL ; and the " Geology of 
 the South-East of England," or the " Wonders of Geology," by the 
 Author; or "Geological Excursions round the Isle of Wight," &c. 
 2d. edit., 1851. 
 
 On the elevation of the Wealden, and the consequent changes in the 
 relative level of the sea and land, consult the masterly paper of 
 MR. HOPKINS, President of the Geological Society, " On the Geological 
 Structure of the Wealden District and of the Bas Boulonnais," (" Geol. 
 Trans." vol. vii.) ; and Mr. J. P. MARTIN'S beautiful volume, " On the 
 Geological Phenomena of Western Sussex," Pulborough, 1 vol. 4 to, 
 with Maps and Sections. 
 
ROOM III. FAUNA AND FLORA OF THE WEALDEN. 219 
 
 mind to the fluviatile nature of those deposits, and assisted 
 in establishing the fresh-water origin of the entire series now 
 comprised in that formation. 
 
 The shells of the Wealden. as might be anticipated from the 
 character of the molluscous fauna of the rivers and lakes of 
 the present time, though occurring in immense numbers in 
 some of the beds, comprise but an inconsiderable number of 
 genera ; and these, with but few exceptions, are fluviatile, or 
 lacustrine forms : no traces of land mollusks have, I believe, 
 been observed. 
 
 The species hitherto met with in this country belong to 
 the genera Paludina, Limnea, Physa, Planorbis, Paludina, 
 Melania, and Cyclas, Cyrena, Psammobia, Unio, Mytilus, &c. ; 
 brackish water and marine shells occasionally occur in some 
 of the lower deposits ; and in the Purbeck series there is 
 a bed of oyster shells. The most remarkable fact relating 
 to the fresh- water mollusca is the discovery by that eminent 
 naturalist Prof. Edward Forbes, in the Purbeck strata, of 
 shells, of the genera Physa, Planorbis, and Limnea, that 
 closely resemble the existing species inhabiting our pools and 
 rivers. 
 
 In my first published account of the fossils of Tilgate 
 Forest, a few species of paludina, and of unio and cyclas 
 and cyrena, comprised all the mollusks then known. The 
 Sussex or Petworth shelly limestone, some layers of which 
 take a good polish, and are, therefore, called marble, is a 
 mass of paludinaa of two or three species, with innume- 
 rable cases or shells of the fresh-water entomostracous 
 crustaceans, Cypris and Estheria ; and some of the bands 
 of limestone almost wholly consist of a small species of unio. 
 
 Some of the beds of cky abound in potamides and melaniae, 
 and others are made up of the shells of the fresh-water bivalves 
 cyrena and cyclas. The most remarkable and interesting of 
 these fluviatile mollusks, are the large mussels (Unio Val- 
 densis) first discovered by me in the Tsle of Wight, and 
 which equal in size, and closely resemble in form, some ex- 
 isting species that inhabit the Ohio and Mississippi. 1 
 
 Insects. A few legs and elytra of Insects have been found 
 in the Wealden of Kent, and a considerable number of 
 
 1 See "Geological Excursions round the Isle of Wight." PL VI. 
 
220 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 species and genera of coleoptera, neuroptera, &c. in the out- 
 lying beds in Buckinghamshire, and in the Yale of Wardour, 
 in Wiltshire. 1 
 
 Fishes. The fossils of this class comprise but a few genera. 
 The most common belong to two species of a large ganoid fish, 
 the Lepidotus, which is closely allied to the existing Lepidosteus 
 or Bony Gar of the American rivers. The scales and teeth of 
 these fishes are very abundant ; there are some fine examples 
 of the cranium, body and fins, in Room V. Teeth and scales, 
 and the dorsal ray or spine of the genus Hybodus, belonging 
 to the shark family, are also very common. Teeth of Gyrodm, 
 Pycnodus and Sphcerodus are also met with ; and I have 
 lately collected from the strata of Tilgate Forest, remains of 
 a species of Belonostomus, a genus previously only known in 
 the chalk near Lewes. 2 
 
 Of corals and other zoophytes I have not detected the 
 least vestige in any of the Wealden strata. Echinoderms 
 are also absent ; but Prof. E. Forbes has discovered one 
 species in the Purbeck beds. 
 
 Flora of the Wealden. The most characteristic vegetable 
 remains are the Clathraria Lyelli, Endogenites erosa, Dracaena 
 Benstedi, Equisetum Lyelli, Lonchopteris and Sphenopteris 
 Mantelli, of which there are specimens in the Wall-cases of 
 Room I. (ante, pp. 27, 32, 45, 48). 
 
 In a few localities (Sandown Bay and Brook Point, in the 
 Isle of Wight,) stems of coniferous trees occur in such 
 numbers, and under such conditions, as to show that the 
 accumulations are attributable to rafts of forest-trees that were 
 swept down by the flood of a great river, and deposited 
 where they are now found in a fossil state. 3 In another re- 
 markable locality, the Isle of Portland, the trees are petrified 
 on the soil, and in the position in which they grew (ante, p. 56). 
 
 I have lately obtained numerous cones or strobiles of fir- 
 trees belonging to two distinct species, perhaps genera.* 
 Seeds of the common fresh-water plant, the Chara, have been 
 
 1 See the Rev. J. Brodie's beautiful work on Fossil Insects. 
 
 2 See Catalogue of the Mantellian Museum of the Royal Sussex 
 Scientific Institution. 
 
 3 For an account of the fossil raft of coniferous trees at Brook Point, 
 see " Geological Excursions round the Isle of Wight/' p. 277. 
 
 4 Ibid, second edition, p. 452. 
 
ROOM III. GEOLOGICAL SUMMARY. 221 
 
 found in the Purbeck beds.* Such are the general features 
 of the fauna and flora of the Wealden epoch, according to 
 the present state of our knowledge. 
 
 GEOLOGICAL SUMMARY. From this survey of the South-East 
 of England, we learn that the present configuration of the 
 surface has resulted from a succession of physical changes which 
 took place in periods incalculably remote, and long ante- 
 cedent to the creation of the human race ; and that the 
 country is composed of sediments deposited by ancient 
 seas, rivers, and lakes, whose waters teemed with myriads 
 of beings of extinct genera and species, and of the spoils of 
 countries which enjoyed a much higher temperature than 
 any part of modern Europe, and were clothed with palms, 
 tree-ferns, cycadeous plants, and pine-forests, and inhabited 
 by gigantic reptiles, whose races have long since been swept 
 from the face of the earth. 
 
 The phenomena we have passed in review may be referred 
 to four principal epochs ; but the period of time over which 
 each extended, cannot be conjectured with any approach to 
 probability. 
 
 I. The Wealden Epoch. This, which is the most ancient 
 era comprehended in the present survey, comprises the 
 period during which the strata, that in the south-east of 
 England emerge from beneath the chalk, and occupy the area 
 between the north and south boundaries of that formation, 
 were deposited. The total thickness of these deposits cannot 
 be accurately determined, but amounts to upwards of 1,000 
 feet. The innumerable layers of mollusks and crustaceans, 
 and the prodigious accumulation of the bones of reptiles and 
 fishes, and of the trunks, branches, and foliage of vegetables, 
 the whole consisting of materials brought down by rivers and 
 floods of fresh water, and slowly deposited in bays, deltas, or 
 estuaries, afford unquestionable evidence of the immense 
 period of time during which the Wealden was in the progress 
 of formation. 
 
 II. The Cretaceous Epoch. The next geological cycle 
 embraces the deposition of that extensive series of strata, 
 whose organic contents demonstrate that they were accumu- 
 lated in an ocean of vast extent, and which, probably, like the 
 
 1 "Geological Excursions round the Isle of Wight," pp. 109, 463. 
 
222 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 Atlantic, embraced both continents ; for cretaceous deposits 
 are spread over a considerable part of North America, as well 
 as Europe. The. subsidence of the Wealden must necessarily 
 have taken place before the lowermost of the chalk-strata 
 (the neocomian) were deposited ; but the destruction of the 
 islands, or continents, from whose spoils the Wealden deposits 
 were derived, must have been gradual, since remains of their 
 fauna and flora are found sparingly distributed in the cre- 
 taceous sands. 
 
 It is obvious, that the period through which the chalk-ocean 
 extended, with but little modification in its character for the 
 organic remains of the formation maintain a very general 
 correspondence throughout must have been of great dura- 
 tion, however rapid may have been the reproduction of those 
 infinitesimal animal forms (the Foraminifera) of which the 
 strata of white limestones are so largely composed. 
 
 Til. Tertiary Epoch. The close of the cretaceous era 
 appears to have been followed by elevatory movements, which 
 broke up the bed of the ocean, and slowly upheaved large 
 areas ; and as the elevation continued, the deposits which had 
 been formed in the profound depths of the sea were brought to 
 the surface, and became exposed to the destructive action of 
 the waves. 
 
 These masses of cretaceous rocks were gradually disinte- 
 grated and swept away, and in some places the Wealden beds 
 gradually emerged above the waters, and, finally, the petrified 
 forest of Portland rose in the midst of the sea, and became 
 dry land. At length some portions of the strata attained an 
 elevation of several hundred feet, and a group of islands was 
 formed ; but in the depressions or basins of the chalk still 
 covered by the waters, sediments derived from the destruction 
 of the sea-cliffs, and the degradation of the surface of the 
 land, were slowly deposited. 
 
 Herbivorous and carnivorous mammalia of numerous genera 
 and species now, for the first time, appeared, and inhabited 
 the islands and continents formed by the elevated masses of 
 the former ocean-bed ; and in the new (tertiary) deposits 
 then in progress, the bones of the animals, and the remains 
 of the trees and plants, became imbedded. 
 
 IV. Post-tertiary Epoch. The Tertiary epoch in its turn 
 also passed away the elevatory movements continued other 
 
ROOM III. GEOLOGICAL SUMMARY. 223 
 
 masses of the bed of the chalk-ocean, and of the Wealden 
 strata beneath, became dry land and at length those more re- 
 cent deposits, containing the remains of the herbivorous mam- 
 malia which were the last tenants of the country. The oak, 
 elm, ash, and other' trees of modern Europe, now sprang up 
 where the groves of palms and tree-ferns once flourished the 
 stag, boar, and horse, ranged over the plains in which were 
 entombed the bones of the colossal reptiles and finally, Man 
 appeared, and took possession of the soil. 
 
 Subsequently to the occupation of these islands by the 
 aboriginal tribes, the country has undergone no important 
 physical mutations. The usual effects of the atmosphere, the 
 wasting of the shores by the encroachments of the sea, the 
 erosion of the land by streams and rivers, the silting up of 
 valleys, and the formation of deltas, are apparently the only 
 terrestrial changes to which the south-east of England has 
 been subjected during the historic ages. 
 
 At the present time, the deposits containing the remains 
 of the mammoth and other extinct mammalia, are the sites 
 of towns and villages, and support busy communities of the 
 human race ; the Hunstman courses, and the Shepherd tends 
 his flocks on the elevated masses of the bottom of the ancient 
 chalk-ocean the Farmer reaps his harvests from the cul- 
 tivated soil of the delta of the country of the Iguanodon 
 and the Architect obtains from beneath the petrified forest 
 the materials with which to construct his temples and his 
 palaces : while, from these various strata, the Geologist gathers 
 together the relics of the beings that lived and died in periods 
 of unfathomable antiquity, and of which the very types have 
 long since been obliterated from the face of the earth, and 
 endeavours from these memorials, to trace the nature and 
 succession of those physical revolutions which preceded all 
 history and tradition. 1 
 
 1 " Wonders of Geology," p. 446. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 PART V. 
 THE IGUANODOK 
 
 DINOSAURIAN REPTILES IGUANODON DISCOVERY OP THE TEETH OP THE 
 IGUANODON THE IGUANA LOWER JAW OF REPTILES CHARACTER OP THE 
 TEETH OP THE IGUANODON LOWER JAW OP THE IGUANODON TYMPANIC 
 
 BONE VERTEBRA RIBS CLAVICLE CORACOID SCAPULA STERNUM 
 
 PELVIS SACRUM ILIUM ISCHIUM PUBIS FEMUR TIBIA FIBULA 
 TARSALS METATARSALS AND PHALANGEALS UNGUEALS HUMERUS ME- 
 TACARPALS AND PHALANGEALS DERMAL BONES QUARRY NEAR MAID- 
 STONE MAIDSTONE IGUANODON PHYSIOLOGICAL INFERENCES CONCLUDING 
 REMARKS. 
 
 DINOSAUEIAN REPTILES. We return from our geological 
 excursion to the Wealds of Sussex, and the quarries of 
 Tilgate Forest, whence the greater part of the fossil remains 
 we have next to examine were collected, and resume our 
 review of the contents of the wall-cases in Room III. ; some 
 of which engaged our attention in the previous divisions of 
 this chapter. 
 
 The gigantic extinct reptiles included in the genera Megalo- 
 saurus, Iguanodon, Hylseosaurus, and Pelorosaurus, cliffer so 
 essentially in their organization from all other oviparous 
 quadrupeds, as to constitute a distinct tribe or order, to 
 which the name Dinosaurian has been assigned by Professor 
 Owen a term expressive of the stupendous magnitude and 
 extraordinary structure of these remarkable saurians. 
 The characters of this order are denned as follows : 
 " This group, which includes at least three l well esta- 
 blished genera, is characterized by a large sacrum, composed 
 
 1 It will be seen in the sequel that there are Jive, if not six, genera of 
 Wealden reptiles, with a similar construction of the sacrum. 
 
ROOM III. DINOSAURIAN REPTILES. 225 
 
 of five ! vertebrae of unusual construction ; by the height, 
 breadth, and outward sculpture of the neural arch of the 
 dorsal vertebrae ; by the two-fold articulation of the ribs to 
 the vertebrae, viz. at the anterior part of the spine by a 
 head and tubercle, and along the rest of the trunk by a 
 tubercle attached to the transverse process only ; by broad, 
 and sometimes complicated, coracoids, and long and slender 
 clavicles, whereby Crocodilian characters of the vertebral 
 column are combined with a Lacertian type of the pectoral 
 arch. The dental organs also exhibit the same transitional or 
 connecting characters, in a greater or lesser degree. The bones 
 of the extremities are of large proportional size for saurians ; 
 they have large medullary cavities, and with well developed 
 and unusual processes, and are terminated by metacarpal, 
 metatarsal, and phalangeal bones, which, with the exception 
 of the ungual phalanges, more or less resemble those of the 
 heavy pachydermal mammalia, and attest, with the hollow 
 long-bones, the terrestrial habits of the species. 
 
 " The combinations of such characters some, as the sacral 
 ones, altogether peculiar among Reptiles others borrowed, as 
 it were, from groups now distinct from each other and all 
 manifested by creatures far surpassing in size the largest of 
 existing reptiles, will, it is presumed, be deemed sufficient 
 ground for establishing a distinct tribe, or sub-order, of 
 Saurian Reptiles. 
 
 " Of this tribe, the principal and best established genera 
 are the Megalosaurus, the Hylceosaurus, and the Iguanodon ; 
 the gigantic Crocodile-lizards of the dry land ; whose peculiari- 
 ties of osteological structure distinguish them as clearly from 
 the living terrestrial and amphibious Saurians, as the opposite 
 modifications for an aquatic life characterise the extinct Ena- 
 liosauriaTis, or marine lizards." 2 
 
 The remains of these animals are chiefly found in the Weal- 
 den deposits ; but of the first-mentioned genus, the Megalo- 
 saurus, the most important parts of the skeleton have been 
 obtained from the lower oolitic strata at Stonesfield, near 
 Oxford ; and of the Iguanodon, a highly interesting specimen 
 has been discovered in the greensand of the Chalk formation, 
 near Maidstone. 
 
 1 The sacrum of the Iguanodon is composed of six vertebras. 
 
 2 " British Assoc. Report on Fossil Reptiles," 1841, p. 144. 
 
 Q 
 
226 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 These genera include the colossal crocodile-lizards of the 
 dry land of the secondary geological epochs. The most 
 remarkable peculiarity in the skeleton is the construction of 
 the sacrum, for, while in all other reptiles this key-stone of 
 the pelvis consists of but two united vertebrae, in the Dino- 
 saurians it is composed of five or six anchylosed vertebrae, the 
 neural arches of which are shifted to the interspaces between 
 the bodies of those bones, and thus great solidity and strength 
 are imparted to the pelvic arch. 
 
 From the enormous size of the bones of these animals, their 
 remains have excited the curiosity even of the common 
 observer ; and although an exaggerated idea has been 
 generally entertained of the magnitude of the originals, yet 
 when reduced to their natural proportions by the rigorous for- 
 mula of the anatomist, their dimensions are sufficiently stupen- 
 dous to satisfy the most enthusiastic lover of the marvellous. 1 
 
 The present section will be devoted to the consideration of 
 the structure and physiology of the colossal reptile whose 
 relics occupy nearly the whole of Wall-case (7, and which is, 
 perhaps, the most extraordinary, both in regard to its history 
 and organization, of the saurians included in the Dinosaurian 
 order the IGUANODON. 
 
 IGUANODON. The remains of this stupendous reptile that 
 have been collected since my first discovery of a tooth in 
 
 1 It is twenty-fire years since the publication of my " Fossils of 
 Tilgate Forest" in which are numerous figures of bones of tne Wealden 
 reptiles, previously altogether unknown. Of this work, although 
 eulogized by the illustrious CUVIER, with that kind and generous 
 bearing towards every cultivator of Palaeontology, for which he was as 
 much distinguished as for his surpassing genius, not fifty copies were 
 sold. At that time there was i;ot an articulated skeleton of a crocodile 
 in the Hunterian Museum, an! but very few skeletons of any other 
 reptiles, to which access could be had for comparison with the fossil 
 bones; and many of the latter were repeatedly taken by me to the 
 College of Surgeons without obtaining any clue, e*ven as to the place 
 they held in the skeleton. 
 
 But now the comparative anatomist may enjoy the privilege of in- 
 specting, at his ease, the immense collections of fossil reptiles in the 
 British and other Museums, and with all the advantages which access 
 to the first anatomical Museum in the world, the Hunterian, presents 
 for the comparison of fossil with recent structures. It is, therefore, 
 greatly to be deplored, that a spirit of self-aggrandizement and jealousy 
 has exerted its baneful influence over this department of palaeontology; 
 and in consequence, there is not one young British anatomist who pur- 
 sues fossil Erpetology as a special branch of study. 
 
ROOM III. 
 
 THE IGUANODON. 
 
 227 
 
 the quarry near Cuckfield, are very numerous, and comprise 
 a considerable portion of the skeleton; but no part of the 
 cranium has yet been recognised. 
 
 The specimens in the British Museum, all of which were 
 originally in my collection, and were developed with my 
 own hands, comprise the following : viz. teeth, portions of 
 the upper and lower jaws, tympanic bone ; cervical, dorsal, 
 lumbar, and caudal vertebrae, with their apophyses; the 
 elements of the pectoral arch, namely, clavicle, coracoid, 
 scapulae ; fragment of the sternum, ribs ; sacrum, iliac bones, 
 ischium (?), pubis (?) ; femur, tibia, fibula, metatarsals and 
 phalangeals ; humerus, metacarpals, phalangeals, unguals ; 
 and dermal spines or tubercles. 
 
 I propose to describe these several parts of the skeleton 
 in the order in which they are here enumerated, and after- 
 wards consider the physiological inferences suggested by their 
 examination. 
 
 To facilitate reference to the various objects that will be 
 brought under our notice, the following diagram is appended : 
 
 BONES OF REPTILES FROM THE STRATA OF TILGATE FOREST, 
 IN SUSSEX. 
 
 WALL-CASE C. [3.] 
 Top of the Case, f polyptychodon from Hythe (p. 200.)\ 
 
 Upper 
 Shelf. 
 
 (Tibia and fibula 
 
 Middle- \ belonging to the 
 
 Compart- / same Iguano- ( 
 
 ment. 1 don as the fe- 
 
 I mur, (2.) 
 
 Remark- 
 ably fine 
 Femur. 
 
 
 
 The largest and 
 most perfect fe- 
 mur; fromLox- 
 wood. (1.) 
 
 Remains of four Sacral- 
 bones. 
 1. 2. 3. 4. 
 
 (Inferior part of 
 
 p m ,, 
 Fem " r 
 
 ! the 
 
 be- 
 
 longing to the 
 ) tibia and fibu- 
 ( la. (2.) 
 
 Narrow \ Numerous teeth of Iguanodons, &c. Portion of the lower jaw of Regno- 
 front 1 *aurus Northamptonl ; and of the upper jaw of Iguanodon. A femur of a 
 i ai i n * i ver y y un g Iguanodon. Horn, or dermal tubercle of the Iguanodon. 
 teage. j Polished sections of a tibia, &c. 
 
 Lower- 
 most 
 Compart- 
 ment. 
 
 1 Various vertebrae. 
 
 Slab of TilgateA 
 stone, with six! 
 very fine Caudal! 
 vertebrae of thel 
 Iguanodon, and^ 
 three chevron- / 
 bones. 
 
 Metatarsals, metacarpals, 
 and phalangeals. 
 
 Chevron- Vertebrae of the 
 bones. Pelorosaurus. 
 
 Humerus of Metatarsal 
 the Iguano- ; bones, &c. 
 don. 
 
 Vertebrae, chevron-bones, 
 > &c. 
 
 Very fine Rib, i Tympanic 
 40 inches long, j bones. 
 
 Various bones. Clavicles. 
 
 Portions of Ribs 1 
 of Iguanodon, &c.) 
 
 Rib. Vertebrae. 
 
228 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 DISCOVERY OF THE IGUANODON. Soon after my first dis- 
 covery of bones of colossal reptiles in the strata of Tilgate 
 Forest, some teeth of a very remarkable character particu- 
 larly excited my curiosity, for they were wholly unlike any 
 that had previously come under my observation ; even the 
 quarrymen accustomed to collect the remains of fishes, shells, 
 and other objects imbedded in the rocks, had not observed 
 fossils of this kind ; and until shown some specimens which 
 I had extracted from a block of stone, were not aware of the 
 presence of such teeth in the stone they were constantly 
 breaking up for the roads. 
 
 The first specimen that arrested my attention was a large 
 tooth, which from the worn, smooth, and oblique surface, of the 
 
 crown, had evidently belonged 
 to an herbivorous animal; 
 and so entirely resembled 
 in form the corresponding 
 part of an incisor of a large 
 pachyderm ground down by 
 use, that I was much embar- 
 rassed to account for its pre- 
 
 The crown worn down below the lateral j n w hich, according to all g6O- 
 denticulations. i i & 
 
 a. Posterior aspect. logical experience, no fossil 
 
 b. Anterior aspect. remains of mammalia would 
 ever be discovered; and as no known existing reptiles are 
 capable of masticating their food, I could not venture to 
 assign the tooth in question to a saurian. 
 
 As my friend Mr. (now Sir Charles) Lyell was about to 
 visit Paris, I availed myself of the opportunity of submitting 
 it to the examination of Baron Cuvier, with whom I had the 
 high privilege of corresponding : and, to my astonishment, 
 learned from my friend, that M. Cuvier, without hesitation, 
 pronounced it to be an upper incisor of a Rhinoceros. 1 
 
 1 It is delightful to quote the following generous admission of this 
 mistake recorded by the illustrious Cuvier himself in his immortal work. 
 " Des fragmens d'os du metacarpe ou du m6tatarse sont si gros qu'un 
 premier coup-d'oeil jeles avoir pris pour ceux d'un grand hippopotame." 
 " Avec ces os M. Mantell en a trouve" de crocodile, de tortue, de plesiosau- 
 rus, de cetace's, et d'oiseaux, et il en a recueilli aussi dont il n'est pas 
 possible d'assigner le genre. On ne peut trop 1'encourager dans le pro- 
 
ROOM III. DISCOVERT OF THE IGUANODON. 229 
 
 I had previously taken this tooth, and some other speci- 
 mens, to a meeting of the Geological Society in London, and 
 showed them to Dr. Buckland, Mr. Conybeare, Mr. Clift, and 
 other eminent men who were present, but without any satisfac- 
 tory result ; in fact I was discouraged by the remark, that the 
 teeth were of no particular interest, as there could be little 
 doubt they belonged either to some large fish allied to the 
 Anarhicas lupus, or wolf-fish, the crowns of whose incisors are 
 of a prismatic form, or were mammalian teeth obtained from 
 a diluvial deposit. Dr. Wollaston alone supported my opinion 
 that I had discovered the teeth of an unknown herbivorous 
 reptile, and encouraged me to continue my researches. 1 
 
 jet qu'il a de donner bientot au public une description detaillee et des 
 figures de ces tresors geologiques. 
 
 " La premiere place pour la singularity y appartiendra, sans doute, a 
 des dents (PL XXL fig. 28, 32), dont il a Men voulu me communiquer 
 quelques-unes, et dont je ne puis m'empe'cher de dire ici quelques mots, 
 d'autant que si elles peuvent venir d'un poisson, comme on le soupconne, 
 il n'est pas impossible qu'elles provienneut aussi d'un saurien ; mais d'un 
 saurien encore plus extraordinaire que tous ceux dont nous avons con- 
 naissance. 
 
 " Ce qui leur donne un caractere unique, c'est d'user leur pointe et leur 
 fust transversalement, comme les quadrupedes herbivores, et tellement, 
 que la premiere qui me fut presentee s'etant trouvee dans cet e"tat de 
 detrition, je ne doutai nullement qu'elle ne vint d'un mammifere ; il me 
 sembloit me'me quelle ressembloit beaucoup & une mdcheliere de rhino- 
 ceros, ce qui vu son gisement, auroit derange toutes mes idees sur les rap- 
 ports des os avec les conches, au moins, autant qu'auroit pu le faire le petit 
 carnassier de Stonesfield : ce n'est que depuis que M. Afantell mi! en a. 
 envoyS une serie d'entieres et de plus ou moins usees, que je me suis 
 entierement convaincu de mon erreur." JRechercJies sur les Ossemens 
 Fossiles, tome v. pp. 350, 351. 
 
 1 " The genuine worker and searcher after truth may conceive the 
 feelings with which I find myself misrepresented," * and my labours and 
 discoveries disparaged in the Palseontographical Society's publication, 
 and will, therefore, not impute to egotism the insertion of extracts cor- 
 roborative of the accuracy of my narrative, though the passages cited 
 may be too eulogistic. " And here I may notice, when speaking of the 
 Iguanodon, that there is a peculiar appropriateness in your awarding 
 the Wollaston Medal to the discoverer of that genus, since I well remem- 
 ber the evening at the Geological Society, when Dr. Wollaston, having 
 seen the first teeth exhibited by my friend in London, warmly encou- 
 raged him to pursue his researches, and that, too, when Mr. Man tell 
 thought others were less struck and less interested than the subject 
 deserved." Anniversary Speech of the President (Ma. LYELL) of the 
 Geological Society, Feb. 20, 1835. See APPENDIX E. 
 
 * Quoted from Prof. Owen's "Monograph on Cretaceous Reptiles." 
 See the same " Monograph," for a practical illustration of these remarks. 
 
230 PETEIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 And, as if to add to the difficulty of solving the enigma, some 
 metacarpal bones which I soon after discovered in the same 
 quarry, and forwarded to Paris, were declared to belong to a 
 species of Hippopotamus. 1 Subsequently a dermal horn or tu- 
 bercle from the same stratum, was declared by competent autho- 
 rities to be the lesser horn of a Rhinoceros ; and Dr. Buckland, 
 with the generous kindness which marked his character, wrote 
 to guard me against venturing to publish that these teeth, bones, 
 and horn, were found in the " Iron-sand formation," with which 
 the Tilgate beds were then classed, as there could be no doubt 
 they belonged to the superficial diluvium : and as the upper 
 beds of the conglomerate in which these first specimens were 
 found, was only covered by loam and vegetable earth, there 
 was no clear stratigraphical evidence to support a contrary 
 opinion. Other specimens, however, were soon procured by 
 stimulating the diligent search of the workmen by suitable 
 rewards, and at length teeth were obtained which displayed 
 the serrated edges, the longitudinal ridges, and the entire 
 form of the unused crown. I then forwarded specimens and 
 drawings to Baron Cuvier, and repaired to London, and with 
 the aid of that excellent man, the late Mr. Clift, ransacked 
 all the drawers in the Hunterian Museum that contained jaws 
 and teeth of reptiles, but without finding any that threw 
 light on the subject. Fortunately, Mr. Samuel Stuchbury, 
 then a young man, was present, and proposed to show me 
 the skeleton of an Iguana which he had prepared from a 
 specimen that had long been immersed in spirits ; and, to 
 my great delight, I found that the minute teeth of that 
 reptile bore a closer resemblance in their general form to the 
 fossils from Tilgate Forest, 2 than any others with which I was 
 able to institute a comparison. 
 
 It was not, however, until I had collected a series of 
 
 1 See the previous note. 
 
 2 A letter from my excellent friend the late Wm. Clift, Esq. is now before 
 me, (it is dated Oct. 26, 1824,) enclosing the beautiful drawing of the 
 upper jaw and teeth of this Iguana, which is lithographed in my " Fossils 
 of Tilgate Forest." He states, " If you have occasion, or think it necessary, 
 to mention the specimen of which you wished me to make a sketch, it is 
 only fair to remind you that it was prepared by Mr. Samuel Stuchbury, 
 and that, although he intends to present it to the Hunterian Museum, 
 it does not at present belong to it. Mr. Stuchbury informs me that the 
 present individual is the common edible Iguana of the West-India 
 Islands ; but he is no further acquainted with its species or history." 
 
ROOM HI. DISCOVERY OF THE IGUAXODOX. 231 
 
 specimens, exhibiting teeth in various states of maturity 
 and detrition, that the correctness of my opinion was ad- 
 mitted, either as to the character of these dental organs, or 
 the geological position of the rocks in which they were 
 imbedded. 
 
 In the meanwhile I continued my researches, and ob- 
 tained additional teeth, which, together with drawings of 
 the most illustrative specimens in my collection, were trans- 
 mitted to Baron Cuvier, who favoured me with the following 
 observations on the subject : 
 
 " J'ai at tend u pour vous en donner avis que j'aie en le terns de 
 les examiner. AujourdTiui que je viens de le faire, je m'empresse de 
 vous temoigner ma reconnaissance, et de vous commnniquer quelques 
 idees que m'ont fait naitre 1'examen des cnrienses dents qni font panic 
 de votre envoi, ainsi que celui de la planche du Memoire que vous allez 
 publier a leur egard. 
 
 "Ces dents me sont certainement inconnnes : elles ne sont point d'nn 
 animal carnassier, et cependant je crois qu'elles appartiennent, TU lenr 
 peu de complication, leur dentelure sur les bords, et la conche mince 
 d'6mail qni les revSt, a 1'ordre des reptiles. A 1'apparence exteneure 
 on pourrait anssi les prendre pour des dents de poissons analogues aux 
 tetrodons ou aux diodons ; mais leur structure int6rieure est fort dif- 
 ferente de celles-la. N'aurions-nous pas ici un animal nourean, un 
 reptile herbivore ) et de m&me qu'actuellement chez les mammiferes 
 terrestres, c'est panni les herbivores que Ton trouve les especes a pins 
 grande taille, de mfime aussi chez les reptiles d'autrefois, alors qu'ils 
 etaient les senls animaux terrestres, les plus grande d'entr'eux ne se 
 seraient-ils point nonrris de vegetauxl Une partie des grands os 
 que vous possedez appartiendrait a cet animal, unique jusqua present 
 dans son genre. Le terns connrmera on infirmera cette idee, jusqu'il 
 est impossible qu'on ne trouve pas un jour une partie du squelette 
 re"unie a des portions de machoires portant des dents. C'est ce dernier 
 objet surtont qnll s'agit de rechercher avec le plus de perseverance. 
 Si vous pouviez obtenir de ces dents adhe'rentes encore a nne portion 
 un peu considerable de machoire, je crois que Ton pourrait resoudre le 
 probleme. J'ai pris la liberty de parler de quelques-uns de ces objets dans 
 le volume que je fais imprimer en ce moment, et j'y ai exprime" toute 
 la reconnaissance que vous doivent les naturalistes. Si par de nou- 
 velles observations vous verriez a decouvrir de nonveaux faits capables 
 d'e"clairer ces questions, vous me rendriez un tres grand service de 
 vonloir bien continuer a m'en donner communication. Paris, 20 
 Juin, 1824." 
 
 These remarks of Baron Cuvier were the only hints that 
 I received from any of my scientific friends or correspondents, 
 as to the character and "probable relations of the animal to 
 which the recently discovered teeth belonged; and as my 
 
232 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 arduous professional duties in a provincial town remote from 
 museums and libraries of natural history, forbade the hope 
 of speedily acquiring more satisfactory information, I trans- 
 mitted to the Eoyal Society, through my friend Davies 
 Gilbert, Esq., figures and descriptions of the most illustra- 
 tive specimens, adopting (at the suggestion of the Rev. 
 W. D. Conybeare) the name of Iguanodon for the extinct 
 reptile, to indicate the resemblance between the fossil teeth 
 and those of the recent Iguana, which Mr. Stuchbury's spe- 
 cimen had enabled me to ascertain. 1 
 
 THE IGUANA. It may tend to render our remarks on 
 the structure and economy of the Iguanodon more easily com- 
 prehended by the unscientific visitor, if we preface those 
 osteological details which the palaeontologist will consider 
 indispensable, and without which, indeed, the results that are 
 of general interest could never have been obtained, by a few 
 observations on the nature and habits of the recent lizard, 
 the resemblance of whose teeth to those of the colossal her- 
 bivorous reptile of the Wealden suggested the name so 
 familiar to my readers, and by which that extraordinary 
 creature of the secondary ages is now generally known. 
 
 The Iguanas are land-lizards which inhabit many parts of 
 America and the West Indies, and are rarely met with north 
 or south of the tropics. They are from three to five feet in 
 length, and are perfectly harmless, feeding on insects and 
 vegetables, and climbing trees in quest of the tender leaves 
 and buds, which they chip off and swallow whole. 2 They 
 nestle in the hollows of rocks, and deposit their eggs, which 
 are like those of turtles, in the sands and banks of rivers. 
 
 The dental organs of the Iguana consist of a single row in 
 each jaw of very small, closely-set, pointed teeth with serrated 
 edges, which are not implanted in distinct sockets, but are 
 
 1 " Notice on the Iguanodon, a newly discovered fossil reptile, from 
 the sandstone of Tilgate Forest, in Sussex." Philos. Trans. 1825. 
 This memoir was printed before the fifth volume of Baron Cuvier's 
 " Oss. Foss." (in which the teeth are figured and described, and men- 
 tion is made of my discoveries in Tilgate Forest,) had reached this 
 country. See APPENDIX F. 
 
 2 Stuffed specimens of the recent Iguanas are exhibited in that part 
 of the Zoological Gallery approached from Room III. by the entrance 
 between Cases C and D 
 
ROOM III. LOWER JAW OF THE IGUANA. 233 
 
 attached by the external surface of the fangs to the inner 
 Bide of the alveolar process (as is shown in Lign. 49) ; and 
 as there is no mesial parapet of bone, the fangs of the teeth 
 are covered only by the soft parts (Jig. 1, Lign. 49). The 
 successional germs do not, as in the Crocodile, spring up in 
 the cavities of the mature teeth, and rise through them, but 
 are developed near the inner part of the base, and by their 
 upward growth occasion the absorption of the fang of the 
 old tooth, which is ultimately displaced and shed, from the 
 destruction of its adhesion to the alveolar parapet. In/$r. 3, 
 Lign. 49, the position of a germ at the base of the fang is 
 represented. 
 
 The teeth of the Iguana closely resemble in form, but not 
 in structure, the perfect young upper teeth of the Iguanodon ; 
 they are very small, scarcely exceeding in size those of the 
 mouse. (In jigs. 1, 2, Lign. 49, the teeth are figured of the 
 natural size.) In the Iguana the crown of the tooth never 
 presents a worn or even surface ; it is broken or chipped off 
 by use, but not ground smooth as are the teeth of her- 
 bivorous mammalia. The reason is obvious: no existing 
 reptiles are furnished with cheeks or moveable coverings to 
 their jaws; they cannot perform mastication, but swallow 
 their food whole. 1 
 
 LOWER JAW OF THB IGUANA. Lign. 49. Before I quit 
 this subject, and enter upon the examination of the teeth of 
 the Iguanodon, it will be convenient to explain the structure 
 of the lower jaw in reptiles ; and I select that of the Iguana, 
 as it will not only serve to illustrate the osteology of that 
 part of the skeleton, but also tend to elucidate the nature of 
 the highly interesting fossils that will hereafter engage our 
 attention. 
 
 In mammalia the lower jaw is composed of one bone on 
 each side, and in many genera these pieces become united 
 in front, and blended into a single bone in the adult animal; 
 but in reptiles this element always consists of six distinct 
 pieces on each side, and these several parts are variously 
 
 1 There are some of the large Monitors which can give a semi- 
 rotatory motion to the back teeth ; but in no living species of reptile 
 is the trituration of the food effected as in the mammalia and the 
 Iguanodon. 
 
234 
 
 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 LIGN. 49. THE RIGHT RAMUS OF THE LOWER JAW OF THE 
 
 IGUANA TUBEHCULATA. 
 (Presented to the Author by the late Baron Cuvier.) 
 
 1. The right branch of the lower jaw, viewed on its inner aspect: (nat. size.) 
 
 a. Dentary bone. 
 
 b. Opercular bone. 
 
 c. Complementary bone. 
 
 d. Surangular bone. 
 
 e. Angular bone. 
 /. Articular bone. 
 
 2. External view of the same. 
 
 3. Inner aspect of three teeth (magnified') attached to the alveolar parapet, 
 with the germ of a successional tooth at the base of the middle tooth, 
 and the sockets of germs at the bases of the two other mature teeth. 
 
 4. External view of the crowns of three teeth, slightly magnified, in their 
 natural position, appearing above the alveolar ridge. 
 
ROOM III. TEETH OP THE IGUANODON. 235 
 
 modified both in shape and arrangement in the different 
 genera. 
 
 The form and disposition of the maxillary elements in the 
 Iguana are shown in Lign. 49 ; they are distinguished by 
 names which have reference to their office or situation, viz. 
 a, the dentary, supporting the teeth; b, the opercidar, or 
 splenial bone; c, the complementary, or coronoid ; d, the 
 surangular ; e, the angular ; and/* the articular bone, which 
 forms the upper and distal portion of the jaw, and includes the 
 depression for the reception of the condyloid end of the tym- 
 panic bone, or os quadratum. 
 
 In the Crocodiles, Enaliosaurians, and other tribes of rep- 
 tiles, the elements of the lower jaw are greatly diversified, and 
 a knowledge of their characters is an important aid to the 
 palaeontologist in his attempts to ascertain the affinities of the 
 extinct saurians, fragments of whose maxillary organs are 
 oftentimes the sole indications that such types of animal 
 organization ever inhabited our planet. 
 
 TEETH OF THE IGUANODON. Since the discovery of the 
 tooth which first apprised me of the occurrence of the remains 
 of gigantic herbivorous reptiles in the Wealdeii, I have col- 
 lected many hundred specimens of all sizes, and in various con- 
 ditions, from a minute perfect germ, to the worn-out crown of a 
 molar, ground down above by mastication, and reduced by 
 the upward pressure of a new tooth from beneath, to a mere 
 plate or disk of coarse dentine. In the collection purchased of 
 me by the Trustees of the British Museum in 
 1838, there were upwards of 150 teeth of the 
 Iguanodon, and among them were the most 
 illustrative specimens then discovered. I have 
 since obtained a few very instructive examples, 
 and some of my friends have good specimens 
 in their collections ; but, certainly, these teeth 
 have of late been less frequently met with 
 than formerly, and I believe the specimens in 
 the British Museum, and those in my private LIGH. so. TOOTH OP 
 coUection, comprise the most characteristic 
 forms hitherto observed. 
 
 The perfect germ, and the unused tooth of 
 the Iguanodon, are characterised by the prismatic form of the 
 crown, the presence of from two to three or four longitudinal 
 
236 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 ridges down the enamelled face, and the denticulated lateral 
 margins, and finely serrated edge of the summit, as seen in 
 the specimen figured in Lign. 50 . The shank, or fang of the 
 tooth partakes of the general form of the crown : it is slightly 
 curved, rather flat anteriorly, and convex on the opposite 
 face, and flattened or compressed at the sides ; it gradually 
 diminishes in size towards the base, and terminates in a 
 point ; a tooth of this kind in Case C, exceeds 2 \ inches in 
 length. 
 
 There is considerable variation in the form of the summit 
 of the crown; in the upper teeth it is as angular as in the 
 recent Iguana. (Lign. 49, fig. 4.) The inner surface of the 
 crown in the lower teeth, and the outer surface in the upper, 
 are covered with a thick layer of enamel, but the sides and the 
 alveolar face of the crown have but a thin coating of this 
 substance. 
 
 Specimens with the coronal aspect in its normal state are 
 but rarely met with, for the apex of the tooth is almost 
 always 'worn away, and the crown presents an oblique, trian- 
 gular, smooth surface, as in the beautiful example (in my 
 collection) figured in Lign. 51, which shows the anterior and 
 posterior aspect of a lower molar, found imbedded in the stem 
 of a Clathraria Lyellii (see ante, p. 45), as if the tooth had been 
 snapped off while the animal was in the act of gnawing the 
 tough vegetable trunk. This fossil affords an excellent illus- 
 tration of the form of the coronal part of a mature molar, the 
 apex of which is but slightly worn away. 
 
 The lower part of the root is broken off ; in teeth of this 
 kind the fang generally terminates in a point, as in a specimen 
 partially imbedded in a block of Tilgate grit, on the middle 
 shelf of Wall-case C. The apex is worn down obliquely 
 (fig. 2. &.). The lateral denticulations, which are so peculiar 
 a character of these teeth, are well developed: when seen 
 in front, as in fig. 1, a, they appear as mere serrations, but 
 viewed laterally, they are found to be produced by a series 
 of denticulated plates. A transverse section of a tooth 
 of this kind exhibits a simple pulp-cavity in the centre of 
 a body of dentine permeated by calcigerous tubes ; with 
 this peculiarity, that the dentine is traversed by medullary 
 canals, which radiate at definite intervals from the centre 
 towards the periphery of the tooth ; the dentine of the Igua- 
 
ROOM III. MATURE LOWER TOOTH OF IGUANODON. 
 
 237 
 
 nodon being of a coarser and softer texture than that of other 
 reptiles. 
 
 In a series of specimens, the abrasion of the coronal summit 
 by mastication may be traced in every stage, from the 
 slightest wearing away of the apex, and the more decided 
 
 LIGN. 51. TOOTH OF AN IGCAKODON, WITH THE APEX SLIGHTLY WORN. 
 TILGATE FOREST, (natural size.) 
 
 1. Front aspect, showing the longitudinal ridges, and denticulated lateral 
 
 margins of the crown. 
 2. View of the back, or inner surface of the tooth. 
 
 a. The denticulated margins. 
 
 b. The apex of the crown, worn by use; 6. fig. 2, shows the obb'que smooth 
 
 surface produced by mastication. 
 
 c. A transverse fracture of the fang, showing a section of the pulp cavity 
 
 occupied by the ossified remains of the pulp. 
 
 d. Marks the inferior limit of the denticulated margin ; if a line were 
 
 carried horizontally from d, across the tooth, the under figure would 
 represent a tooth worn down below the denticulations, and deprived of 
 its peculiar dental characters, as in Lign. 48 ; it is in this state that 
 the tooth somewhat resembles an incisor of a Rhinoceros. 
 
 degradation observable in Lign. 51, to the tooth represented 
 in Lign. 48, and which has acquired a classical interest from 
 having been mistaken for the incisor of a Rhinoceros, in 
 which the lateral denticulations are entirely effaced, down to 
 the deciduous molar, Lign. 52, in which the crown is worn 
 
238 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 smooth, and the fang entirely absorbed in consequence of the 
 pressure of a successional tooth. 
 
 In other specimens in the Museum, the crown is reduced 
 to a mere plate of coarse dentine, flat above, and slightly 
 concave beneath ; a proof that the teeth remained attached to 
 the alveolar process, till the fang was entirely absorbed, and 
 the new crown ready to pierce the 
 gum, and take part in the process 
 of mastication. The removal of the 
 fang by absorption is manifest in 
 almost every specimen, as I pointed 
 out in my earliest memoir on the 
 subject ; l and the effect of this pro- 
 cess may be traced through every 
 gradation, in like manner as the 
 destruction of the crown of which 
 I have already spoken. Now it is 
 the power of perfect mastication 
 possessed by the colossal reptile to 
 which these teeth belonged, and of 
 which we have such unquestionable 
 proofs in the specimens before us, 
 LTGN. 52. that is so marvellous a fact to the 
 
 UPPER TOOTH OF THE IGUANO- 7nn i o ~;<,t W V, O rp flpr>t tW flip PWPTI 
 DON: WITH THE CROWN WORN ZOOlOglbl, WI1C 
 
 FLAT, AND THE FANG ABSORBED, tial conformation of the jaws and 
 teeth in the class Reptilia, as exem- 
 plified in existing forms, forbids the supposition that such a 
 structure as is implied by a power of mastication equal to that 
 enjoyed by the herbivorous mammalia, was associated with 
 reptilian organization. As we have already remarked, no 
 living reptiles can masticate their food ; the insects or vege- 
 tables on which they feed are seized by the tongue or teeth, 
 and swallowed whole ; so that a moveable covering to the 
 jaws, similar to the lips and Cheeks of the mammalia, is not 
 necessary, either for confining substances subjected to the 
 action of the teeth as organs of mastication, or for the purpose 
 of seizing or retaining their prey. The herbivorous reptiles 
 gnaw off the vegetables on which they subsist, but do not 
 chew them ; consequently their teeth, when worn by use, 
 
 i "Philos. Trans." 1825. 
 
ROOM III. STRUCTURE OF TOOTH OF THE IGUANODON. 239 
 
 present a broken or chipped appearance, but not a smooth, 
 flat-worn surface as in the Iguanodon. 
 
 INTIMATE STRUCTURE OF THE TEETH OF THE IGUANODON. 
 Mr. Tomes, F.R.S., whose original and profound microscopic 
 investigations have shed important light on the intimate 
 structure of osseous and dental tissues, has favoured me with 
 the following notes on the organization of the teeth of the 
 Iguanodon. 
 
 " The teeth of the Iguanodon present structural peculiarities which, 
 with our present experience in dental tissues, can be confounded with 
 those of no other animal. The enamel is reptilian in character, that is, 
 it exists as a thin layer, not exceeding the 200th of an inch at the thickest 
 part, and in many places is even thinner; and then it has the usual 
 structureless appearance, with faint wavy markings, in contour lines with 
 the surface of the dentine. Here and there, however, faint lines may be 
 seen proceeding from the surface of the dentine to that of the enamel, 
 which, together with the disposition to break in the direction of the 
 lines, indicates pretty surely the existence of fibres. 
 
 " The dentine of the tooth of the Iguanodon is very remarkable when 
 considered in connexion with the position of the animal in the scale of 
 vertebrata. The dentinal tubes are well marked. They make a bold 
 double curve in their passage from the pulp-cavity to the surface, in 
 addition to the minute undulations which characterize them in every 
 part of their course, and in no part are they free from short, minute, 
 ragged, hair-like branches, which in a thick section give a confused 
 appearance to the tissue. In a longitudinal section of a tooth, the tubes 
 have a diameter varying from the 10,000th to the 15,000th of an inch, 
 which is preserved to near their termination at the surface of the enamel, 
 into which tissue a few are continued a perceptible distance. The pulp- 
 cavity is marked by a series of indentations at tolerably regular inter- 
 vals. From the recesses of these, vascular canals proceed into the 
 substance of the dentine, and follow the course of the dentinal tubes, till 
 near the periphery of the tooth, when they terminate in dilated extre- 
 mities, or turn and follow a parallel course till they regain the pulp 
 cavity. As the tooth becomes worn, these canals are filled by a trans- 
 parent, almost structureless tissue, in the manner described in my paper 
 on the teeth of rodents. 1 It should also be remarked that the dentinal 
 tubes are connected with them through their branches only, and by 
 these but sparingly. Professor Owen, in his account of the tooth of the 
 Iguanodon, (' Odontography,' p. 251,) compares the vascular or medul- 
 lary canals to those which occur in the inner dentine of the tooth of the 
 Megatherium. In the latter, however, the canals are far more numerous 
 than in the Iguanodon, and, moreover, the dentine in which they occur 
 is dissimilar. In it the dentinal tubes are so much interfered with by 
 the very numerous vascular canals that they become irregular, and 
 indeed can scarcely be called tubes; they are irregular cells, minute, and 
 
 1 "Philos. Trans." 1850. 
 
240 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 without definite arrangement. In the Iguanodon, on the contrary, 
 the dentinal tubes and their branches are well marked, and definitely 
 arranged. 
 
 " On careful comparison it will be found that the dentine of the teeth 
 of this great vegetable-feeding reptile pretty closely resembles that of 
 many of the larger herbivorous mammalia, and more especially the 
 ruminants. In these we find the dentine traversed, though less abun- 
 dantly, by similar vascular canals. In the American Tapir, and also in 
 the Solipedes, a similar condition is observable. In mammalian dentine 
 the parietes of the dentinal tubes are well marked, especially in the 
 ruminants, where they are extremely thick ; this cannot be said to be 
 the case in the Iguanodon, for although the parietes may be seen in 
 a favourable section, yet they are by no means so distinct or so thick ; 
 neither, indeed, are the dentinal tubes themselves so large as in the great 
 mammalian herbivora. So far as my own experience goes, the presence 
 of vascular canals in the substance of the dentine as a constant character, 
 is confined to the teeth of the vegetable feeders. 
 
 "Professor Owen has described, (' Odontography,' p. 252,) a third 
 substance in the tooth of the Iguanodon. He says, ' The remains of the 
 pulp in the contracted cavity of the completely formed tooth, are con- 
 verted into a dense but true osseous substance, characterized by minute 
 elliptical radiated cells, whose long axis is parallel with the plane of the 
 concentric lamellae which surround the few and contracted medullary 
 canals in this substance.' I have seen the concentric lamellae in the 
 situation described by Professor Owen, and these have been perforated 
 by straggling, irregular, dentinal tubes, but I have failed to observe in 
 this or in any other part of the tooth elliptical radiate cells, in other 
 words, bone or cement lacunae. 
 
 " In the central part of these teeth, a dark brown matter is commonly 
 seen. This is for the most part composed of small, oval, ferruginoiis- 
 looking bodies about the size of bone lacunae, which are surrounded by 
 imperfectly formed crystalline matter. This broAvn substance occupies 
 the pulp-cavity, and often extends a short distance into the vascular 
 canals. In a thick section it might on a casual inspection be taken for 
 cementum, but a more careful observation would at once show it to be 
 a mere product of fossilization. 
 
 " If I had to describe the tooth of the Iguanodon from its tissues in 
 a few words, I should say it was a tooth having herbivorous (mam- 
 malian ?) dentine, with reptilian enamel." 
 
 LOWER JAW OF THE IGUANODON. Ligns. 54 and 55. The 
 importance of discovering the peculiar construction of the 
 maxillary organs which had impressed such anomalous cha- 
 racters on the teeth of a reptile, as to impart to those 
 instruments so striking a resemblance to the incisors of herbi- 
 vorous mammalia as to mislead the most eminent anatomist 
 of modern times, could not be estimated toojiighly ; and for 
 many years, my curiosity and interest were painfully excited 
 by the desire of solving the mystery in which the subject 
 
ROOM III. LOWER JAW OP THE IGUAXODOX. 241 
 
 was involved ; but nearly a quarter of a century passed by 
 ere that privilege was attained. 
 
 Although the specimen I am about to describe does not 
 belong to the national collection, yet it throws so much light 
 on 'the subject under review, and imparts such additional 
 interest to the objects before us, that I feel assured the intel- 
 ligent reader will not consider the following somewhat minute 
 description of the first discovered portion of the lower jaw 
 of the Iguanodon, as irrelevant to the immediate purpose of 
 this volume. 
 
 LOWER JAW OF THE IGUANODOX.' Lign. 53 and 54. In 
 the deltas and estuaries of rivers which flow through coun- 
 tries of varied geological structure, we naturally expect to 
 find the remains of terrestrial vertebrated animals that have 
 been transported by the currents from far distant lands, in a 
 more or less mutilated state ; the skeletons broken up the 
 bones dissevered, fractured, and waterworn the teeth de- 
 tached from the jaws and dispersed and all these separated 
 parts promiscuously imbedded in the mud, silt, and sand of 
 the delta, and intermingled with the debris of the flora of the 
 country, and the remains of fishes, mollusks, and crustaceans, 
 that inhabited the fresh water, or were denizens of the adjacent 
 sea. Such, as we have already pointed out, is the condition 
 in which the bones and teeth of oviparous quadrupeds are 
 found in the Wealden formation, and hence the difficulty of 
 obtaining satisfactory evidence of the form and structure of 
 the extinct reptiles whose relics are so abundant in some of 
 the deposits. 
 
 To this cause may be ascribed the remarkable fact, that 
 although many hundred teeth, belonging to several genera of 
 saurians, have been collected from these fluviatile strata, 
 scarcely a portion of the cranium, and but a few fragments of 
 the jaws, have been discovered. Every relic of this kind is 
 consequently in the highest degree interesting, and it was, 
 
 1 The following account of the maxillary organ of the Iguanodon is 
 an abstract of my Memoir, " On the Structure of the Jaws and Teeth of 
 the Iiruanodon," communicated to the Koyal Society in May, 1848, and 
 published in the " Philosophical Transactions " of the same year. The 
 Koyal Medal of the Society was awarded to the author for that com- 
 munication. 
 
 R 
 
242 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 therefore, most gratifying to me to learn that at length a 
 considerable portion of the lower jaw, with teeth, of an 
 Iguanodon, had been obtained from the quarry near Cuck- 
 field, in Sussex, in which the teeth of this colossal herbivorous 
 lizard were first discovered. 
 
 In a communication addressed to the Royal Society in 
 1841, 1 I figured and described a fragment of the lower jaw of 
 a small reptile as, probably, that of a young Iguanodon, and 
 the anatomical considerations which seemed to support that 
 interpretation were fully detailed. But although, from the 
 form and the mode of implantation of the fangs, which are 
 the only vestiges of the teeth in the specimen, and the posi- 
 tion of the germs of the successional ones, this inference 
 appeared to me highly probable ; yet, as the crowns of the 
 teeth were wanting, the presumed generic identity could not 
 be established, since it was possible the fossil might belong to 
 the Hylseosaurus, or to some unknown genus of reptiles whose 
 bones occur in the Wealden deposits, as afterwards proved to 
 be the case. 
 
 But the specimen to which I now solicit attention is the 
 right side of the lower jaw of an adult animal, with two suc- 
 cessional teeth in place, and the germ of a third, and the 
 alveoli or sockets of seventeen or eighteen mature molars, 
 and is the first indisputable portion of the jaw of the Iguano- 
 don which has hitherto been brought to light ; and although, 
 from the absence of mature teeth, and of the articular portion 
 of the jaw, this specimen does not afford a complete solution 
 of the problem discussed in the preceding pages, it pos- 
 sesses characters sufficiently definite and intelligible to throw 
 important light on the structure and functions of the dental 
 organs of the Iguanodon ; and it has also enabled me to 
 determine the nature of a portion of the left upper maxillary 
 bone, collected many years since, and now in the British 
 Museum, but which I was previously unable, to interpret. 
 
 Before entering upon the description of this unique and 
 most interesting fossil, I must express my warmest acknow- 
 ledgments to Captain Lambart Brickenden, of Warminglid, 
 Sussex (now of Elgin, Scotland), by whom it was discovered, 
 and skilfully extricated from the sandstone in which it was 
 
 1 " Philos. Trans." 1841, p. 131. 
 
ROOM III. LOWER JAW OF THE IGUANODON. 243 
 
 imbedded, and who, although I was personally unknown to 
 him, in the true spirit of an ardent cultivator and liberal 
 promoter of science, placed it at my disposal, as the original 
 discoverer and investigator of the fossil saurians of the 
 Wealden ; a tribute of respect that I regard as a high reward 
 for my humble efforts to advance that department of natural 
 knowledge, to which I have devoted the leisure moments of a 
 life of professional toil. 
 
 This specimen was found imbedded in a block of the fawn- 
 coloured sandstone which occurs interstratified with beds of 
 clay and limestone, throughout a considerable part of the 
 Wealden districts of the south-east of England ; fortunately 
 this stone is not very compact, so that the organic remains it 
 contains may be extricated by a skilful manipulator, with but 
 little difficulty. It consists of the dentary, and part of the 
 coronoid or complementary bone, of the right side, and is 
 entire at the anterior part ; but the posterior or opposite 
 extremity is imperfect, probably to the extent of several 
 inches. Its original relative position in the jaw will be under- 
 stood by a reference to Lign. 49, in which the peculiar con- 
 struction of the lower jaw in the Iguana is exemplified. 
 
 LIGN 53 RIGHT SIDE OF THE LOWER JAW OP THE IGUAXODOV, FROM TILGATE 
 
 FOREST, DISCOVERED BY CAPTAIX LAMBART BRICKENDEN, F.G S. 
 
 ( The inner aspect : } nat. size.) 
 
 The specimen is represented of the natural size in the 
 " Philos. Trans, for 1848," PL XVI., of which Lign. 53, and 
 54, are reduced sketches ; its dimensions are as follow : 
 
 Inches. 
 
 Length from the front of the symphysis to the posterior 
 extremity of the bone * l 
 
 Greatest width of the outer surface measured over the 
 convexity, from the lower margin to the upper al- 
 veolaredge 
 
244 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP III. 
 
 Inches. 
 
 Greatest thickness at the posterior part 2| 
 
 Length of the alveolar parapet for twenty teeth ... 15 
 Breadth from the anterior termination of the alveolar 
 
 space across to the inner margin 4 
 
 Height of the alveolar parapet at the posterior part. . 2 
 
 Width of the alveolar space at the posterior part ... 1 
 
 Width of the alveolar space at the anterior part ... f 
 Length from the first anterior tooth to the symphysial 
 
 extremity 5 
 
 Height of the successional tooth (a, Lign. 53) 1^ inch; 
 
 greatest width |. 
 
 The mesial or inner aspect of the fossil (Lign. 54) is flat 
 and smooth ; it shows the crown of a large successional tooth, 
 (a,) and the small germs of two other teeth, in their original 
 situations, and the sockets for nineteen or twenty teeth ; 
 the inner alveolar plate having been destroyed, and the 
 mature molars dislodged, before the bone was imbedded in 
 the rock. The deep conical groove or furrow, so constantly 
 present on the inner side of the dentary bone in reptiles 
 (and which, from its being covered by the splenial or 
 opercular piece, it may be convenient to designate the oper- 
 cular furrow), is here entirely exposed (6), in consequence 
 of the removal and destruction of that maxillary element. 
 It is very large, and prolonged anteriorly to within six inches 
 of the symphysis ; the opercular piece, in its elongated 
 form, must, therefore, have more nearly corresponded with 
 that of the Varariians or Monitors than with the Iguanas, in 
 which it is of a rhomboidal figure, and relatively of limited 
 extent. The lower margin of the jaw is thick and convex at 
 the posterior part, and gradually becomes thinner towards the 
 front, where it expands horizontally into a broad scoop-like 
 process, which is terminated anteriorly by an obtuse projection 
 or tubercle (Lign. 54, 55, c) - } it thins out mesially to form the 
 symphysial suture that connects it with the opposite ramus. 
 
 The upper margin is formed by the alveolar process, which 
 has a thick external parapet, deeply furrowed on the inner 
 side by the sockets for the mature teeth ; strongly-defined 
 ridges occupy the interspaces, and rising above the sockets, 
 produce a sharp crenated upper border on the alveolar ridge. 
 The alveolar space is protected on the inner side by a mode- 
 rately, strong plate or wall, which must originally have almost 
 equalled the outer parapet in height, but is now in a great 
 
ROOM III. LOWER JAW OF THE IGUANODON. 245 
 
 measure broken away ; within this process the germs of the 
 successional teeth were developed. 
 
 The mode of implantation of the teeth appears to have been 
 intermediate between the pleurodont and thecodont types, 
 for the teeth were not anchylosed to the alveolar wall as in 
 the Iguanas ; yet as the ridges that separate the dental 
 sockets are smooth and rounded, it may be inferred that 
 these were not rendered complete alveoli by transverse plates 
 extending from the outer to the inner parapet, as is the case 
 in the Megalosaurus. 1 
 
 The dental sockets diminish in size, but somewhat irregu- 
 larly, from the posterior to the anterior termination of the 
 alveolar process ; and the latter suffers a corresponding dimi- 
 nution in breadth, and terminates suddenly at the distance of 
 five inches from the front. At this point the upper margin 
 becomes attenuated and contracted in a vertical direction, and 
 descending with a gentle curve, expands horizontally and 
 niesially to unite at the symphysial suture with the opposite 
 ramus ; the anterior part of the jaw being edentulous. 
 
 From the fortunate preservation of two successional teeth 
 in their original position, the mode of dental development in 
 the Iguanodon is clearly demonstrated. As in existing saurians, 
 the germ of the coronal portion of the tooth was first secreted, 
 and the entire crown completed before the formation of the 
 shank or fang commenced. The formative pulp was situated 
 in a distinct depression or cavity, on the inner face of the 
 root of the tooth it was destined to supplant : this is obvious 
 by the position of the teeth above described ; and also by the 
 remains of a third germ, which is observable towards the 
 posterior part. 2 
 
 Although the peculiar characters of the molars of the 
 Iguanodon have already been described somewhat in detail, 
 and the present fossil confirms in every essential particular 
 the inferences suggested by the detached teeth, yet several 
 new and important points relating to the development and 
 functions of the dental organs, are elucidated by the new 
 
 1 See Dr. Buckland's " Bridgewater Essay," PL 23. 
 
 2 A reference to the lithograph in the " Philos, Trans." PL XVI. 
 representing the specimen of the natural size, is necessary for the full 
 illustration of this description. 
 
246 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 acquisition which Captain Brickenden has so generously 
 placed at my disposal, The second tooth, which occupies its 
 natural position in the alveolar space, consists of a perfect 
 crown, 1 1 inch in height, with the serrated margin as sharp 
 as when recent ; and this was the first evidence obtained as to 
 the mode in which the teeth were implanted. The flat 
 enamelled face of the tooth, characterized by its longitudinal 
 ridges, is placed mesially, or towards the inside of the mouth, 
 and parallel to, and within the inner alveolar wall j the 
 smooth convex part of the crown fills up a depression in the 
 outer parapet, in the interspace of two sockets of the mature 
 molars. This position is the reverse of that in which the 
 successional teeth in the Iguana are developed ; for in that 
 reptile the coronal germ occupies the same relative place as in 
 the mature state, the ridged face being outwards, and the 
 smooth side inwards, or towards the cavity of the mouth. 
 
 As the crown of the tooth in the Iguanodon is not sym- 
 metrical, one lateral margin presenting a gentle curvature, 
 and the other forming a broad angle at the base of the ser- 
 rated border, the teeth belonging to one side of the lower jaw 
 may readily be distinguished from those of the other ; the 
 lateral marginal angle being always situated posteriorly. 
 Guided by this character, Dr. Melville and myself examined 
 the numerous teeth in the British Museum and in my own 
 collection, and were enabled to ascertain to which ramus or 
 side of the jaw any tooth belonged. Thus, for example, the 
 specimen represented, Lign. 50, which is a perfect successional 
 germ, the counterpart of that implanted in the jaw, consisting 
 of the crown before the formation of the fang, belongs to the 
 right side. 
 
 The situation of the germ in relation to the tooth it was 
 destined to supplant, is invariably on the inside of the mouth ; 
 in the lower molars the excavation in the mature tooth occa- 
 sioned by the upward growth of the germ, is consequently on 
 the enamelled mesial or inner face, as is shown in my original 
 memoir : l in the upper tooth the germ was lodged in an 
 excavation on the smooth convex aspect. 2 
 
 In some examples the cavity produced by the pressure of 
 
 1 Philos. Trans." 1825, PL XIV. fig. 7 a. 
 
 2 Philos. Trans." 1848, PL XVIII. fig. 2",/. 
 
ROOM III. LOWER JAW OF THE IGUANODON. 247 
 
 the germ is at the bottom of the fang of the tooth in place ; 
 in others, the successional dental excavation is on the base 
 of the enamelled crown ; for in the Iguanodon the old teeth 
 were retained till nearly the entire coronal portion was worn 
 away, and the crown of the tooth, from the abrasion by use 
 above, and the removal of the fang by absorption below, was 
 often reduced to a mere disk, before it was finally shed. l 
 
 As the surface of the crown, when abraded by mastication, 
 possesses two distinct facets, it is obvious that the arrange- 
 ment of the lower teeth in relation to the upper was inter- 
 mediate, or subalternate, as is the case in the ruminants. 
 
 The external aspect of the specimen 2 (Lign 54) presents in 
 its transverse diameter a gentle convexity, traversed by a 
 slightly elevated longitudinal ridge, parallel with, and im- 
 mediately beneath, the row of vascular foramina commonly 
 met with in this part of the lower jaw in reptiles ; and towards 
 the posterior extremity, the side of the bone is somewhat com- 
 
 LIGX. 54. EXTERNAL VIEW OF THE LOWER JAW OF THE IGUASODOX. 
 (} not. tize.) 
 
 pressed below the longitudinal eminence; agreeing in this 
 respect with the portion of a lower jaw of a much smaller 
 reptile, to be described hereafter. 3 The upper margin of the 
 bone is formed by the outer alveolar parapet, which is deeply 
 scalloped or crenated by the terminations of the sockets of 
 the teeth ; the angular eminences indicate the intra-alveolar 
 
 1 " Philos. Trans." 1848, p. 188. 
 
 2 Figured in " Philos. Trans." 1848, PI. XVI. XVII. 
 
 3 Described in " Philos. Trans." 1841 (PI. V. figs. 1, 8, 9), as part of 
 the jaw of a young Iguanodon, but which belongs to a distinct genus 
 the Regnosaurus. 
 
248 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 ridges. The whole surface is covered with minute punctua- 
 tions and striee. 
 
 The numerous and large vascular foramina which aiforded 
 passage to the vessels and nerves from the dental canal to the 
 external integuments, form a striking character in this aspect : 
 they open obliquely forwards ; nine are distributed at regular 
 intervals in a line with the alveolar margin, from the posterior 
 end of the bone to nearly opposite the successional tooth in 
 place. A fracture in the middle of the outer surface, at the 
 distance of 4J inches from the posterior end, exposes the 
 dental canal filled with sandstone : its diameter is here two- 
 fifths of an inch. 
 
 At the anterior termination of the alveolar space, a slight 
 protuberance marks the commencement of the upper margin 
 of the symphysial region, which is defined by a sharp smooth 
 ridge, that sweeps downwards and inwards to form the front 
 of the jaw. A deep groove, beset with foramina, constitutes 
 a strong line of demarcation between the inner and outer 
 boundary of this area ; the latter is thick and convex, and 
 terminates anteriorly, as already mentioned, in a mammillary 
 protuberance or tubercle. A series of foramina, eight in 
 number, extends along the outer and inferior surface of the 
 symphysis ; the terminal one, which is three-fourths of an 
 inch in its transverse diameter, is situated immediately under 
 the mental tubercle (c) above described. The mesial or inner 
 edge of the symphysis, which in connexion with the ramus of 
 the left side formed the median suture of the lower jaw, is thin 
 and expanded ; the articulating surfaces of the two dentary 
 bones appearing to have overlapped each other, but as the 
 edge of the bone is somewhat broken, the line of junction is 
 not quite determinable ; but the two rami do not seem to 
 have been united by anchylosis. On the under surface of the 
 symphysis there is a depressed oval area, bounded laterally 
 and posteriorly by a slightly elevated ridge, probably for the 
 insertion of the protractor muscles of the tongue. The coro- 
 noid bone (d), which is incomplete, is expanded more out- 
 wardly than in any recent saurian. 
 
 With respect to the length of the jaw to which this speci- 
 men belonged, an approximative estimate only can be formed, 
 since we have no means at present of determining the relative 
 size of all the different pieces that entered into the construe- 
 
ROOM III. 
 
 LOWER JAW OP THE IGUANODON. 
 
 249 
 
 tion of the maxillary organs of the Iguanodon. From the 
 appearance of the fractured end, it seems probable that the 
 dentaiy bone was prolonged 
 backwards five or six inches 
 before it united with the sur- 
 angular and angular : upon 
 this supposition the entire 
 length must have been two 
 feet, and the number of teeth 
 about twenty. In the Iguana 
 and most Lizards the dentary 
 element is half the length of 
 the jaw ; and if this propor- 
 tion be taken as the standard 
 of comparison and it ap- 
 pears to be the most pro- 
 bable one the length of the 
 jaw of this individual was 
 four feet An eminent pale- 
 ontologist 1 has estimated the 
 length of the head of the 
 largest Iguanodon at only 
 thirty inches; having taken 
 as the basis of his calculation, 
 the length of six dorsal ver- 
 tebrae, which in the Iguana 
 is equal to that of the lower 
 jaw. But the specimen be- 
 fore us proves either that the 
 same scale of proportion is 
 not applicable to this co- 
 lossal saurian, or that much 
 larger dorsal vertebrae than 
 those from which the mea- 
 surement was taken, are yet 
 to be discovered ; for several 
 teeth in my possession exceed in magnitude the largest 
 sockets of this dentary bone. Even if we take the abbreviated 
 proportions of the short blunt-headed lizards as the scale 
 
 1 Reports of the British Association for 1841. Article, "British 
 Fossil Reptiles," p. 143. " If there be any part of the skeleton of the 
 
 LIGN. 55. 
 
 RESTORED FIGURE OF THE LO-WER JAW OF 
 
 THE IGUANODON. SEES FROM ABOVE. 
 
 ( T V Nat. tize.) 
 
250 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 as for example the Chameleons the length of the jaw of 
 this Iguanodon must have exceeded three feet. 
 
 The sketch of the lower jaw, represented as seen from above, 
 in Lign. 55, is intended to convey an idea of the remark- 
 able form of this part of the skeleton ; the restoration of the 
 articular part, drawn in outline, is of course ideal ; it is taken 
 from the corresponding portion of the lower jaw of the Iguana. 
 
 PORTION OF THE UPPER JAW OF THE IGUANODON. ' Middle 
 Shelf of Wall-case C. This specimen consists of the ante- 
 rior part of the left maxillary bone, having on the under 
 surface the alveolar furrow with the bases of the sockets of 
 ten teeth; and on the upper, the deep channels of the infra- 
 orbital vessels and nerves that supplied the teeth and integu- 
 ments of the front of the jaw and face on the left side. Dr. 
 MELVILLE, 2 who kindly aided me by his profound anatomical 
 knowledge in the investigation of the maxillary organs of the 
 Iguanodon, and devoted much time and attention in insti- 
 tuting the necessary comparisons between the fossils in my 
 own cabinet and those formerly collected by me, and now in 
 the British Museum, with the jaws and teeth of recent rep- 
 tiles, favoured me with the following observations on this 
 specimen : 
 
 " This fragment of the left maxilla, which is eight inches five lines 
 long, and two inches seven lines broad, formed the lower boundary of 
 the nasal surface ; it is broken off where the vertical parapet rises to 
 enclose the olfactory fossa. The corresponding part in the skull of an 
 Iguana (/. tuberculata), measuring four inches two lines in length, is six 
 lines long, or nearly one-eighth that of the cranium ; this ratio gives 
 
 " Iguana which may with greater probability than the rest be supposed 
 to have the proportions of the corresponding part of the Iguanodon, it 
 is the lower jaw, by virtue of the analogy of the teeth and the sub- 
 stances they are adapted to prepare for digestion. Now the lower jaw 
 gives the length of the head of the Iguana, and this equals the length 
 of six dorsal vertebrae ; so that as five inches rather exceeds the length 
 of the largest Iguanodon vertebra yet obtained, with the intervertebral 
 space superadded, on this calculation the length of the head of the largest 
 Iguanodon must have been two feet six inches" 
 
 1 1 discovered this fossil in 1838, in a quarry near Cuckfield. By the 
 kind permission of Mr.Kb'NiG, the specimen has recently been cleared 
 of the sandstone with which it was partially invested, so as to render 
 its characters more obvious. It is figured in " Philos. Trans.," 1848. 
 PI. XIX. 
 
 2 JSTow Professor of Zoology in Queen's College, Gal way. 
 
 
ROOM III. UPPER JAW OF THE IGUANODON. 251 
 
 five feet four inches as the length of the skull of the Iguanodon to which 
 the fossil belonged ; but as the brain and the organs of sense would 
 probably bear a less proportion to the whole bulk in these gigantic 
 saurians than in the small species of existing Lizards, we may infer 
 a diminution in the absolute size of the head, corresponding with the 
 abbreviation and contraction of the cranium ; and the length in the 
 adult Iguanodon would probably average about four feet. 
 
 " The breadth of the fragment is uniform; in front it is rounded off 
 externally, and exhibits the oblong terminal irregular surface for articu- 
 lation with the intermaxillary bone by which it appears to have been 
 overlap t. The large infra-orbital canal opens at the junction of the 
 posterior and middle third, and midway between its margins passes into 
 a broad and deep and sigmoid groove, which curves inwards as it advance?, 
 so as nearly to reach the inner edge in the centre of its course, where it 
 gives off a retrograde furrow extending over the internal margin. 
 
 " The infra-orbital canal, which is eight lines wide behind and four 
 lines high, bends inwards as it retrogrades from its anterior opening. 
 The inner surface is only four lines from the nasal aspect of the frag- 
 ment behind, so that after a course of a few inches, it would have 
 emerged on the floor of the nasal cavity. The roof is incised obliquely 
 outwards, and the inner portion of it extends forwards to the retrograde 
 groove. The portion of the external surface of the alveolar process that 
 remains, slopes inwards, and exhibits no traces of vascular foramina." 
 
 From the almost entire destruction of the inner walls of 
 the alveolar furrow, deep transverse grooves are the only indi- 
 cations of the dental sockets. As the fangs of the teeth of 
 the upper jaw were more curved than in the lower series, 
 their implantation presented a corresponding modification, as 
 is the case in the dental organs of certain existing Monitors ; 
 hence the width of the alveolar space is greater than in the 
 lower jaw. 
 
 Distinctive characters of the Upper and Lower Teeth. 
 Although the peculiar characters which distinguish the teeth 
 of the Iguanodon from those of all other animals were satis- 
 factorily established from the numerous detached specimens 
 that had come under my observation, yet as the mode in 
 which the teeth were implanted in the jaws was then un- 
 known, no attempt was made to ascertain the dextral or 
 sinistral position of the isolated teeth, nor to separate the 
 lower from the upper series, and thus determine the dental 
 arrangement by which the jaws of this colossal reptile were 
 invested with the functions of those of the existing herbi- 
 vorous mammalia. To ascertain these important questions it 
 became necessary to institute a rigorous examination and 
 comparison of all the teeth of the Iguanodon to which we 
 
252 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 could obtain access; the following are the results of our 
 investigation. 1 
 
 Teeth of the Lower Jaw. The lower tooth (Lign. 50 and 
 52, 3, 4,) is curved with the concavity outwards, or towards 
 the external alveolar parapet ; the upper and lower limbs, 
 corresponding respectively to the wedge-shaped crown, and 
 elongated taper fang, are not separated by a constriction 
 or neck, but are flattened in opposite directions. In the 
 upper moiety of the coronal segment, it is compressed trans- 
 versely with an outer convex, and a flat inner aspect, and 
 gradually increases downwards in width and thickness, from 
 the broad-rounded eccentric apex to its greatest longitudinal 
 diameter. It continues to expand transversely while decreas- 
 ing in breadth, and subconcave planes replace, the serrated 
 edges at which the surfaces meet above ; it obtains its greatest 
 thickness where the tooth bends and forms the fang, which 
 diminishes rapidly in both diameters, and the lateral facets 
 are brought in contact below, and obliterate the inner sur- 
 face ; in fully formed teeth when a successional germ is not 
 developed, the fang terminates in a point. 2 
 
 The enamelled surface is divided into two unequal chan- 
 nelled areas by a primary longitudinal ridge ; commencing 
 at the apex, it intersects the long diagonal, and terminates 
 behind the lower angle. 
 
 The relative width and depth of the longitudinal grooves, 
 and the prominence of the intervening ridges, vary in different 
 specimens. The serrations are produced by small mammil- 
 lated ridges, separated at slight intervals ; the inner edges of 
 the anterior apical ones are prolonged downwards, and those 
 on the posterior margin are abraded, apparently by absorp- 
 tion, during the upward growth of the germ. The inner 
 convex surface of the fang is in apposition with the outer 
 alveolar parapet. The lateral planes converge inwards, and 
 are grooved longitudinally ; they extend as high as the obtuse 
 angle of the crown, and leave between them, as they diverge 
 in their ascent, an unenamelled triangular space on the inner 
 
 1 The details of this examination are given by Dr. Melville in the 
 memoir referred to, " Philos. Trans." 1848, pp. 191 195. 
 
 2 "Philos. Trans." 1841, Plate VII. figs. 1, 2. A specimen of this 
 kind is placed on the middle shelf of Wall-case C. 
 
ROOM III. UPPER TEETH OF THE IGUANODOX. 253 
 
 aspect. Expansions of the alveolar septa on each side are 
 adapted to the lateral planes of the fang, and the inner 
 parapet is deficient opposite the triangular tract above-men- 
 tioned, but is closed below, and separates the alveolus from 
 the cavity of reserve in the secondary dental groove. 
 
 The teeth never become anchylosed to the sockets; the 
 great transverse diameter of the dentary element of the jaw 
 above appears to have allowed of the outward curvature of 
 the elongating fang, while the inner surface was maintained 
 nearly vertical. By the same provision the germ attained a 
 considerable size before it pressed upon and excavated the 
 root of the tooth it was destined ultimately to displace. 
 The wedge-shaped crown and the anterior serrated recurved 
 trenchant edge, must have rendered the teeth in this early 
 stage very efficient instruments, in the absence of incisors, 
 for cutting vegetable food. 
 
 The arrangement of the upper and lower molars, and the 
 situation of a lower successional germ, are shown in Lign. 
 56, in which two upper molars of the right side are repre- 
 sented on their external or enamelled aspect, and a corre- 
 sponding lower molar beneath them : in jig. 2, are shown the 
 opposite or internal aspect, and the position of a successional 
 germ in the fang of the lower tooth, fig. 4. 
 
 Teeth of the Upper Jaw. Lign. 56, 1, 3. After the 
 determination of the form and position of the teeth of the 
 lower jaw, the next question to be determined was, whether 
 the teeth in the upper maxilla had the same shape and cur- 
 vature as those of the lower. Upon examining the extensive 
 series in the British Museum, several teeth were found dif- 
 fering in shape from the now-ascertained type of the lower 
 molars of the Iguauodon; these, however, so closely corre- 
 spond in all essential respects, that no reasonable doubt can 
 exist of their having belonged to the upper jaw of the same 
 species of reptile. From the mutual adaptation of the grind- 
 ing surfaces, and the situation of the excavation produced 
 by the replacing germ which in all analogous cases is in the 
 mesial aspect of the fang the inference was obvious that 
 these teeth not only did belong to the upper series, but that 
 they were curved in an opposite direction to those of the 
 lower; namely, with the convexity external, and the con- 
 cavity internal; the hollow for the successional germ being 
 
254 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 situated in the latter. If this interpretation be correct, then 
 the upper and lower molars were related to each other nearly 
 
 UPPER MOLARS. 
 
 Outer aspect. Inner aspect. 
 
 2 
 
 LOWER MOLARS. 
 
 LIGN 56. UPPER AND LOWER TEETH OF THE IGUANODON, IN THEIR 
 PRESUMED NATURAL ARRANGEMENT. 
 
 (| not. size.) 
 
 Fig. 1. Two upper molars, the crowns worn by use; the external aspect showing 
 
 the ridged and enamelled face. 
 2. Inner aspect of the same. 
 3. A mature lower molar ; the external aspect; exposing the two oblique facets 
 
 worn by friction against the pair of upper teeth. 
 4. Inner aspect of a lower molar, displaying the longitudinal ridges, and 
 
 serrated edges ; a coronal germ of a successional tooth is seen in a cavity 
 
 at the base of the fang. 
 
 as in the Ruminants ; the outer aspect below corresponding 
 to the inner above ; the triturating facet inclining from above 
 downwards and outwards in the inferior series, and from below 
 upwards and inwards in the superior; in the lower teeth the 
 enamelled edge is within and the most elevated, while in the 
 upper it is external and the lowest. 
 
 By this adjustment the harder dentine with its coating of 
 enamel, played on the softer vaso-dentinal tract of the tooth 
 opposed to it below ; and a bevelled or chisel-like surface was 
 maintained for triturating the food when drawn into the 
 
ROOM III. TYMPANIC BONE OF THE IGUANODON. 255 
 
 mouth by the large prehensile tongue, which is indicated by 
 the procumbent and inferiorly excavated symphysis. The 
 upper molars are also distinguished by the smaller antero- 
 posterior diameter of the crown by the great prominence of 
 the primary ridge by the breadth of the vertically convex 
 surface of the fang by the width of the lateral facets and 
 by the contraction of the internal or vertically concave sur- 
 face which becomes ridge-like below. 1 
 
 As it is very rarely that a specimen occurs in which the 
 absorption of the fang, from the upward growth and pressure 
 of a new tooth, has not taken place in a greater or lesser de- 
 gree, it is evident that the formation of successional teeth was 
 in constant progress at all periods, as is the case in most 
 saurians. 
 
 We have seen that the internal structure of the teeth is in 
 striking accordance with the external form and mechanical 
 arrangement of the dental organs; for the central body of 
 dentine or tooth-ivory is of a softer and coarser texture than 
 in any known reptiles, and closely resembles that of the 
 large herbivorous mammalians. The peculiar arrangement 
 of substances of different degrees of hardness, must have 
 rendered the teeth in every stage instruments admirably 
 adapted for the trituration and comminution of vegetable 
 substances. The dental pulp became ossified in the old teeth, 
 so that whatever the degree of abrasion, the exposed masti- 
 cating surface was solid. This is seen even in the last 
 stage, when the crown is reduced to a mere plate or disk 
 of dentine. 
 
 TYMPANIC BONE. Wall-case C, see p. 227. As the arti- 
 cular piece which contains the socket of the lower jaw for 
 receiving the inferior head of the os quadratum is unfortu- 
 nately wanting, the mechanism of the articulation of the 
 jaws can only be conjectured; for although a very fine 
 example of the tympanic bone which in reptiles as in birds 
 connects the lower with the upper maxilla is preserved in 
 my former collection, the specimen is not sufficiently perfect 
 to indicate the adjustment of these parts of the maxillary 
 organs. 
 
 1 The distinction between the upper and lower molars was first 
 suggested, and subsequently worked out and established by Dr. Melville. 
 
256 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 A large bone of this kind from Tilgate Forest, which I 
 refer to the Iguanodon, approximates in many respects to 
 that of the Mosasaurus (ante, p. 196.) The body bears some 
 resemblance to that of a vertebra, but the large cells and 
 hollows which pervade it throughout readily distinguish it. 
 It forms a thick pillar or column, which is contracted in the 
 middle, and terminates at both extremities in an elliptical 
 and nearly flat surface. Two lateral processes pass off ob- 
 liquely, and are small in proportion to the size of the column. 
 On placing this fossil beside the homologous bone of the 
 Iguana, we at once perceive that the relative proportions of 
 these parts are reversed ; for in the latter the pillar is small 
 and the lateral processes large. 
 
 From the great size of the body, and the extreme thinness 
 of its walls, the tympanic cells must have been very consi- 
 derable in number and magnitude, and have constituted a 
 large portion of the auditory cavities. This bone is 6 inches 
 high, and 5| inches in its greatest diameter. It is larger 
 than the tympanic bone of the Mosasaurus, and exceeds by 
 14 times in linear dimensions that of an Iguana, four feet 
 long. This specimen is figured on a reduced scale in the 
 " Geology of the S. E. of England," PL XI. fig. 5. 
 
 SPINAL COLUMN OF THE IGUANODON. Wall-case C. (ante, 
 p. 138.) The bones composing the vertebral column are the 
 most important elements, and at the same time the most 
 numerous remains of the skeleton, that occur in the Wealden 
 deposits ; but, unfortunately, the structure of the neural arch 
 and its processes renders the characteristic parts of the ver- 
 tebrae so liable to injury, that it is but rarely the specimens 
 imbedded in the rocks are in a perfect state, or can be 
 extricated entire. For reasons previously mentioned, con- 
 nected portions of the skeleton are but seldom met with in 
 fluviatile deposits ; hence, but few examples of vertebrae in 
 juxtaposition have been obtained. Of the Iguanodon but 
 one specimen has been discovered, exhibiting the cervical, 
 dorsal, lumbar, and caudal, vertebrae of the same indi- 
 vidual. 
 
 The difficulty of arriving at any satisfactory conclusions as 
 to the generic relations of the mutilated vertebrae which were 
 among the earliest indications of the Wealden reptiles at the 
 commencement of my researches, can scarcely be conceived 
 
BOOM ML SPDTAL COLUMN OF THE IGUAXODOST. 257 
 
 by the anatomist of the present day, who is surrounded by 
 the richest osteological museum in the world, and has spread 
 before him the collections made during the last thirty years 
 by diligent labourers in the field, who discovered the bones in 
 the strata, and with their own hands extricated and developed 
 them from the rock, unaided by pecuniary rewards from 
 associations, or societies, or by government grants ; and who 
 toiled on, actuated solely by that ardent thirst for knowledge, 
 and desire to advance a favourite science, which the genuine 
 worker and searcher after truth can alone comprehend and 
 appreciate. If the Hunterian Professor, with the immense 
 advantages which are at his command, and standing on a pin- 
 nacle raised by the labours of" genuine workers and searchers 
 after truth,** sometimes feels embarrassed, and in extenua- 
 tion of mistaken interpretations of dismembered portions of 
 skeletons, finds it necessary to observe, tha^ "Above all 
 tilings, in our attempts to gain a prospect of an unknown 
 world by the difficult ascent of the fragmentary ruins of a 
 former temple of life, we ought to note the successful efforts, 
 as well as the occasional deviations from the right track, with 
 a clear and unprejudiced glance, and record them with a 
 strict regard to truth : " ' how much more may the original 
 discoverer, explorer, and interpreter of "the fragmentary 
 ruins of former temples of life," up which the Hunterian 
 Professor has ascended, claim indulgent consideration for his 
 guesses at truth, from those who have so greatly profited by 
 them ; and deprecate the " unamiable exaggeration " of his 
 imperfect investigations, and the disparagement of his labours, 
 
 and the " misrepresentations," that appear in the Monograph 
 from which the above admonition is extracted. 
 
 Vertebral Column. The structure of the middle dorsal, and 
 anterior caudal vertebrae of the Iguanodon, was first made 
 known by the figures and descriptions in my various works on 
 the Geology and Fossil remains of the South-East of England ; 
 and subsequently established by the discovery of corresponding 
 bones in the Maidstone specimen, associated with other parts 
 of the skeleton ; for although the vertebrae in that fossil are 
 
 \. greatly distorted, their distinctive characters may be recog- 
 
 I nised by due attention. 
 
 1 "Monograph on the Fossil Beptilia of the Cretaceous Formation." 
 Palaeontographical Society, 1851, p. 83. 
 
258 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 In 1841, the elaborate and critical examination of all the 
 saurian vertebrae from the Wealden, collected by myself and 
 others, in the able " Reports on the British Fossil Reptiles," 
 established some important diagnostic characters by which 
 the isolated parts of the spinal column of several genera of 
 reptiles, whose remains are found promiscuously imbedded in 
 those deposits, might be identified. But the determination of 
 the cervical, anterior dorsal, lumbar, and terminal caudal of 
 the Iguanodon is not, even now, satisfactorily accomplished ; 
 for although, in my earlier attempts to interpret the dissevered 
 parts of the skeletons which were from time to time exhumed, 
 certain large vertebrae of dissimilar forms were vaguely assigned 
 to the Iguanodon, rather from their collocation with un- 
 doubted bones of that reptile, and the absence of remains of 
 the extremities of other genera to which they could have be- 
 longed, than from their anatomical characters, many of these 
 bones have since been referred to distinct genera, upon grounds 
 scarcely more valid. 1 
 
 Among the vertebrae I have obtained of late years, are 
 cervicals, anterior dorsals, and posterior caudals, which so 
 closely approximate in their essential characters to the known 
 vertebrae of other parts of the spinal column of the Iguano- 
 don, as to render it highly probable that they belong to that 
 animal ; and although, in the absence of connected portions 
 of the different regions of the spine, absolute certainty cannot 
 be obtained, the typical affinity of the bones in question ap- 
 pears to support this view of the subject, rather than that which 
 assigns them to distinct genera, of which no other less ques- 
 tionable vestiges have been discovered in the same deposits. 2 
 
 1 See " Reports on British Fossil Reptiles," vol. for 1841, pp. 8894. 
 
 2 In a work like the present, I can only state the general result of a 
 careful examination of all the specimens to which Dr. Melville and 
 myself could obtain access ; and I would refer to my " Memoir on the 
 Osteology of the Iguanodon and Hylseosaurus in " Philos. Trans, for 
 1849," p. 271, for figures and details. I may add that, during the 
 last year my private collection has been enriched by upwards of thirty 
 vertebrae, among which are larger and more perfect dorsals of the Igua- 
 nodon than any previously discovered ; others are cervicals, dorsals, and 
 caudals, of allied genera. Should Providence grant me life and health 
 to continue these investigations, I hope to obtain some highly important 
 results, and advance our knowledge of the structure and economy of the 
 stupendous saurians of the Wealden, whose osteology is still but very 
 imperfectly worked out. 
 
ROOM III. SPINAL COLUMN OF THE IGUAXODON. 259 
 
 In the " Geology of the South-East of England" (p. 307), 
 several large convexo-concave vertebrae from Tilgate Forest 
 are described as presenting the true lacertian form, being 
 concave anteriorly, and convex posteriorly, as in the Iguana, 
 Monitor, Crocodile, &c. ; but in 1841, Professor Owen ascer- 
 tained that the relative position of these vertebrae in the 
 skeleton was the reverse of the ordinary type, the convexity 
 being anterior ', and the concavity posterior. A similar devia- 
 tion from the usual rule had long previously been detected 
 by Baron Cuvier, in a fossil crocodilian found at Honfleur, 
 (figured and described in " Ossemens Fossiles" tome v. p. 155) ; 
 and which was referred by Geoffrey St. Hilaire to the genus 
 Steneosaurus, but has since been named by Herm. von 
 Meyer, Streptospondylus (reversed spine) ; an objectionable 
 term, since the same character is present in several fossil 
 genera, as well as in existing mammalia ; and the vertebrae 
 from Tilgate Forest were assigned by Professor Owen to the 
 same genus as Streptospondylus major. 1 
 
 But notwithstanding the high respect I entertained for the 
 
 n found anatomical knowledge of the Hunterian Professor, 
 3uld not divest myself of the idea that this opinion was 
 untenable, from the fact that all the convexo-concave ver- 
 tebrae hitherto found in the Wealden were cervical j it was, 
 indeed, this circumstance, together with the extreme rarity of 
 this type, which deterred the Rev. W. D. Conybeare and 
 myself, at the commencement of my researches, from as-, 
 signing them to the Iguanodon. 2 
 
 The inspection of a large anterior dorsal vertebra of the 
 convexo-concave system in my collection, first suggested to 
 Dr. Melville the idea that this bone, as well as the cervicals 
 above mentioned, belonged to the Iguanodon, and he spared 
 neither time nor trouble in endeavouring to ascertain the 
 correctness of this opinion : to him, therefore, alone is due the 
 
 1 " British Association Reports," 1841, p. 91. The eminent author 
 appears, however, to have entertained some doubts whether the vertebrae 
 in question might not belong to his genus " Cetiosaurus ; " but he dis- 
 misses the suspicion with the remark, " that the general constancy of 
 the vertebrae of the same Saurian in their antero-posterior diameter 
 forbids the supposition of a vertebra six inches in length in the neck, 
 being associated with one three inches in length in the back," p. 96. 
 
 2 See " Geology of the South-East of England," p. 307. 
 
260 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 merit of having first interpreted the characters of this im- 
 portant part of the skeleton, should future discoveries con- 
 firm this view of the subject. 
 
 The gradual transition from the anteriorly convex cervicals, 
 to the plano-concave vertebrae of the posterior dorsal and 
 lumbar regions, appears, at least in the absence of the only 
 certain evidence, a naturally connected spinal column, to 
 warrant the conclusion that all these vertebral elements are 
 referable to the same gigantic herbivorous saurian. 1 
 
 I proceed to point out the most instructive examples of 
 the vertebrae which, according to the present state of our 
 knowledge, are referable to the Iguanodon. 
 
 CONVEXO-CONCAVE CERVICAL VERTEBRA. Wall-case C. 
 The two anteriorly convex cervicals above referred to, are on 
 the upper shelf, immediately to the left of the slab containing 
 six caudal vertebrae, in the lowest compartment of the Case, 
 see the Diagram, ante, p. 227 ;) the small figures in Lign. 
 5, fig. 5, 7, p. 164, may serve to assist the visitor in recog- 
 nising them. They are labelled, " Streptospondylus recentior 
 Ow"* These vertebrae are thus described in my "Geology of 
 
 1 If the discrepancy in the relative proportions and configuration of 
 the cervical, dorsal, and caudal vertebrae, be regarded as presenting 
 objections to this view, let it be remembered that in the spinal column 
 of our domestic Mammalia an equal dissimilarity prevails ; for example, 
 in the Ox, in which the cervical are convex anteriorly, and the convexity 
 
 . gradually disappears in the posterior regions of the spine ; and the 
 bodies of the distal caudals, instead of being solid throughout as in the 
 anterior vertebra, have a large medullary cavity in the centre, as in 
 the fossil reptile, called Poikilopleuron, (ante, p. 166.) Even in the 
 typical form of the genus Streptospondylus, the same disappearance of 
 the convexo-concave character in the middle and posterior dorsals, takes 
 place. See Cuvier's " Oss. Foss.," tome v. p. 156. 
 
 2 These vertebrae are described under another name, (S. major, nob.) 
 together with others from the oolite of Wilts, which unquestionably 
 belong to the genus Streptospondylus,) in "Brit. Assoc. Reports," 1841, 
 p. 88. These vertebrae have therefore now two specific names, one of which 
 must be abandoned ; and are referred to a genus, to which at present 
 their claim is at least very doubtful. " The, coining of names for things 
 glanced at and imperfectly understood, the fabrication of signs without 
 due comprehension of the tiling signified, becomes a hindrance instead 
 of a furtherance of true knowledge" Quoted from Professor Owen on 
 Mr. Bowerbank's Pterodactyle, DIXON'S FOSSILS, p. 404. 
 
 In Cuvier's " Oss. Foss." (tome v.) there are figures of the convexo- 
 concave type from Honfleur. A model of the British oolitic specimen 
 may be obtained of Mr. Tennant, 149, Strand. 
 
ROOM III. CONVEXO-CONCAVE CERVICAL VERTEBRAE. 261 
 
 the South-East of England" : "The vertebrae of the fourth 
 system are very rare ; they are of the true lacertian type, 
 having the articular facets of the body convex posteriorly and 
 concave anteriorly, and are wider than high, as in the Iguanas 
 and Monitors, and not in the reverse proportion, as in the 
 existing Crocodiles. In two large but mutilated cervicals, the 
 admeasurements are as follow : 
 
 Heisrht of the concave extremity .... 3 J inches. 
 
 Width of the same 4 
 
 Length of the body 6 
 
 " It is not obvious whether the annular part be united by 
 suture or otherwise ; the articular apophyses are horizontal 
 and very strong, the spinous process is destroyed." 1 In the 
 same work, (p. 307) when referring provisionally the "somewhat 
 angular dorsal and caudal vertebrae" to the Iguanodon, I men- 
 tion " that the above cervical vertebrae correspond so entirely 
 with those of the Iguana and Monitor, that it would > seem 
 a more probable conclusion that they belonged to this herbi- 
 vorous reptile : yet the extreme rarity of this type renders it 
 questionable, since there appears no reason why the vertebrse 
 should not have been found in as considerable numbers as the 
 teeth." On this statement Professor Owen remarks, " It is 
 the fortunate preservation of the two articular or oblique 
 processes at one of the extremities of the annular part of this 
 fine vertebra, now in the Mantellian Collection, Brit. Mus. 
 No. ZTTS, that has enabled me to correct the error into which 
 the Founder of that noble collection has in this instance 
 fallen. The flat oblong articular surface of each of the strong 
 and well-marked oblique processes looks downwards and out- 
 wards, thus determining them to be the posterior pair ; and 
 they overhang the concave extremity of the body of the ver- 
 tebra, showing that to be the posterior part. The opposite, or 
 anterior end of the body of the same fossil is convex. The 
 few other large convexo-concave vertebrae from the Wealden 
 of Tilgate correspond with the one here described in these 
 important characters of the genus Streptospondylus, and 
 equally differ from the vertebrse of the Iguance, Monitors, 
 and all existing Sauria. Of the fossil cervical vertebra six 
 
 1 " Geology of the S.E. of England," 1833, p. 300. 
 
262 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 inches long, the anterior part of the body is further indicated 
 by the position of the costal tubercle, or transverse process, 
 which is developed as a strong obtuse ridge from the middle 
 part of that half of the centrum which is nearest the convex 
 articulation." 1 
 
 In the Memoir in the "Philos. Trans." 1849, p. 286, 
 Professor Melville enters at length on the reasons assigned by 
 Professor Owen for referring the above vertebras to the croco- 
 dilian genus Streptospondylus ; the following summary will 
 suffice for our purpose ; the British student in fossil Erpe- 
 tology, (when such an aspirant for scientific distinction shall 
 arise), I would refer to the original memoir. 2 
 
 " The large cervical vertebrae from the Wealden strata, with 
 reversed convexo-concave joints, (Streptospondylus major of 
 Professor Owen,) enter into the composition of the cervical 
 region of the spinal column of the Iguanodon. We are led 
 to this conclusion by the following considerations : 
 
 " Istly, An anterior dorsal vertebra (in Dr. Mantell's cabinet) 
 from the same deposits, with similar but less marked devia- 
 tions in the form of the articular facets, and with a configura- 
 tion of the neural arch, so far as it is perfect, identical with 
 that existing in more posterior dorsal vertebrae with plano- 
 concave joints, well-recognized as belonging to this great 
 herbivorous reptile, links together these apparently discrepant 
 vertebral types. 
 
 2ndly, The amount of variation here assumed is parallel to 
 that which exists in its affine among the Crocodilidae, the 
 Steneosaurus rostro-minor 3 ; and similar changes in the form 
 of corresponding articular facets occur in the spinal column of 
 the Ruminants, Solipeds, and other Pachyderms ; 
 
 3rdly, Other alterations in the sculpturing of the neural 
 arch of equal value with the modifications in the form of the 
 articular aspects of the body, are concomitant with these 
 changes in the different vertebrae just mentioned, and are 
 equalled in kind and degree by those which occur in the 
 series of neural arches of the spine in the recent Crocodiles ; 
 
 4thly, These convexo-concave cervical vertebrae are found 
 
 1 "Brit. Assoc. Reports," 1841, p. 92. 
 
 2 "Philos. Trans." 1849. 
 
 3 Vide Cuvier, " Oss. Fossiles," vol. ix. 8vo. edit. 
 
BOOM III. CERVICAL VERTEBRAE OP THE IGUANODON. 263 
 
 in such collocation with other well-determined bones and 
 vertebrse of the Iguanodon, as to leave no reasonable doubt of 
 their belonging to that animal. 
 
 othly, The number of these vertebrse of different ages and 
 sizes in our collections is such as we might have expected on 
 that supposition ; and 
 
 Gthly, if these be not the cervical vertebrae of the Igua- 
 nodon, we have the (assumed) Streptospondylus major with 
 nothing but a neck, whilst the Iguanodon, as yet known, 
 is wholly destitute of that region of the spine. Is it not, 
 therefore, more probable that the neck of the so-called Strep- 
 tospondylus belongs of right to the Iguanodon, especially as 
 the bones of that reptile, tested by the fortunate discovery of 
 the Maidstone specimen, constitute the great majority of the 
 osseous relics from the deposits of the Weald 1 ? in other 
 words, the Iguanodon is the reptile par excellence characteristic 
 of the Wealden formation. 
 
 "The Streptospondylian form of the body of a vertebra- 
 can no more characterize a genus of Keptiles than the am phi - 
 ccelian or ccelospondylian modifications ; each is common to 
 a group of species constituting not only distinct genera and 
 families, but also orders and subclasses. Nay, the Strepto- 
 spondylian type is not even persistent throughout the elements 
 of the same spinal column ; it disappears towards the middle 
 of the dorsal region in the Steneosaurus rostro^ninor, the best 
 known example of this structure, and that in which it was 
 first recognized by Baron Cuvier. The genus /Streptospondylus 
 of V. Meyer ought therefore to be abolished, and the residual 
 generic application Steneosaurus (G. St. Hilaire) be retained 
 to designate Cuvier's first Gavial of Honfleur. The amphi- 
 coelian and procoelian forms are generally continued through 
 the whole length of the vertebral column ; the Streptospon- 
 dylian modification in the last sacral replaces, and in the first 
 caudal is superadded to, the proccelian form of the vertebral 
 bodies characteristic of the living Crocodiles. 
 
 " In the Report on British Reptiles much stress is laid on 
 the uniformity in length of the bodies of the same vertebral 
 series in Reptiles ; this indeed holds good within certain 
 limits among the less complicated smaller existing Lacertee, 
 but will lead us into error if rigidly applied to the more 
 highly organized extinct Saurians and Crocodiles. The rela- 
 
264 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 tive length of a vertebra must always be taken exclusively of 
 the articular convexity, whether that be in front or behind, 
 as is the practice in stating the absolute length of the spine 
 or of its individual regions. Deterred by the great length of 
 the cervical vertebrae referred to the Streptospondylus major, 
 when compared with the shortness of the dorsal or lumbar 
 vertebne assigned by him to the Cetiosaurus brevis, Professor 
 Owen was unwilling to associate them together as belonging 
 to the spinal column of the same species of reptile, which, 
 however, appears to be really the case, as I shall afterwards 
 have occasion to demonstrate." 1 
 
 If Professor Owen's opinion be correct, and the bones in 
 question belong to the Streptospondylus, then the vertebrae 
 composing the neck of the Iguaiiodon are at present un- 
 known. 
 
 The only specimen that appears to me to afford conclusive 
 evidence on this question is in the possession of J. S. Bower- 
 bank, Esq. F.R.S., and consists of a considerable portion of 
 the spinal column of a very young Iguanodon, imbedded in 
 calciferous grit. Found with this fossil, but detached from 
 it, and without any indication of its connexion with the spine, 
 to which, I believe, it unquestionably belongs, is a series of 
 three cervical vertebrae, which, with his characteristic libe- 
 rality, Mr. Bowerbank allowed me to figure in illustration of 
 my fourth Memoir on the Iguanodon, in "Philos. Trans.," 
 18,49. PI. XXIX. fig. 9. 
 
 These vertebrae are especially instructive because they de- 
 monstrate the true characters of the bones of the neck in a 
 very young Iguanodon ; for it is to this reptile this verte- 
 bral column must be ascribed. Unfortunately, the bodies of 
 the vertebrae have been crushed and compressed almost flat 
 laterally, and the natural form of the inferior part of the 
 centrum is destroyed, the visceral aspect presenting a sharp 
 ridge, and thus assuming a different contour to that of an 
 adult cervical in my cabinet, which has been compressed in 
 an opposite direction. Nevertheless, the close analogy be- 
 tween these vertebrae is sufficiently obvious ; the structure of 
 
 1 In confirmation of the remarks of Professor Melville, I may add 
 that among the large convexo-concave saurian vertebrae recently obtained 
 from the strata of Tilgate Forest, are cervicals and dorsals, belonging to 
 two, if not three, distinct generic types. 
 
ROOM III. DORSAL VERTEBRAE OF THE IGUANODOX. 265 
 
 the neural arch is identical ; and the only essential difference 
 between the bodies of the respective vertebrae is, that the an- 
 terior articulating facet is less convex in the young reptile 
 than in the adult ; but as the posterior articular end of the 
 centrum is deeply concave, it is probable that in the recent 
 state the anterior facet possessed a cartilaginous convex 
 epiphysis, by which the ball-and-socket joint was completed : 
 as in the skeleton of the young Gavialihe facets of the sacro- 
 coccygeal vertebra are flat, though very convex in the adult ; 
 (ante. p. 167.) so in the Iguanodon, the ball and socket of the 
 cervicals may not have been fully developed and ossified till 
 the reptile arrived at maturity. 
 
 The detached neural arch of a small cervical vertebra on 
 the shelf on the extreme left of Wall-case C, merits notice, 
 because I submitted it to the examination of Baron Cuvier 
 in 1830, who expressed his belief that it was the axis of a young 
 Iguanodon. The bone was then imbedded in a block of 
 Tilgate grit, and the cast of the spinal canal in calcareous 
 spar was visible, resembling the prolongation of the medulla 
 oblongata : the surrounding stone has since been removed, 
 and the fossil proves to be the neural arch of a cervical ver- 
 tebra probably, of a crocodilian reptile. 
 
 DORSAL VERTEBRAE. Wall-case C, lowest compartment. As 
 the anterior dorsal vertebrae have not been found in juxtaposi- 
 tion with other known parts of the skeleton, our knowledge of 
 this region of the spinal column is scarcely more definite than 
 that of the cervical. A large convexo-concave anterior dorsal 
 in my possession, is figured and described by Dr. Melville 
 ("Philos. Trans.," 1849, p. 284, PL XXVIII.) as a vertebra of 
 the Iguanodon; and if that accurate observer's reference of the 
 cervicals proves to be correct, there can be no doubt that the 
 dorsal in question belongs to a reptile of the same genus. 
 Although there are no vertebrae of this type in the Museum, 
 yet the following notes may be useful to the anatomical 
 inquirer : 
 
 " The anterior convexity is much less than in the cervical, 
 and the posterior concavity shallower ; the section of the 
 body would present a deep triangular outline, with the apex 
 below, corresponding to a thick median crest. The body is 
 contracted in the centre, so that the sides are concave 
 parallel to its axis, but convex vertically, owing to the great 
 
266 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 prominence of a broad longitudinal ridge, equivalent to that 
 bearing the parapophysial surface in the cervical, above and 
 below which there is a deep concavity. The spinal canal has 
 a transversely oval outline, and enlarges considerably towards 
 each extremity. The length of the body is 4J inches. 
 
 The median dorsal vertebrae are typical of the Igua- 
 nodon, several having been found connected with the extremi- 
 ties and other parts of the skeleton. There is a fine example 
 (Mantellian collection, 2160) on the lower shelf to the left of 
 the group of caudal vertebrae (see Diagram, p. 227) ; but I 
 have several larger and more perfect than any in the British 
 Museum. 
 
 The centrum has the sides smooth, concave in their antero- 
 posterior diameter, and slightly convex in the opposite or ver- 
 tical direction ; the articular faces are nearly flat, or slightly 
 concave ; in some examples they are flat in front, and depressed 
 behind ; of an oval form vertically, and flattened laterally ; 
 the sides of the centrum converge towards each other below, 
 so as to impart a wedge-like shape to the inferior part in a 
 vertical section. The suture uniting the body to the neura- 
 pophysis is almost obliterated in the adult state. The neural 
 arch rises into a broad expansion, or platform, which is sup- 
 ported on each side by a strong buttress, or pillar, that 
 springs from the hinder and outer angle of the base of the 
 neurapophysis. The spinous process rises from the entire 
 median width of the neural platform, contracts as it ascends, 
 and inclines gently backwards. 
 
 The articulating depression for the head of the rib is of an 
 elliptical form, and is situated on the side of the neural arch ; 
 in the anterior dorsals it is placed on the centrum. 
 
 The anterior oblique processes are oval, and face each 
 other ; their upper margins are four inches apart : but their 
 inferior ones are separated only by a slight notch in front of 
 the spinous process ; they extend but little from the neural 
 platform. The hinder oblique processes are sent off from the 
 under and back part, and overhang the posterior surface of 
 the centrum ; their articulating facets are turned down- 
 wards, and outwards. The upper transverse process is very 
 strong, and of a trihedral form ; it is directed upwards and 
 outwards, with an inclination backwards from the sides of the 
 neural platform, and is supported by a diagonal buttress, or 
 

 ROOM III. DORSAL VERTEBRA OF THE IGUANODON. 267 
 
 ridge, which passes outwards from beneath, and is gradually 
 blended with the process. The spinal canal is nearly circular, 
 and expands slightly in front, where it assumes a transversely 
 oval outline. The following are the dimensions of the ver- 
 tebra above described : 
 
 Antero-posterior length of the body 5 inches. 
 
 Transverse diameter of anterior face 5 
 
 Vertical diameter of the same 6 
 
 Height from the base of the centrum to the neural plat- 
 form 7 n 
 
 Height of the spinous process 7 
 
 Width of spinal canal anteriorly \\ 
 
 The essential distinctive characters of the dorsal vertebrae 
 of the Iguanodon, as demonstrated by Professor Owen 
 (" Brit. Reports," p. 127), are the strong, broad, and lofty 
 bony platform into which the neural arch expands, with its 
 supporting buttresses ; and the presence of a lower transverse 
 process (parapophysis) for the reception of the head of the 
 rib, either on the side of the centrum, as in the anterior 
 dorsal vertebrae, or from the side of the neural arch, as in 
 the middle dorsal; characters which distinguish these ver- 
 tebrae from those of ophidians, lacertians, and enalosaurians ; 
 while the absence of the posterior convex facet on the cen- 
 trum, separates them from those of the existing species of 
 crocodilians and lizards. 
 
 The usual condition in which dorsal vertebrae are found, 
 is the centrum or body deprived of its neural arch, as in 
 Lign. 35, fig. 8 (ante, p. 164) ; specimens with the upper trans- 
 verse processes (diapophysis of Professor Owen), and the 
 neural arch (as in fig. 6, which is either a posterior dorsal 
 or lumbar), are comparatively rare ; a few vertebrae only 
 have been obtained with the spinous process entire. In the 
 Maidstone specimen, (ante p. 146, Plan p. 138, Case No. 23) 
 there is a series of dorsal vertebrae (some are probably lum- 
 bar), but these are so much distorted by compression, that 
 not one presents the normal form, either of the body or the 
 apophyses. 
 
 The great strength and expansion of the transverse pro- 
 cesses of the posterior dorsals indicate the large development 
 of the abdominal region in this stupendous reptilian vegetable 
 feeder. 
 
 RIBS. Wall-case C, lowermost compartment. There are 
 
268 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 many fragments of ribs, and a few with the spinal end 
 entire : the magnificent specimen on the shelf to the right of 
 the group of caudal vertebrae, is the largest example of this 
 part of the Iguanodon that has come under my observation. 
 It was broken into numerous pieces in extracting the block of 
 sandstone in which it was imbedded, and these were chiselled 
 out singly, and connected together, and now form the finest 
 bone of this kind collected in Tilgate Forest ; though but a 
 portion of the entire rib, it is forty-six inches in length, and 
 five inches wide at its greatest breadth. 1 The ribs of the 
 Iguanodon have very rarely been found in connexion with 
 the vertebrae ; but the two-fold articulation of the costal pro- 
 cesses by means of a tubercle and the head, as previously 
 manifested in the structure of the anterior dorsal vertebrae, 
 are characters which enable us to recognize the detached ribs 
 of the gigantic herbivorous saurian. In the anterior ribs the 
 head is large, and of an ovate form ; the neck is very long, as 
 may be seen in several of the specimens in the collection, de- 
 creases progressively in the middle region of the spine, and 
 finally disappears : the posterior ribs being attached to the 
 ends of the transverse processes. This construction of the 
 costal elements corresponds with that of the crocodiles ; in 
 the lizards the attachment of the ribs to the vertebrae is by a 
 single tubercle 011 the side of the body of the vertebra. 
 
 Sacral Vertebrce. The most important and novel feature 
 in relation to the osteology of the Wealden reptiles enun- 
 ciated in Professor Owen's Reports, was the remarkable struc- 
 ture of the Sacrum in the three extinct genera of Dinosau- 
 rians ; namely, the Megalosaurus, Hylaeosaurus, and Igua- 
 nodon ; a character first observed in a fine specimen consisting 
 of six vertebrae, with portions of the two iliac bones attached, 
 in the interesting collection of W. D. Saull, Esq. of Aldersgate 
 Street. 2 No one had previously suspected that in these rep- 
 tiles the pelvic arch was composed of more than two anchy- 
 losed vertebrae, as in the living Saurians (see ante p. 167), 
 and that the neural arches were transposed from their usual 
 place over the middle of the bodies of the vertebrae, to the 
 ossified intervertebral spaces formed by the anchylosis of the 
 
 1 Several portions of ribs are figured in my " Fossils of Tilgate 
 Forest," PI. XI. 
 
 2 See " Reports on Brit. Foss. Reptiles," 1842, p. 105. 
 
ROOM III. SACRUM OF THE IGUAXODON. 269 
 
 contiguous bones ; the foramina for the transmission of the 
 sacral nerves from the spinal chord, being situated above and 
 behind the middle of the bodies. 
 
 Fragments of the pelvic arch, consisting of the centrum 
 of one vertebra, with portions of others anchylosed to the 
 articular ends, are not uncommon; and so long since as 
 1826, Sir Roderick Murchison transmitted to Baron Cuvier 
 a specimen of this kind, found at Loxwood in Sussex, 1 with 
 several lumbar and caudal vertebrae. Upon these bones 
 M. Cuvier remarked, that the united bodies of the ver- 
 tebrae "seem to indicate that the animal to which they 
 belonged made such feeble use of its tail that the caudal 
 vertebrae were occasionally anchylosed together." 2 Even the 
 magnificent specimen of the sacrum of the Megalosaurus, 
 consisting of a series of five united vertebrae, figured and 
 described by Dr. Buckland, in 1824, did not suggest the true 
 structure of this part of the skeleton. The announcement of 
 this fact was therefore to me of special interest, since it eluci- 
 dated the nature of several fossils in my collection that were 
 previously unintelligible. 
 
 With the view of acquiring an accurate idea of the vertebrae 
 composing the sacrum of the Iguanodon, I obtained Mr. 
 Saull's permission to have his unique and most instructive 
 specimen completely developed at my own expense, as its 
 characters were in some measure obscured by a layer of hard 
 calcareous grit, with which, as is generally the case in the 
 Isle of Wight Wealden bones, it was partially encrusted. 3 
 
 This Fossil was obtained from the Wealden beds in Sandown 
 Bay, and is strongly impregnated with oxide of iron, and 
 traversed by veins of calcareous spar. It is the sacrum of 
 a young animal, and consists of six anchylosed vertebrae (not 
 
 1 " Geological Transactions," vol. ii. (New Series), p. 105, Plate XV. 
 figs. 4, 6. 
 
 2 On Baron Cuvier's last visit to England, in 1 830, 1 showed him some 
 vertebrae anchylosed in like manner, and on which he made the same 
 remark. 
 
 3 The specimen is figured (for the first time) in PL XXVI. of my 
 "Memoir on the Iguanodon, Phil. Trans." 1849. As Mr. Saull, with 
 great liberality, throws his museum open to visitors every Thursday 
 after mid-day, this unique fossil can be seen by any person interested in 
 this department of Palaeontology. 
 
270 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 of Jive as described in "Brit. Foss. Reptiles," p. 130), with the 
 right iliac bone attached. The relative size and proportions 
 of the several bones composing the sacral arch are now well 
 displayed. The body of the first or anterior vertebra is large, 
 strong, and expanded, forming a powerful buttress in front ; 
 the bodies of the two posterior vertebrae are likewise large 
 and strong ; but the second, third, and fourth, are constricted 
 laterally in the middle, and are more slender than either the 
 anterior or posterior ; by this modification of the elements of 
 the sacral arch, both lightness and strength were obtained. 1 
 A similar conformation is observable in every specimen of the 
 sacrum that has come under my observation, whether of young 
 and small, or of old and large individuals ; in all, the vertebrae 
 have the same relative proportions. 2 The only portion of the 
 sacrum of the Iguanodon in the British Museum, is the 
 detached vertebra placed above the tray containing the femur 
 marked No. 5, in the upper division of Wall -case C. (See 
 diagram, ante, p. 227. 2.) It evidently belonged to a young in- 
 dividual, for the body has separated from the contiguous bones 
 without fracture. 
 
 THE PELVIS. ILIUM. Of the bones of the pelvis, namely 
 the Ilium, Ischium, and Pubis, specimens of the first only 
 have been found in connexion with the sacrum, or associated 
 with other parts of the skeleton. The right and left iliac 
 bones, detached from the pelvic arch, are imbedded near each 
 other, in the Maidstone fossil: and in Mr. Saull's, a con- 
 siderable portion of the right ilium remains attached in its 
 natural position. 3 Captain Lambart Brickenden has the 
 finest detached example of this element of the pelvis that has 
 
 1 A detailed anatomical description of this sacrum is given in " Philos. 
 Trans." 1849, pp. 297299. 
 
 2 Among the water-worn masses of bone strewn along those parts of 
 the southern shores of the Isle of Wight, which are bounded by cliffs of 
 the Wealden strata, I had often met with specimens in which the body 
 of a very large vertebra was anchylosed to one so disproportionately 
 small, that 1 could not explain their origin, until Professor Owen's 
 description of the structure of the sacrum suggested their true nature. 
 These fossils in fact consist of one of the large bones either of the ante- 
 rior or posterior end of the sacrum united to one of the slender middle 
 vertebrae. 
 
 3 "Philos. Trans." 1849, PI. XXYI. A. 
 
ROOM III. PELVIS OF THE IGUANODON. 271 
 
 come under my observation ; it was found imbedded in the 
 friable sandstone of Tilgate Forest, from which it has been 
 successfully extricated. 
 
 The ilium of the Iguanodon resembles that of the monitors 
 in its hatchet-like form, and in the prolonged extremity ; in 
 the Maidstone specimen one of the iliac bones shows the 
 inner or sacral surface, and the other the outer aspect. The 
 slender prolonged extremity described by Professor Owen as 
 the posterior part, is regarded by Professor Melville as the 
 anterior, and " only an exaggerated condition of the short 
 spine projecting forwards from the ilium in the smaller lacertae." 
 The discovery of perfect specimens of the bone, or character- 
 istic portions in connexion with the sacrum, will determine this 
 question : that the anterior part of the sacrum is that so 
 described by Dr. Melville in the " Philosophical Transactions," 
 is confirmed by the specimens subsequently obtained. 
 
 Os PUBIS. Wall-case C, uppermost shelf. (Diagram, ante, 
 p. 227.) A fragment of a very broad and curved plate of bone, 
 (labelled 2132), 16 inches long, and 9| wide, and but 3 inches 
 in its greatest thickness, and which required many hours of 
 labour to extricate from the stone in which it was imbedded, is 
 evidently a portion of the pubis of a gigantic saurian ; it is, 
 with great probability, ascribed to the Iguanodon by Professor 
 Owen, who thus describes it. "The Pubis/which presents a 
 simple spatulate form in the Crocodiles, already begins to in- 
 crease in breadth at its symphysial extremity in the extinct 
 family with concave vertebrae ; and in the larger existing 
 species of Lizards is expanded at both extremities, and has a 
 very marked and recognisable character superadded, in being 
 bent outwards with a considerable curvature. 
 
 " A massive fragment of a broad osseous plate, bearing 
 a segment of a large articular cavity at its thickest margin, 
 and theDce extended as a thinner plate, bent with a bold 
 curvature, and terminated by a thick rounded labrum, offers 
 characters of the Lacertian type of the pubis too obvious to 
 be mistaken ; and since the modifications of the ilium of the 
 Tguanodon in the Maidstone skeleton approximate to the 
 Lacertian type of the bone, and especially as manifested by 
 the great Varani, in which the recurved character of the 
 pubic plate is most strongly marked, we may with much 
 
 
272 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 probability, assign the fossil in question to the pelvis of the 
 Iguanodon. 
 
 " This fine portion of pubis is of an inequilateral triangular 
 form, 16 inches in its longest diameter, 9J inches across its 
 base, or broadest part, 6 inches across its narrowest part. 
 The fractured surface of the bone near the acetabulum, is 3| 
 inches thick. The acetabular depression is seven inches across, 
 a proportion which corresponds with that of the acetabular 
 concavity in the ilium, and with the size of the cavity in 
 which the head of the Iguanodon's femur must have been 
 received. One angle of the, cavity corresponding with the an- 
 terior one in the Varanus, is raised ; a broad and low obtuse 
 ridge bounds the rest of the free margin of the cavity. The 
 smooth labrum exchanges its character near one of the frac- 
 tured edges of the bone for a rough surface, which indicates 
 the commencement of the symphysis. In the apparent absence 
 of the perforation below the acetabular depression, the present 
 bone agrees with the Crocodilian type." Brit. Assoc. Rep. 
 1841, p. 136. 
 
 ISCHIUM 1 Wall-case 0. Upper shelf. : Near the specimen 
 last described, there is a fragment of a large lamelliform bone, 
 (labelled ^ff^-), which Professor Owen considers to bear most 
 resemblance in its general form and slightly twisted character 
 to the Ischium, with traceable modifications intermediate to 
 those presented by the extinct Goniopholis, and modern 
 Varani and. Iguance. I had often attempted to discover the 
 true character of this bone when in my possession, but could 
 not arrive at any satisfactory conclusion respecting it \ it 
 struck me as more nearly resembling a bone of the arm than 
 of the pelvis, and that it might possibly be the humerus oi 
 an unknown species or genus of saurians ; its surface and 
 texture differ from those of the bones of the Iguanodon. 
 
 CAUDAL VERTEBRAE AND H^EMAPOPHYSES. Wall-case C, lowest 
 compartment. These elements of the spinal column have been 
 discovered from time to time in numerous localities of the 
 Wealden strata ; the caudal vertebrae collected by myself, or 
 submitted to my examination, amount to several hundred 
 specimens. The most splendid example beyond comparison 
 is the series of six anterior caudal vertebrae with their pro- 
 cesses almost entire, and three chevron-bones or hsemapophyses. 
 
ROOM III. CAUDAL VERTEBRAE OP THE IGUANODON. 273 
 
 imbedded in a slab of Tilgate grit, that is placed in the middle 
 of the lowest compartment of this Case. 
 
 6 
 
 LIGX. 57. Six CAUDAL VERTEBRAE OF THE IGUANODON; FROM TILGATE FOREST. 
 (^nat.tize.) 
 
 a. a. The spinous processes, from 13 to 15 inches in height. 
 
 6. b. Three displaced chevron bones, or hamapophyses, imbedded in the stone 
 
 near their original position between the bodies of the vertebrae, 
 c. Anterior articular face of a vertebra. 
 
 The characters of the anterior caudal of a young Igua- 
 nodon are beautifully displayed in this invaluable specimen. 
 The bodies of the vertebrae lie in natural juxta-position, the 
 anterior oblique processes embracing the posterior ; the spinous 
 processes are entire and in their normal situation, and the 
 transverse but little mutilated. Three displaced chevron-bones 
 are imbedded near the corresponding articular surfaces of the 
 bodies of the vertebrae, the proximal ends of two of them 
 being almost in contact with the intervertebral spaces to 
 which they belonged. The original position of the respective 
 parts will be understood by reference to Lign. 35, p. 164, 
 figs. 3, and 3 a, which is intended to illustrate the normal 
 characters of the caudal vertebrae of the Iguanodon, and the^ 
 
274 PETKIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 relative proportions of the apophyses ; the figure is the size 
 of the original. 
 
 Fig. 4 of the same lignograph is a lateral view of a caudal 
 vertebra, remarkable for the deep cavity left between the 
 centrum and the base of the neurapophysis, (o) by the re- 
 moval of the pleural element or transverse process, which 
 had dropped out before the bone was imbedded in the 
 sandstone. 
 
 In the caudal vertebrae the centrum is more cuneiform than 
 in the dorsals, the sides are smooth and almost flat vertically, 
 and but slightly depressed in their antero-posterior diameter ; 
 at their inferior convergence, instead of uniting in a rounded 
 ridge as in the dorsals, they are separated by a deep longitu- 
 dinal furrow, bounded anteriorly and posteriorly by the 
 oblique extremity of the centrum, which is truncated at both 
 ends to articulate with the inferior spinous process or chevron- 
 bone (see Jig. 3, Lign. 35). The articular faces of the bodies 
 correspond with those of the posterior dorsals ; the anterior 
 surface is almost flat, the posterior slightly concave ; the 
 neural arch no longer presents the peculiar characters ob- 
 servable in the dorsal and lumbar vertebrae ; it is attached 
 by a wide base to the body, and the two laminae in some 
 instances extend transversely over the latter so as to complete 
 the spinal canal, as in many of the dorsal vertebrae. The 
 anterior zygapophyses (which are shown in Lign. 57) have 
 their elliptical articular surfaces almost vertical, and closely 
 embrace the corresponding posterior processes; the latter 
 spring off from the base of the neural spine, and project over 
 the centrum. The neural spine, or spinous process, is very 
 long ; it rises by an anterior basal ridge from the neural arch 
 as in the dorsals, but is greatly contracted at its commence- 
 ment, and increasing in breadth as it ascends, terminates 
 in a thick truncated summit. The longest spine in the 
 specimen before us is nearly 16 inches in height, and 2 
 inches in antero-posterior diameter at the summit ; the spine 
 is thin in a transverse direction, the truncated summit is 
 but \ inch thick. The transverse processes are relatively 
 short and strong. The height from the base of the centrum 
 to the top of the spinous process is 22 inches, and as the 
 chevron-bone, when perfect, would be nearly five inches in 
 length, the vertical expansion of the tail in the young Igua- 
 
ROOM III. CHEVRON-BONE OF THE IGUANODON. 275 
 
 nodon to which these vertebrae belonged, must have been at 
 least twenty-seven inches. 
 
 CHEVRON-BOXE, or hcemapophyses. Wall-case C, left-hand 
 shelf, lowest compartment. The form of this element of the 
 caudal region is well shown in this large and perfect specimen, 
 which is figured in my " Fossils of Tilgate Forest," pi. xii. 
 It is eleven inches in length, and 2 inches in antero-posterior 
 diameter. The two laminae of which this bone essentially 
 consists, are in the Iguanodon blended at the proximal end 
 into an expanded cuneiform head, which fits into the corre- 
 sponding intervertebral space left by the truncated angles of 
 two contiguous vertebrae ; and the distal portion constitutes 
 a strong solid spine, a wide interspace, forming the canal for 
 the passage of the large blood-vessels of the tail, being left at 
 the upper part (as is shown in Lign. 35, fig. 2, 3, and 3 a, /, 
 p. 1 64) ; this channel is three inches long in the specimen 
 before us. The blending of the proximal articular ends of 
 the haemapophyses into a single head, is constant throughout 
 the caudal region of the Iguanodon, so far as my knowledge 
 extends ; among the hundreds of caudal vertebrae which I 
 have examined, the unity of the hamapophysial surface is 
 distinctly impressed. 1 
 
 OTHER VERTEBRAE, in Wall-case C. It would extend this 
 article to an undue length were I to dwell on the anato- 
 mical characters of the other vertebrae in this Case, some of 
 which, Dr. Melville and myself believe to be referable to the 
 Iguanodon, while Professor Owen refers them to other genera. 
 On many of these points the evidence appears to me to be in- 
 sufficient to warrant a positive decision ; and it will be most 
 conducive to the successful elucidation of the subject by future 
 inquirers, if, in this place, I subjoin a list of the specimens, 
 with Professor Owen's interpretation of them. 
 
 1 The figure of a caudal vertebra with two distinct hsemapophysial 
 surfaces, in Professor Owen's Monograph on " Cretaceous Fossil Beptiles," 
 PL XXXVII. is certainly not a representation of a normal character : 
 neither is the circular face of the centrum of the dorsal vertebra in 
 PL XXXVI. ; nor the posterior zygapophysis in PL XXXV. In fact, 
 all these parts of the skeleton in the Maidstone specimen are so dis- 
 torted, that it is impossible an artist can give the true characters of the 
 original bones : especially when seen through the glass case that covers 
 them. 
 
276 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 Vertebra marked -^^; l body with the bases of the neural arch; 
 figured in my " Fossils of Tilgate Forest," 
 PL IX. fig. 11. 
 
 g*g s ; body of a dorsal vertebra. 
 
 These are assigned to the crocodilian reptile to which the slender, flat, 
 acuminated teeth belong ; under the name of fiuchosaurus cultridens. 
 
 A Caudal Vertebra split vertically, the body having a central cavity 
 which is filled with white calcareous spar, -ggfa, ^^. Referred to the 
 Poikilopleuron ; a crocodilian reptile found at Caen. Neural arch of 
 an anterior dorsal vertebra grrr : n g ure d in " Fossils of Tilgate Forest," 
 PI. XII. fig. 1, is also provisionally referred to the same genus. 
 
 Two convexo-concave cervical vertebrae ^y^-; referred to Strepto 
 spondylus major in " Brit. Assoc. Rep.," and now labelled 8. recentior, 
 in all probability belong to the Iguanodon. 
 
 .Posterior caudal vertebrae 2112, 2142, 2153 : referred to Cetiosaurus 
 brevis. 
 
 Large posterior dorsal -gf^. 
 
 eight inches in diameter ^J^. ; these are also 
 
 referred to Cetiosaurus brevis. 
 
 Four perfect anterior caudal s. These are also assigned to Cetiosaurus 
 brevis; described provisionally by Dr. Melville as C. Conybeari, and 
 since referred by me to the genus Pelorosaurus, to be described 
 hereafter. 
 
 Two elongated subangular bodies of posterior caudals, figured in 
 "Fossils of Tilgate Forest," PL IX. fig. 8, and PL X. fig. 1 ; assigned to 
 Cetiosaurus brevis : referred to Iguanodon by Dr. Melville. The last 
 reference, which appears to me the most probable, must, however, be 
 regarded as only conditional. 
 
 Dorsal vertebra ^^ ; assigned to Cetiosaurus brachyurus. 
 
 Caudal vertebra ^VrJ to the same, referred by Dr. Melville to 
 Iguanodon 
 
 Dorsal vertebra -^-^ and -/ggg ; referred to Iguanodon. 
 
 Caudal vertebra "^-^ > referred to the Iguanodon. 
 
 Sacral vertebra 2 WrJ to tne same. 
 
 All the specimens above enumerated are described in 
 " Reports on Brit. Foss.," with that minuteness of detail and 
 consummate skill, which characterise the anatomical investi- 
 gations of the Hunterian Professor. 
 
 The following extract from Professor Melville's commentary on the 
 above generic and specific determinations will put the scientific inquirer 
 in possession of the opinions of that eminent anatomist on the ques- 
 tionable references : " I can perceive no difference between the posterior 
 dorsal or lumbar vertebrae (No. 2,133, 2,115) assigned by Professor Owen 
 
 1 The numbers refer to those affixed to the specimens in the " Cata- 
 logue of the Mantellian Collection in the British Museum." 
 
ROOM III. VERTEBRA OP THE IGUANODON. 277 
 
 to the Cetiosaurus brevis, and that last described as corresponding in 
 some respects to the fifth dorsal in the spinal column of the Crocodile, 
 than a diminution in the relief of the buttress supporting the transverse 
 process. In No. 2,115 the neural arch is broken away, and the tract of 
 the centrum left uncovered behind to form the floor of the mtervertebral 
 foramen, is of greater extent than in No. 2,1 33, indicating a more pos- 
 terior situation in the vertebral series. The approach to the quadran- 
 gular form of the body of this vertebra is no proof whatever of a 
 specific and still less of a generic distinction ; otherwise the first sacral 
 vertebra, which is more decidedly quadrate, if found separate, would 
 be equally entitled to a generic value ; but its association, in the sacrum 
 from Mr. Saull's collection, with other vertebral bodies of a very dis- 
 similar character, and with the ilium of the Iguanodon, prevents our 
 falling into an error of such magnitude. We may therefore reasonably 
 conclude, that these vertebrae, to wit, Nos. 2,133, 2,115, belong to the 
 Iguanodon, and that No. 2,115, in the form of the body, approached the 
 first sacral, and was one of the proper lumbar series. 
 
 " The vertebra, No. 2,109, attributed in the above-mentioned report to 
 the (so-called) second species of Cetiosaurus found in the Wealden 
 formation (C. brachyurus), is also a posterior dorsal or lumbar vertebra 
 of the Iguanodon ; the neural arch is much mutilated. The only other 
 element of the skeleton of that species is a caudal vertebra, No. 2,161, 
 which also belongs to the Iguanodon ; being in fact one of the most 
 anterior of the caudal series, and contrary to the character of the 
 genus to which it was referred, it presents one of the most interesting 
 and instructive examples of the rough surface on the sides of the upper 
 aspect of the centrum, left by the removal of the unanchylosed neural 
 arch. The so-called Cetiosaurus brevis being thus founded only on two 
 vertebrae which belong to the Iguanodon, must be expunged from the 
 list of extinct reptiles. 
 
 " The angular posterior caudal vertebrae referred in the Report on 
 British Reptiles, to the Cetiosaurus brevis, I am also inclined to assign 
 to the Iguanodon for the following reasons : Istly, a similar vertebra, 
 as far as can be ascertained, exists in the Maidstone specimen, and in 
 this case an admixture of bones of distinct animals can scarcely be 
 suspected ; 2dly, the numerical ratio of the vertebrae of this kind 
 occurring in the Wealden, to those from the same deposits and localities 
 belonging to other regions of the spinal column, all referable to the 
 Iguanodon, excepting the few megalosaurian and crocodilian vertebrae, 
 is such as long ago to have induced Dr. Mantell to regard them as 
 characteristic of that saurian ; and the occurrence of such vertebrae 
 with those of the sacrum and other bones of the Iguanodon in Western 
 Sussex, described by Cuvier, has already been commented on: 1 3dly, 
 
 1 In reference to the somewhat angular caudals, alluded to in the text, 
 I would remark that with the unquestionable sacral vertebrae of the 
 Iguanodon found at Loxwood, and transmitted to Baron Cuvier by Sir 
 Roderick Murchison, (ante, p. 269,) there were several that appeared to 
 belong to the same individual, which possessed the angular form and 
 sulcated base of the bones described in the text, as may be seen by 
 
278 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 as the four large anterior caudal vertebrae in the Mantellian Collection, 
 also assigned by the author of the Report to the Cetiosaurus brevis, 
 cannot be transmuted into the vertebrae in question by any changes 
 occurring in a consecutive series, there is left for that animal only some 
 terminal caudal vertebrae ; while to complete the tail of the Iguanodon 
 just those are wanting ; 4thly, but independently of the evidence 
 furnished by the Maidstone specimen, we have seen examples which 
 point out the series of changes by which these angular vertebrae are 
 produced from those of the middle caudal region. These changes, 
 again, are not greater than those that take place in the tail of the 
 Hylaeosaurus, and other extinct reptiles, as well as in that of many 
 mammalia. 
 
 " Let us look for a moment at the vertebrae of the tail of the Mosa- 
 saurus as contrasted with those of other regions of the spinal column in 
 that reptile, and we shall then be prepared to admit far greater modifi- 
 cations than are here assumed. Could we a priori correctly restore the 
 vertebral column of any animal from scattered fragments, belonging to 
 different individuals, without making any allowance for the changes 
 occurring in the series of segments composing that column ? 
 
 " In the form of the terminal caudal vertebrae we may expect to find 
 a very great similarity even in remote genera, and hence it is unsafe to 
 base a generic character on their peculiarities. The genus Cetiosaurus 
 (restricted to the species medius and longus from the Oolite) is founded 
 chiefly on such trivial distinctions, and we may refer to it any caudal 
 vertebra of considerable dimensions with plano-concave or biconcave 
 facets, not referable to other known and perfectly determinate genera, 
 
 a reference to the " Geol. Trans." vol. ii. New Series, PI. XV. figs. 1, 3. 
 The figures were drawn by Mr. Scharf, and I can vouch for their accuracy ; 
 but without the actual connexion of vertebrae with such character, with 
 known parts of the skeleton, I should not consider this opinion deci- 
 sive. H. von Meyer has justly remarked, "that conclusions drawn 
 from a single part of a fossil skeleton, and applied to the whole, must 
 necessarily prove erroneous, and have deceived even such anatomists as 
 Camper. While we remain ignorant of the plan according to which the 
 structure of the whole animal is formed, but little can be deduced from 
 the single parts. A fossil saurian, with an elongated beak, like that of 
 a Gavial, is not necessarily from that circumstance alone, a Gavial, 
 a creature for which it has commonly been taken ; the other portions of 
 the skeleton may be totally different from this latter animal. How- 
 little we can infer from one fossil saurian as to the structure of another, 
 is shown by the Megalosaurus and Geosaurus, the teeth of which are 
 very similar, while they have nothing else in common. In the appa- 
 ratus of the teeth of the fos&il saurians, which we have to consider, there 
 is usually expressed a combination of the characters of the crocodile 
 with those of the lacertse ; to which are occasionally added peculiarities 
 which remind us of the apparatus of the teeth of fish, of cetacea, and 
 even of the land mammalia, both herbivorous and carnivorous." "Palceo-^ 
 logica. Geschichte der Erde und ihrer Geschopfe ; Hermann von Meyer." 
 Frankfort, 1832. 
 
ROOM III. PECTORAL ARCH OF THE IGUANODON. 279 
 
 such as the Ichthyosaurus and Plesioaaurus, of which we have fortunately 
 nearly perfect skeletons, and hence cannot be led astray in the labyrinth 
 of fragments from which we are compelled, in most instances, to con- 
 struct the lost denizens of the former lands and seas of our globe." ! 
 
 PECTORAL ARCH OP THE IGUANODON. In the lacertian 
 reptiles the construction of the pectoral arch is much more 
 complicated than in the Crocodiles. The sternum is a long, 
 narrow, and depressed bone, that gives out two lateral 
 branches, and between which its point sometimes passes and 
 proceeds more in front under the neck. There is also a still 
 greater difference, in the development of the coracoid, and in 
 the constant presence of a clavicle. The coracoid furnishes 
 nearly one half of the glenoid cavity, or socket for the head 
 of the humerus, and gives out one or more apophyses to sup- 
 port a large cartilaginous arch which passes over the narrow 
 bone in front of the sternum, and crosses that of the coracoid 
 on the other side. There is always a foramen for the vessels, 
 pierced in the neck of the bone, between its apophyses and 
 the glenoid facet. The scapula or omoplate forms the other 
 portion of the glenoid cavity ; in the middle, or about one 
 third of its length, the osseous part suddenly terminates, and 
 is continued by a cartilaginous portion : this frequently 
 becomes ossified, and then the scapula is constantly divided 
 into two bones. 2 
 
 The dismembered state in which even the more strongly 
 connected bones of the skeleton occur in the Wealden deposits, 
 rendered it very unlikely that the elements of the pectoral 
 arch should be found in such contiguity as to exhibit the 
 construction of this important part of the fabric ; and it is 
 only within the last three years that I have obtained data by 
 which the restoration of its structure could be attempted. 
 The slender and complicated bone that enters into the com- 
 position of the pectoral arch of the Iguanodon, the Clavicle, 
 was obtained entire before the lamented death of the illustrious 
 Cuvier ; yet this bone, like the teeth, was so anomalous in its 
 characters, as to render its interpretation very difficult. 
 
 CLAVICLE OP THE IGUANODON. Wall-case C, lowest com- 
 partment, (ante, p. 227.) The clavicle in the Iguanas and 
 
 " Philos. Trans.," 1849 ; pp. 293, 294. 
 2 Cuvier's "fiegne Animal" 
 
280 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 Monitors is a slender, gently curved, bone, stretching from 
 the scapula to the sternum, and attached to each by a simple 
 extremity ; but in others of the lacertians the median or 
 pectoral end is more complicated, and in some respects re- 
 sembles the clavicle which I have ascribed to the Iguanodon. 
 
 None of the isolated bones of the Iguanodon occasioned 
 me more perplexity than this element of the pectoral arch, 
 especially as a fragment of the mesial extremity was for a 
 long while the only portion obtained. Even when the perfect 
 bone in the Case before us was discovered, it was very em- 
 barrassing to determine to what part of the skeleton it 
 belonged. Baron Cuvier, to whom I sent a sketch of the 
 fossil, thought at first it was a fibula, and afterwards that it 
 might be a clavicle ; but if it were, it did not resemble that of 
 a reptile, nor, indeed, of any other living creature. Upon 
 taking it to the Hunterian Museum, Mr. Clift could discover 
 no bone at all resembling it, excepting the first rib of an 
 Ostrich, which has processes bearing a distant resemblance to 
 the apophyses observable at the pectoral extremity. 
 
 In the "Geol. S.E. of England," this bone is figured (Plate 
 IV.) and described, with the remark that the only place in 
 the skeleton it could be referred to, was either the thorax or 
 the lower extremities : " it may be a fibula, a rib, or a clavicle ; 
 and that it is a clavicle of some extraordinary extinct reptile 
 is the most probable supposition." 
 
 In 1841, when labouring under a severe indisposition from 
 which recovery was thought hopeless, I communicated to 
 the Royal Society a few notes on the reptilian remains I had 
 collected, with a view to assist future observers, and at the 
 same time I presented to Professor Owen the drawings of all 
 my principal specimens, which I had prepared with a view to 
 publication ; for I was anxious that the labour I had bestowed 
 upon this investigation might be made available to science. 1 
 In that Memoir, the bone in question is thus described : 
 " Several bones evidently referable to a complicated sternal 
 apparatus, and approximating to that of the Lizards, were 
 discovered many years since ; and one of these of a very 
 extraordinary form was figured and described in " Foss. Tilg. 
 
 1 Appendix G. Drawings of remains of Fossil Keptiles from Tilgate 
 Forest. 
 
ROOM III. CLAVICLE OF THE IGUAXODOX. 281 
 
 For." and "Geol. S.E. of England," under the provisional 
 name of Clavicle. 
 
 " This bone is long, slender, slightly arched, of a prismatic 
 form in the middle, and enlarged and flat at both extremities. 
 At the distance of not quite one-third from the widest (sternal) 
 extremity, a small apophysis is sent off, and the bone then 
 enlarges and terminates in two unequal flat processes. A 
 perfect specimen is 29 inches long, and 3^ inches wide at the 
 expanded sternal end ; and there are portions of others, indi- 
 cating a total length of 3 feet. In the Maidstone Iguanodon 
 there are two bones of this kind in a mutilated state. In 
 none of the skeletons of reptiles, nor indeed of any other 
 animals to which I have had access, are there any bones 
 with which the fossils can be identified. Mr. Owen pointed 
 out to me a bone attached to the coracoid and omoplate of 
 a small lizard that bore some analogy to the fossil; 1 and 
 I have no doubt that a more extended anatomical investi- 
 gation will ere long afford a solution of the question. It is 
 satisfactory to find that the correctness of my first appro- 
 priation of this bone to the Iguanodon many years before it 
 was found in connexion with any part of the skeleton, has 
 been confirmed by subsequent discoveries. Doubtful, how- 
 ever, whether this bone should be regarded as a clavicle, I 
 propose to distinguish it by a distinct name, Os Cuvieri, till 
 future discoveries demonstrate whether it is a new element 
 superadded to the pectoral arch of the colossal herbivorous 
 saurian whose structure is in other respects so anomalous, or 
 a true clavicle."* Subsequent discoveries have established 
 the correctness of my original conclusion. 
 
 CORACOID OF THE IGUAXQDOX. Wall-case C, uppermost shelf, 
 (ante, p. 227.) " A coracoid bone, ten inches wide, was found 
 imbedded in a block of Tilgate grit with bones of the Igua- 
 nodon. It resembles in its hatchet-like form the corresponding 
 bone in the lacertians, and its articulating surface furnishes, as 
 in that family, one-half of the glenoid cavity for the reception 
 of the head of the humerus ; but its margin is entire, and not 
 
 1 " The bone attached to the coracoid and omoplate of a small lizard 
 which I pointed out to Dr. Mantell as resembling the one in question, 
 was the clavicle of Cydodus nigroluteu8."Prof. Owen in Brit. Assoc. 
 Report, p. 136. 
 
 2 "Philos. Trans." 1841, p. 137. 
 
282 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIE TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 produced into one or more apophyses as in the Monitors, 
 Iguanas, &c. ; and instead of a perforation in the neck of the 
 bone for the passage of vessels, there is a deep fissure or notch, 
 separating the glenoid cavity from the scapular facet." 1 A 
 reduced figure of a coraceid of this kind is given in Lign. 58. 
 In the collection, there are portions of other coracoids of the 
 same character. 
 
 LIGN. 58. 1. CORACOID : 2. SCAPULA; OP THE IGUAXODON. TILGATE FOREST. 
 (i nat. size.) 
 
 SCAPULA OF AN UNKNOWN REPTILE. Wall-case C. Over r 
 the above specimen, there is a very remarkable bone which it 
 will be convenient to notice in this place. It is thus 
 described in my Memoir, " Philos. Trans." 1841 : "A scapula 
 or omoplate eighteen inches long, associated with bones and 
 teeth of the Iguanodon, and probably referable to that animal, 
 presents, like the coracoid, some important modifications of the 
 usual lacertian type. This bone is very thin and flat, and of 
 an elongated form ; it differs considerably from the omoplate 
 of the Monitors and Iguanas. It somewhat resembles the 
 scapula of the Seines, and it throws off a long tripartite apo- 
 physis (a, &,) which is imperfect in the only specimen hitherto 
 discovered ; this process probably afforded support to a carti- 
 laginous arch as in the existing lizards. 
 
 " But although, from circumstances which it is unnecessary 
 
 1 From my Memoir in " Philos. Trans." 1841. The reader will please 
 to remember that at this period Professor Owen had not entered on 
 this department of Palaeontology, which he has since so greatly advanced i 
 by his anatomical knowledge and indefatigable labours. 
 
ROOM III. SCAPULA OF AN UNKNOWN REPTILE. 283 
 
 to detail, I entertain but little doubt that the coracoid and 
 omoplate above described belong to the Tguanodon, it is so 
 hazardous in palseontological inquiries to affirm as certain what 
 is merely probable, and so many impedi- 
 ments to accurate inductions have been 
 occasioned by hasty and positive determi- 
 nation of a tooth or bone from imperfect 
 analogies, that I deem it necessary to 
 repeat, that these specimens were not 
 found in juxta-position with other parts of 
 the skeleton of the Iguanodon, but merely 
 imbedded in the same mass of stone." 
 Philos. Trans. 1841. 
 
 SCAPULA OF THE IGUANODON. Lign. 58. 
 The prudence of the above reservation 
 was shortly demonstrated by the disco- GATE FOREST. 
 very of a scapula of a very different type, 
 of which a reduced sketch is given in Lign. 58, and which 
 unquestionably belongs to the Iguanodon : the scapula above 
 described must therefore be referred to some other genus of 
 the Wealden reptiles ; it may possibly belong to the Megalo- 
 
 1 Professor Owen in " Reports on Brit. Foss. Kept" offers the following 
 remarks on this unique and peculiar scapula : 
 
 " The scapula has not hitherto been discovered so associated with other 
 unequivocal portions of the skeleton of the Iguanodon as to permit the 
 characteristics of this bone to be confidently recognised. The bone, (No. 
 194, Omoplate of Iguanodon, Mantettian Catalogue,) agrees with the 
 undoubted scapula of the Hylaeosaurus, and with that of certain lacer- 
 tians, especially of the genus Scincus, (Dr. Mantell has pointed out this 
 resemblance in his Memoir in the 'Phil. Trans.' 1841,) in the produc- 
 tion of a long slender pointed process, continued at nearly right angles 
 with the body of the bone, from the anterior part of the articular surface 
 for the coracoid ; but it differs from the scapula of the Hylaeosaurus in 
 the presence of two short processes given off from the lower part of the 
 base of the long process, and in the absence of the thick and strong 
 transverse acromial ridge which overarches the glenoid depression, and 
 in the deeper concavity of the posterior margin of the ascending plate 
 or body of the bone. This part, in its shape and relation, length and 
 breadth, is intermediate between the crocodilian and lacertian type of 
 the scapula, at least as exemplified in the monitors and iguanas, where 
 it is broad and short. The Seines and Chameleons, in the more croco- 
 dilian proportions of their scapulae, resemble the Hylaeosaurus, and the 
 great species of extinct saurian, most probably the Iguanodon, to which 
 the present bone belongs." Brit. Ass. Rep. p. 134. 
 
284 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 saurus, in which the coracoid (" Geol. Trans." vol. vi. pi. xliii. 
 fig. 3) is of a more complicated structure than in the Iguano- 
 don and Hylaeosaurus, and somewhat resembles that of the 
 Iguanas or Varanians. 
 
 " I had often vainly attempted to find such a correspond- 
 ence between the articulating facets of the coracoid and 
 scapula above mentioned, as would warrant the conclusion! 
 that they originally belonged to the same genus of saurians. 
 By the fortunate discovery of a perfect Scapula which fulfils 
 these conditions, and can also be shown to belong to the 
 Iguanodon, both the bones forming the scapular arch are now 
 for the first time demonstrated. 
 
 " This specimen is represented l the natural size in 
 'Philos. Trans.' 1849, pi. xxx. fig. 10 ; when obtained it was 
 firmly imbedded in the hard Tilgate sandstone, and broken 
 into several pieces : I succeeded in extricating the whole from 
 the rock, and in reuniting the dissevered parts, so as to demon- 
 strate the perfect form of this most interesting fossil. It is 
 the right scapula, and is 13 inches long, 5^ inches wide at 
 the humeral, and 4 at the upper or spinal extremity ; like 
 that of the Crocodile, it is slender, flat, and slightly arched : 
 at the humeral end it is thick, and expands to form the apo- 
 physial surface that united with the coracoid, and the outer 
 half of the glenoid cavity to receive the head of the humerus . 
 it is flat and thin at the upper or distal end. This bonei 
 differs essentially from the scapula of the Iguanas, Monitors. | 
 &c., and approximates to that of the Crocodiles and Seines : 
 the minute scapula of the Chameleons presents the samej 
 simple characters. 
 
 " Upon placing this Scapula in juxtaposition with the Cora-<! 
 coid above assigned to the Iguanodon, it will be manifest thai 
 the two bones must have belonged to the same scapulai, 
 arch as is shown in Lign, 58. The close resemblance be- i 
 tween this form of pectoral arch and that of the Hylseosaurus ! 
 will be seen at a glance by reference to the latter. The 
 Scapula of the Iguanodon differs from that of the Hylaeosaurus 
 in having the body more arched and slender, and the neck 
 more contracted ; and in the absence of the strong acromial 
 ridge which characterises the latter. The Coracoid differs 
 chiefly in its greater external convexity, and inner conca- 
 vity, and in the apophysial scapular surface being separated 
 
ROOM III. SCAPULA OF THE IGUANODON. 285 
 
 rom the glenoid facet by a deep notch for the passage of 
 r essels, instead of having a simple perforation as in the 
 lyleeosaurus. In both these reptiles, however, there is a 
 general analogy in the structure of the pectoral arch." 1 
 
 " While examining the above Coracoid and Scapula I was 
 reminded of the fractured portion of two long flat bones in 
 ;he Maidstone specimen, (see Lign. 65,) which had hitherto 
 emained perfectly unintelligible ; and upon repairing to the 
 British Museum, the analogy between these mutilated bones 
 and the scapula was apparent, but it required much careful 
 jxamination and comparison before their identity could be 
 satisfactorily determined. The fragments in the Maidstone 
 fossil are, I think, unquestionably the remains of the left and 
 ight scapulae, which when perfect were of the type above 
 lescribed. 
 
 ' As the clavicles, coracoids, and scapulae, are now deter- 
 mined, the structure of the ^pectoral arch of the Iguanodon 
 may be regarded as established; and although the sternum 
 is at prjesent unknown, and the relative positions of the several 
 parts can only be conjectured, I have ventured to attempt 
 ,he restoration of this important part of the skeleton." 2 
 
 HUMERUS OP THE IGUANODON. Wall-case C, lowest com- 
 partment on the right, (ante, p. 227.) Although numerous 
 femora, tibiae, and other bones of the hinder extremities were 
 early discovered by me in many localities in Sussex, and the 
 [sle of Wight, no certain remains of the fore-limbs, except the 
 metacarpals, were recognised until the summer of 1848. In 
 the " Report on British Fossil Reptiles," Professor Owen 3 sug- 
 
 1 " Phil os. Trans." 1849, p. 278. 
 
 2 See my Memoir communicated to the Koyal Society, and published 
 JL " Philos. Trans." 1849, p. 279, in which a restored figure is given of 
 rhe pectoral arch of the Iguanodon. 
 
 3 " Humerus This important bone has not been hitherto satis- 
 'actorily determined ; it differs less from thf^kmur in form in Reptiles 
 :ftan in Mammalia. In the modern Crocodile the chief distinction in 
 ihe form of the humerus is the ridge at the l|per third of the bone ; in 
 Lizards this distinction is almost lost. If we find the femur of the 
 fguanodon distinguished from that of all other reptiles by the presence 
 of a peculiar process from the inner aide of the bone, there are not 
 wanting grounds to expect that the humerus may present a similar 
 cttaracter. As the reasons for suspecting that some of the large bones, 
 hitherto uniformly regarded as the femora, may be the humeri of the 
 Iguanodon, will best appear in the description of the femur, I shall now 
 
286 
 
 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 gested that some of the bones in the British Museum which 
 I had regarded as femora, were in all probability humeri, and 
 the observations of a correspondent 
 are quoted by him in corroboration 
 of this opinion ; but no one who 
 had given due attention to the sub- 
 ject, would for a moment admit 
 the validity of the reasons adduced 
 by the Hunterian Professor. 
 
 The question, however, is now 
 decided by the discovery of a bone 
 in the Wealden of the Isle of 
 Wight, associated with other re- 
 mains of the Iguanodon, which is 
 undoubtedly a humerus, and pos- 
 sesses all the essential characters of 
 the principal bone of the anterior 
 extremity of a gigantic saurian ; 
 most fortunately, too, it can be 
 proved to belong to the Iguanodon ; 
 for it is identical with a well-pre- 
 served, but much distorted and 
 smaller bone, in the Maidstone 
 specimen, which is figured in my 
 Memoir in "Philos. Trans." 1841, 1 
 with the remark that " it probably 
 belongs to the brachial extremity ; 
 it is imbedded near the two meta- 
 carpals, but I have not been able 
 to determine its character satisfac- 
 torily." The relatively very small 
 size of this bone appeared to me an 
 insuperable objection to the regard- 
 ing it as a humerus, and I thought it more probable that it 
 belonged to the fore-arm, and was possibly the radius. In the 
 
 proceed to the consideration of the large bones with which the femur is 
 articulated." Prof. Owen, Brit Assoc. Reports, p. 135. 
 
 The reader will perceive how completely the Hunterian Professor was 
 at fault ; and that the attempt to show that my interpretation of the 
 colossal bones in the Case before us was erroneous, utterly failed. 
 
 i Philos. Trans." PI. VIII. fig. 5. 
 
 LIGN. 60. 
 
 HUMERTJS OF THE IGUANODOH j 
 
 POSTERIOR ASPECT. 
 
 (& nat. size.) 
 
ROOM III. HUMERUS OF THE IGUAXODON. 287 
 
 " Reports on British Fossil Reptiles," Professor Owen states 
 that this bone corresponds with certain bones of the foot 
 found at Horsham ; l but both extremities of the fossil in 
 question entirely differ from the articulating surfaces of all 
 the metacarpals and metatarsals of the Iguanodon that have 
 come under my observation ; a comparison with the humerus 
 from the Isle of Wight will at once establish its true 
 relations. 
 
 This bone was obtained from the Wealden deposits on the 
 southern shore of the island, by Mr. Fowlstone, to whom 
 I am indebted for permission to have a cast taken of it : it is 
 figured in Lign. 60. It is perfect, with the exception 
 of the outer tuberosity of the head ; its dimensions are as 
 follow : 
 
 Greatest length '3 feet. 
 
 Length in a straight line from the inner tubercle of 
 
 the head to the inner condyle 31 inches. 
 
 From the outer tubercle of the head to the external 
 
 condyle 33 
 
 Circumference of the head 23^ 
 
 round the condyles 21 
 
 Circumference of the shaft at the deltoid crest . . 19 
 one-third from the dis- 
 tal extremity 16^ ,, 
 
 The medullary cavity only extends to within one-third of the 
 top of the bone ; it is three inches in diameter : the greatest 
 thickness of the wall of the shaft is one inch. 
 
 The head of the bone presents the usual posterior pro- 
 tuberance of the humerus in Lizards, but the epiphysis of this, 
 as well as of the distal extremity, is wanting, as is the ease 
 in all the long bones of the Wealden reptiles. At about three 
 inches from the top, the ridge or crest for the insertion of the 
 deltoid muscle is considerably developed, and extends fifteen 
 inches down the shaft, which rapidly contracts below, and 
 finally expands to form the condyloid extremity. The ar- 
 ticular face of the latter is divided into two nearly equal con- 
 dyles ; the inner or ulnar segment is traversed by an anterior 
 furrow, which is more strongly marked in the humerus of a 
 younger individual in my cabinet ; the posterior or olecranal 
 
 1 " The bone of the Maidstone Iguanodon (marked 7 in the figure above 
 cited in the ' Wonders of Geology ') corresponds with the above described 
 bones of the foot" Professor Owen. "Brit. Assoc. Rep." p. 140. 
 
288 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 fossa is simple, and somewhat deeper than the anterior. On 
 the whole, the aspect of this humerus more closely corresponds 
 with that of the crocodiles than with its homologue in the 
 ordinary lizards. 
 
 Thus, after the lapse of fifteen years, two important ele- 
 ments of the skeleton of the Iguanodon contained in the 
 Maidstone fossil are for the first time determined. The 
 small size of the humerus, as compared with that of the 
 femur, seemed at first to present an insuperable objection, 
 and it occasioned Dr. Melville and others of my scientific 
 friends to hesitate ere they received my interpretation of a 
 bone which had so long proved enigmatical ; but the dif- 
 ference is not greater than obtains in many other fossil 
 saurians, 1 as well as in recent Lizards. The length of the 
 Maidstone humerus is about twenty inches ; that of the con- 
 tiguous femur, thirty-three inches ; but as the latter is flat- 
 tened and extended by compression, the difference is probably 
 not more than one-third. The Isle of Wight thigh-bone is three 
 feet long : the largest specimen I have seen is four feet eight 
 inches in length : the average length of the femur in the adult 
 may be estimated at four feet five or six inches : the humerus 
 from the Isle of Wight is, therefore, not relatively longer 
 than that in the Maidstone Iguanodon. 
 
 I have lately seen a fine distal extremity of a humerus of 
 the Iguanodon, that was collected from the cliffs at Hastings 
 by S. H. Beckles, Esq., and I have obtained a caudyloid 
 extremity of a humerus one third larger than the specimen of 
 which a cast is placed in Case G. 
 
 METACARPALS, PHALANGE ALS, AND UNGUALS. Wall-case C, 
 right-hand shelf in lowest compartment I have sought in 
 vain for some certain indication of the bones of the fore-arm ; 
 
 1 " C'est un fait & peu pres ge"ne"ral que les membres anterieurs des 
 reptiles crocodiliens et lacertiens sont plus courts et plus faibles que les 
 posterieurs ; chez quelques especes la difference est treVprononcee. Mais 
 nos reptiles fossiles des environs de Caen annoncent une disproportion 
 beaucoup plus forte encore entre ces membres: le Poekilopleuron, le 
 Steneosaurus de Quilly, les Teleosaurus, en fournissent la preuve. Ces 
 derniers surtout avaient les membres anterieurs d'une excessive petitesse ; 
 les deux paires de membres difteraient entre elles plus peut-6tre qu'elles 
 ne different les Gerbilles et les Kangaroos." DESLONGCHAMPS, Memoir e 
 sur le Pcekilopleuron Bucklandii^. 81. 
 
ROOM III. METACARPALS OF THE IGUANODON. 289 
 
 but with the supposed radius of the Maidstone Iguanodon, 
 I lost the sole relic that could reasonably be referred to 
 that member of the anterior extremity. The only specimens 
 in the Museum that appear to belong to the fore-arm of the 
 Iguanodon, are the two small subcylindrical bones of a jet 
 black colour, that are affixed to the left hand side of Case C, 
 above the middle shelf. These were dug up from a bed of 
 weald clay near Eusper in the west of Sussex, with many 
 bones of a young Iguanodon ; I have a beautiful femur, 14 
 inches long, that was found with them. These fossils are, 
 however, too imperfect to admit of satisfactory interpretation, 
 till some clue is obtained as to their nature from more in- 
 structive specimens. 
 
 Metacarpals. I have not seen any bones that could be 
 ascribed to the carpus ; but of metacarpals several have been 
 found, which are unquestionably referable to the Iguanodon. 
 The two fine metacarpals in the Maidstone Iguanodon (Lign. 
 65, No. 6) appear to me decisive on this point ; an outline 
 of one of these is given in Lign. 63, fig. 4. These bones lie 
 in close contact, and though somewhat distorted by com- 
 pression (as are all the bones in that specimen), still their 
 characters are well defined. A transverse* section of one of 
 them is shown, Lign. 63, fig. 4, a ; in chiselling away the sur- 
 rounding stone, one of these metacarpals broke transversely, 
 and became detached, and a drawing was made before it was 
 replaced and cemented in its original situation. 
 
 When I had ascertained that the supposed radius was the 
 humerus, it occurred to me that the two bdnes in question 
 might be the radius and ulna; but upon repairing to the 
 Museum, and examining the specimen anew, I found that 
 my original interpretation was the true one; as the intelli- 
 gent visitor may convince himself by a careful inspection, for 
 the extremities of both bones are exactly alike. The proximal 
 ends, which are distinctly visible on the side of the block of 
 stone in which they are imbedded, are in close contact, and " 
 both present the same form ; there is not the slightest differ- 
 ence between them ; they closely resemble those of the 
 metatarsals : that is, they are compressed laterally, are higher 
 than wide, and have a nearly flat articular surface. The 
 shafts are subcylindrical, long, and slender, and the distal 
 ends form two well-marked trochlear articulations. If they 
 
 u 
 
290 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 were the bones of the fore-arm (as Professor Owen presumes 
 them to be *), the ulna would be characterised by its ole- 
 cranon or large proximal end, and the radius by its carpal 
 extremity; but the proximal as well as the distal ends of the 
 two bones are in every respect similar to each other, and 
 present the usual characters of metacarpals. 
 
 A slender phalangeal bone, imbedded in another part of 
 the Maidstone specimen (Lign. 63, fig. 5), is probably one of 
 the second series of the fore-foot. 
 
 In Wall-case C, there is a group of four metacarpals, or 
 metatarsals, of a saurian, which differ from the known cor- 
 responding bones of the Iguanodon, and may probably belong- 
 to another species or perhaps genus. These bones are re- 
 spectively 8 inches, 7J inches, 6J inches, and 3| inches in 
 length. 
 
 Ungual Bones of the Fore-foot ? Wall-case C, loivest com- 
 partment. In Lign. 63, Jig. 7, is a reduced outline of a 
 compressed, hook-shaped, ungual bone, with curved lateral 
 grooves, which closely resembles the claw-bone of the 
 Iguana ; it is figured and described in my " Geology of 
 the S. E. of England " (PL III. fig. 1), as probably the nail- 
 bone of the fore-foot of the Iguanodon, but of course upon 
 no other grounds than its presumed analogy; this specimen 
 was seen by Baron Cuvier, who concurred in the probability 
 of the conjecture. 
 
 There are two specimens of this kind in the Case before 
 us. The largest has the distal extremity destroyed : if 
 perfect, it would be four inches in length; the vertical dia- 
 meter of the articular end is 2| inches, and the transverse 
 but little exceeds an inch ; proportions altogether different 
 from those of the unguals of the hind foot. Whether, as the 
 relatively slight humerus, and the elongated metacarpal 
 bones and phalarigeals seem to indicate, the fore limbs of the 
 Iguanodon were long and slender, and the toes armed with 
 curved claws as in the Iguana an inference which appears to 
 
 i Pcdceontograpkical Monograph, 1851. " The radius and ulna lie 
 with their proximal ends next the right hand upper corner of the slab 
 of the Maidstone specimen, the latter being distinguished by its pro- 
 minent olecranon, which is rounded as in the great Monitor ( Varanus 
 . 112. 
 
ROOM III. HINDER EXTREMITIES OF THE IGUANODON. 291 
 
 ine highly probable is a question that cannot be determined 
 until the bones of the anterior extremity are found, either 
 in juxtaposition, or collocated in such manner as to demon- 
 strate their natural relations and connexions. 
 
 HINDER EXTREMITIES OF THE IGUANODON. Wall-case C. 
 Several specimens of the femur or thigh-bone, and of the 
 tibia and fibula or leg-bones, and of the metatarsal, phalan- 
 geal, and ungual bones of the hind feet, have from time to 
 time been obtained from various localities. The first indica- 
 tion of the colossal magnitude of the reptiles whose teeth 
 and bones were imbedded in the Wealden deposits, was the 
 fragment of a thigh-bone, consisting of a portion of the 
 middle of the shaft, which is of a quadrangular form; and 
 this was so stupendous, shapeless, and unintelligible, that 
 many years elapsed before I could ascertain to what part of 
 the skeleton it belonged. This first discovered specimen is 
 figured in Fossils of Tilgate Forest," PL XVIII. 
 
 It not unfrequently happens that a fragment of a thigh- 
 bone may be obtained from a quarry, and after an interval 
 of some weeks, the corresponding portions be exhumed. 
 This was remarkably exemplified in the first specimen which 
 revealed to me the peculiar characters of the femur of the 
 Iguanodon. The distal, or condyloid extremity of a gigantic 
 femur, firmly impacted in a block of Tilgate-grit, was found 
 in the quarry at Cuckfield : as the fracture was evidently 
 recent, I requested the quarry-men to make diligent search 
 for the corresponding portion, but without success. Several 
 months afterwards, upon a fresh explosion of the rock, the 
 head of a large bone was found loose among the fallen 
 mass ; but there were no indications that it belonged to the 
 specimen previously found, and it was regarded as another 
 relic of some one of the colossal animals whose bones are 
 distributed in the Wealden deposits. Teeth, fragments of 
 bones, and other fossils, were from time to time obtained 
 from the same quarry, and at length a huge quadrangular 
 mass of bone, similar to the portion that had so long been 
 in my possession, and had defied all attempts to ascertain 
 its character. It was some time before it occurred to me, 
 that these three pieces of colossal bone might belong to 
 the same specimen ; but eventually they were found to 
 correspond, and upon cementing them together, the femur 
 
292 
 
 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 LlGN. 61. 
 
 LEFT FEMUR OF THE IGUANODON; 
 
 ANTERIOR ASPECT. 
 
 (^ nat. size.) 
 
 a. Outer trochanter. 
 
 b. Median trochanter. 
 
 c. Inner condyle. 
 
 d. Outer condyle 
 
 e. Anterior intfa-condyloid 
 
 fissure. 
 /. The head of the femur. 
 
 of the Iguanodon was, for the first 
 time, developed. 
 
 In the Case before us, there are 
 several splendid specimens of this 
 gigantic member of the skeleton 
 of the Iguanodon some of pro- 
 digious magnitude ; others that 
 must have belonged to reptiles 
 but recently hatched, or else to a 
 very diminutive species of the 
 same genus: the former is the 
 most probable conclusion. 
 
 FEMUR OF THE IGUANODON. 
 Wall-case C (ante, p. 227). The 
 femur of the Iguanodon is remark- 
 able from the combination of 
 mammalian characters which it 
 presents in its well-marked head 
 and neck, trochanters, condyles, 
 and medullary cavity. The head 
 (Lign. 61,/.) is hemispherical, and 
 projects inwards over the shaft, as 
 in the mammalia ; there is no 
 appearance of a ligamentum teres. 
 A flattened lateral process or tro- 
 chanter (a) forms an external 
 buttress or boundary to the neck 
 of the bone, from which it is sepa- 
 rated by a deep, narrow, vertical 
 fissure. 
 
 The shaft of the bone is sub- 
 quadrangular ; a slightly elevated 
 ridge, produced by the union of 
 two broad, flat, longitudinal sur- 
 faces, indicating the attachment of 
 powerful muscles, extends down 
 the middle of the anterior face, 
 and diverging towards the inner 
 condyle, gradually disappears. 
 The shaft terminates below, in 
 two large, rounded, laterally-com- 
 
ROOM III. TIBIA AND FIBULA OF THE IGUANODON. 
 
 293 
 
 pressed condyles (c, d), which are separated in front and 
 behind by a deep furrow (e). 
 
 Near the middle of the shaft, 
 the mesial or inner edge forms 
 a compressed ridge, which extends 
 into an angular median projec- 
 tion or trochanter (6). 
 
 Thus the upper part of the 
 femur may be recognised by the 
 presence of the outer trochanter 
 (a) and if that be absent, by the 
 fractured surface indicating the 
 position it occupied. If a frag- 
 ment of the middle part of the 
 shaft only is found, the flattened 
 angular spaces, and the sub-me- 
 dian trochanter (6), or the mark 
 of its attachment, will identify it. 
 The lower end may be known by 
 the deep grooves between the con- 
 dyles both in front and behind. 
 
 The medullary cavity is very- 
 large, and generally filled with 
 sandstone : it is sometimes occu- 
 pied by white calcareous spar, 
 spangled with golden pyrites. 
 
 TIBIA AND FIBULA. Wall-case 
 C. (ante, p. 227). The bones of the 
 leg, though presenting deviations 
 from those of the Iguana, mani- 
 fest a close affinity to the lacer- 
 tian type. 4 
 
 The head of the tibia, is subtri- 
 angular, and slightly excavated to receive the condyloid 
 extremity of the femur. The shaft is subcylindrical, and 
 very strong, with a large medullary cavity ; its distal end is 
 transversely oblong and very thick, and terminates on the 
 inner aspect in a strong buttress. 
 
 The iihula is a long slender bone, with a subcylindrical 
 shaft, widest in its antero-posterior diameter ; it is flattened 
 on the tibial aspect, and terminates above in a laterally com- 
 pressed head, which is in close apposition to the tibia \ its 
 
 LIGN. 62. 
 
 1. FIBULA; 2, TIBIA, OF THE 
 IGUANODON. 
 (JL not. tize.) 
 
294 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 distal extremity is thick and broad. This bone almost equals 
 the tibia in length ; the figure, Lign. 62, 1. is somewhat too 
 short in proportion to the corresponding tibia. 
 
 Bones of the thigh and leg of Iguanodon, in Wall-case C 
 (ante, p. 227). The fragment of an enormous thigh-bone on 
 the uppermost shelf; this is the first specimen discovered, 
 and is figured in my "Fossils of Tilgate Forest," PL XVIII. 
 
 Femur, tibia, fibula, and two metatarsals of a young 
 Iguanodon. These were found near each other, imbedded in 
 a block of sandstone, and evidently belonged to the same 
 individual. This is a most valuable series, because it affords 
 data for determining the relative length and size of the thigh, 
 leg, and foot. 
 
 A fine shaft of a femur ; marked No. 4. 
 
 Part of the femur, the tibia and fibula of the same indivi- 
 dual. These massive bones were exhumed from a bed of 
 clay, and were lying close to each other ; they are evidently 
 the bones of the same individual ; the femur is labelled 
 No. 2 ; it is on the right extremity of the shelf ; the tibia 
 and fibula are on the extreme left ; but by the aid of the 
 table (ante, p. 227), they may be readily identified. 
 
 Femur, marked No. 3. This is a remarkably fine and 
 nearly perfect femur. 
 
 The largest and most perfect femur of the Iguanodon in 
 the Museum (labelled No 1). It was dug up from the Weald 
 clay at Loxwood, to the west of Horsham, and with the 
 exception of the shaft, was broken into numerous pieces in 
 extracting it. The shaft is figured in Sir Roderick Mur- 
 chison's Memoir on Western Sussex ; the first contribution of 
 that distinguished geologist to the science he has so greatly 
 advanced by his genius and indomitable perseverance and 
 activity. It was many years in the state in%vliich it is there 
 represented ; but at length my warm and generous friend, 
 the late Earl of Egremont, obtained it for me, together with 
 all the fragments, and many other bones that were exhumed 
 at the same time by J. King, Esq. ; and I succeeded in re- 
 pairing the bone as it now appears. The form of the head, 
 condyles, and the two characteristic trochanters, are well 
 displayed. 
 
 Femur, marked No. 5. This is a fine specimen, though 
 the condyloid end is crushed. It was from the ferruginous 
 sandstone of Cuckfield. 
 
P.OOM III. METATARSALS OF THE IGUANODON. 295 
 
 It is the thigh bones, marked Nos. 4 and 5, which Pro- 
 fessor Owen observes " we might conclude to be humeri" 
 (" Brit. Rep." p. 137.) And in the next page he describes 
 a bone (an undoubted femur) that corresponds " in form 
 with the bones Nos. 4 and 5 of the Mantellian Collection." 
 Professor Owen then observes " As the absence of the deep 
 fissure between the condyles of the femur is repeated in the 
 humerus of the Iguana, so may its presence be repeated in the 
 humerus of the Iguanodon" p. 138. The remarks of a cor- 
 respondent, Mr. Holmes, are then inserted to " support the 
 view I had taken of their nature." (See note to p. 286.) 
 
 On the narrow front shelf (ante, p. 227,) there is a femur of 
 a very young Iguanodon, but nine inches in length. 
 
 BOXES OF THE HIND FEET ; metotarsals, phalangeals, and 
 unguals. The bones composing the hind foot of the Iguano- 
 don, have already been alluded to, as presenting in their 
 massive proportions the characters of mammalian rather than 
 of reptilian metatarsals. No specimens have come under my 
 notice that could with certainty be assigned to the tarsus. 
 I have some very massive and solid bones of a cuboidal form, 
 but much waterworn, that were collected from the shore at 
 Sandown Bay, whence the gigantic phalangeal, figured by Dr. 
 Buckland in " Geol. Trans.," was obtained ; and these speci- 
 mens may possibly belong to the tarsus of the Iguanodon. 
 
 Metatarsals. Wall-case C, lower shelf. A considerable 
 number of metatarsals belonging to animals of various ages 
 and magnitude have been collected ; and there are some fine 
 specimens in the Case before us. They are easily recognised 
 by their peculiar form, as shown in Lign. 63, fig. 8. 
 
 The proximal extremity is very much compressed laterally, 
 the vertical diameter being thrice that of the transverse ; the 
 articular surface is almost flat. The bone is contracted in the 
 middle, and forms at the distal end a bold trochlear articulation 
 divided by a vertical depression. 
 
 The large metatarsal on this shelf is figured in " Fossils of 
 Tilgate Forest," PL XV. fig. 8 ; it has the following propor- 
 tions : 
 
 Length 10 inches. 
 
 Proximal end ; vertical diameter ... 7 
 
 transverse diameter . . 2| 
 
 Distal end ; vertical diameter .... 4^ 
 transverse diameter ... 3^ 
 
296 
 
 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 The proximal articular surface is nearly flat ; the distal end 
 that unites with the first phalangeal is a bold trochlear 
 articulation. 
 
 LIGN. 63. BONES OF THE FEET OF THE IGUANODON, AND MEGALOSAURUS. 
 ( Wealden. Tilgate Forest. ) 
 
 Fig. 1. Metatarsal of Iguanodon : upper surface ; original six inches long. 
 
 2. Metacarpal bone of Megalosaurus. 
 
 3. Under surface of fig. 1. 
 
 4. A metacarpal bone of the Maidstone Iguanodon; the original 14 in. long. 
 4a. A transverse section of the same, showing the medullary cavity. 
 
 5. One of the first or second phalangeal bones of the fore-foot. 
 
 6. View from above of a claw-bone of one of the hind-toes; -J- nat. size. 
 
 7. Profile of claw-bone of fore-foot: -J- nat. size. 
 
 8. Metatarsal, nat . size. 
 
 a. Denotes the proximal articulation. 
 
 b. The distal extremity. 
 
 Phalangeals. The first phalangeals that articulate with 
 the metatarsals are less arched, and the extremities are more 
 equal, than in the preceding bones. 
 
 The second and third phalangeals are more subcylindrical ; 
 the ungual phalanx exceeds the length of the latter, in the 
 only connected series I have met with. 
 
 In the Maidstone specimen there are several metatarsals, 
 phalangeals, and unguals of the hind-feet, of which I shall 
 treat more particularly. But I would here direct attention 
 
ROOM III. HIND FEET OF THE IGUANODON. 297 
 
 to two phalangeals in this Case (the one is a cast of a bone 
 in the Maidstone fossil), which are remarkably abbreviated ; 
 these are probably median phalanges, but their position in 
 the series is not shown in any specimen that has come under 
 my notice. 
 
 Unguals, or distal phalangeals. Wall-case C, Lowermost 
 compartment. The ungual bones, or those which constituted 
 the nail or claw, and were covered by a horny integument, 
 are very large, depressed, and broad above, with two deep 
 curved lateral grooves with rounded margins, which are 
 often impressed with vascular furrows. The proximal end 
 has a transverse, irregularly elliptical, shallow depression, for 
 articulation with the penultimate phalangeal. Lign. 63, fig. 6, 
 is the outline of an ungual bone of the hind foot from the 
 Maidstone specimen, and shows the broad margins sepa- 
 rated from the median convexity by the deep vascular 
 lateral furrows. 
 
 There is considerable variation in the convexity of the un- 
 gual bones, and in its direction ; in some instances, it is 
 nearly straight, and the lateral lobes are symmetrical ; other 
 examples are twisted obliquely outwards, and the furrows 
 are partially obliterated. These differences, doubtless, have 
 relation to the respective toes to which these phalanges 
 belonged. The straight unguals are probably those of the 
 middle toes; those with the oblique outward curve may have 
 belonged to the outer or inner toes. The largest specimens of 
 the ungual bones I have seen are five inches in length, three 
 in breadth, and two in height at the proximal end. 
 
 The following are the respective lengths of a consecutive 
 series of phalangeals in the collection of S. H. Beckles, Esq. : 
 
 Metatarsal 8 inches. 
 
 Proximal phalangeal .... 4^ 
 
 Second phalangeal 3 
 
 Ungual, or distal phalangeal . 5 
 
 On the shelf in the lowest compartment of this Case, there 
 is a fine ungual bone, 4J inches in length, from Tilgate 
 Forest, (No. 384,) with the characteristic lateral furrows ; this 
 specimen was imbedded in a block of the most compact Til- 
 gate grit, and was extracted with great difficulty : hence the 
 roughness of the surface occasioned by the chisel in clearing 
 the bone from its matrix. 
 
298 PETEIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 HORN OR DERMAL TUBERCLE OF THE IGUANODON. Wall- 
 case C, (on the narrow front ledge, ante, p. 227.) Allusion has 
 been made in an early page of this chapter to a fossil ob- 
 tained from the quarry at Cuckfield, soon after my discovery 
 of the teeth of the Iguanodon, which some of my scientific 
 friends supposed to be the lesser horn of a Rhinoceros. This 
 very curious relic was figured and described in 1827, in my 
 "Fossils of Tilgate Forest" (PL III. fig. 5), as the frontal 
 tubercle or Horn of the Iguanodon; Mr. Pentland, the emi- 
 nent naturalist, having first suggested its true nature. 
 
 In the " Geology of the S. E. of England," (published in 
 1833,) this specimen was again figured and described, its 
 dermal character having been confirmed by Baron Cuvier, to 
 whom I showed it on his visit to London. 1 This interesting 
 fossil is placed on the front ledge of Case C. Two or three 
 dermal bones of this kind have since been found; and I have 
 a series of three conical tubercles of a similar character im- 
 planted in a coarse osseous substance, which closely resemble, 
 on a gigantic scale, the dermal spines on the back of the 
 well-known Australian lizard, termed the " Moloch." 
 
 This fossil is of a conical form, slightly bent, with an obtuse 
 apex. It is 4 inches high ; and the base, which is of an irre- 
 gular elliptical form, and slightly excavated, like the corre- 
 sponding part of the dermal spine of the Hylseosaurus, is 
 3.2 inches in the largest diameter, and 2.1 inches in the 
 shortest. (Lign. 67, jig. 2.) Its structure presents that pecu- 
 liar disposition of the osseous fibres which is observable 
 in the dermal bones of certain reptiles ; the surface is dis- 
 
 , 1 " Among the recent genera of lizards the Iguanas are distinguished 
 by their exuberant dermal appendages ; many of the species have enor- 
 mous serrated processes on the back ; others on the tail and guttural 
 pouch, while some have warts or horny protuberances on the head. These, 
 however, are so small, the horn in the most favoured species, Iguana, 
 cornuta, being scarcely a quarter of an inch high in an animal five feet 
 long, that no one could have imagined the corresponding part of an 
 extinct reptile would have been preserved in a fossil state. This relic 
 is of so extraordinary a nature, that although it has been noticed in my 
 former work, I am anxious to dwell on it in this place, that I may in- 
 troduce the remarks of M. Cuvier, by whom it was examined during 
 his last visit to London, and at whose suggestion a more accurate 
 representation is here given, than that in the ' Fossils of Tilgate 
 Forest.' " " Geology of the S. E. of England," p. 312. 1 vol. 8vo, 
 1833. 
 
ROOM III. HORN OF THE IGUANODON. 299 
 
 tiuctly impressed by the vessels of the integument by which 
 it was originally covered. 
 
 There is no evidence to prove that this bone belonged to 
 the Iguanodon, but that it is a dermal tubercle there cannot 
 be any reasonable doubt; and as it closely resembles the 
 frontal horn of the Iguana cornuta, it is highly probable 
 it was such an appendage: or it may have been one of a 
 series extending down the back. In the present state of our 
 knowledge, we are warranted in retaining the name sanctioned 
 by the illustrious Cuvier. 1 
 
 Dimensions of the Hinder Limbs of the Iguanodon. Al- 
 though the prodigious size of the hind limbs of the herbi- 
 vorous reptile of the Wealden is sufficiently apparent from 
 the single bones deposited in the British Museum, and de- 
 scribed in the preceding pages, yet with the view of convey- 
 ing to the reader a just idea of the stupendous proportions 
 of this part of the skeleton of the Iguanodon, I will offer a few 
 remarks on some enormous bones, which have been collected 
 from the Wealden deposits of Tilgate Forest and the Isle of 
 Wight, in the course of the last few years, and which are either 
 in my own possession, or in the collections of my friends. 
 
 " In the course of last autumn I procured from the cliffs 
 near Brook Point, a locality well known to the British geo- 
 logist from the fossil forest exposed at its base, 2 portions of 
 two corresponding femora, tibiae, and several vertebrae, frag- 
 ments of ribs, &c. of Iguanodons. The most entire bone is 
 the left femur ; it consists of the shaft from above the popli- 
 teal space to the root of the outer trochanter : the head and 
 condyles are both wanting; the inner trochanter remains: 
 the length of this fossil is 3 feet; circumference of the shaft 
 
 1 After the lapse of eighteen years, the Hunterian Professor, it would 
 seem, has discovered that this "horn" is an ungual bone: for, alluding 
 to a bone of the Mosasaurus, Professor Owen remarks : " The phalanx 
 in question much resembles that in the British Museum (No. 384 Man- 
 tellian Collect.), which has bee^i described as the ' Horn of the Iguano- 
 don.'" ("Fossil Keptilia of the Cretaceous Formations," 1851, p. 36.) 
 I have again carefully examined three of these bones, and may remark, 
 that in addition to the reasons assigned in the text, the absence of 
 lateral furrows in the dermal horns or spines, and the constant presence 
 of such vascular grooves in every reptilian ungual phalanx hitherto found 
 in the Wealden, and the form of the base, substantiate my opinion. 
 
 2 " See my Geological Excursions round the Isle of Wight,' p. 277." 
 
300 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 27 inches. The greatest thickness of the wall of the shaft 
 is 2 inches; the diameter of the medullary cavity 5 inches 
 by 3. In all the femora which I have examined, the medul- 
 lary canal extends from above the condyles to within one- 
 third of the top of the bone. 1 Of the right femur, which 
 from its correspondence in size is probably referable to the 
 same individual as the left, two large portions of the shaft 
 were alone obtained. Now, if we take as a scale of propor- 
 tions the large femur in the Walkcase 0, the bone above 
 described, if perfect, would be of the following dimensions : 
 
 Total length 4 feet 8 inches. 
 
 Circumference of the head exclusive of the outer 
 
 . v trochanter 3 2 
 
 the shaft at the base of the 
 
 middle trochanter 2 1 
 
 the distal end round the condyles 3 6 
 
 " A tibia found with the above, consists of about two-thirds 
 of the shaft, with the distal or tarsal extremity nearly entire ; 
 it measures as follows : 
 
 " Length along the middle of the shaft 27 inches. 
 
 Length to the distal inner process 32 
 
 Circumference of the distal or tarsal end .... 25 
 
 middle of the shaft .... 18 
 
 upper part 20 
 
 Probable length of this tibia when perfect, 4 feet. 
 
 " A fragment of the shaft of another tibia is 23 inches in 
 circumference ; and the distal end of one from Sandown Bay 
 27 inches. 
 
 "As a contrast to these gigantic remains, bones of the 
 extremity occasionally occur so small, yet so compact, as to 
 suggest the probability that they may belong to distinct 
 species; but at present I have not been able to detect other 
 characters which would warrant such an inference. A left 
 femur in my possession, from Rusper in Sussex, is 14 J inches 
 
 1 " In this enormous bone the interna.1 structure is beautifully pre- 
 served ; sections properly prepared exhibit the peculiar form and pro- 
 portions which Mr. Bowerbank considers to be characteristic of the 
 reptilian type. That eminent microscopic observer has kindly favoured 
 me with his measurements of the bone-cells in portions of this femur. 
 The general average of the proportions of the length and diameter of 
 the cells is as one to eleven ; the length being -^^ and the diameter 
 th of an inch." 
 
ROOM III. HINDER LIMBS OF THE IGUANODON. 301 
 
 long; the circumference of the shaft 6 inches: this, there- 
 fore, is but one-fourth the size of the specimen from Brook. 
 The lower portion of another thigh-bone, which in the cha- 
 racters of its condyloid extremity entirely agrees with all the 
 recognised femora of the Iguanodon, is but 3J inches in cir- 
 cumference round the condyles, and but 2J round the shaft 
 immediately above them; the total length of this femur, 
 when entire, could not have exceeded 4J inches. 
 
 " In general the circumference of the shaft of the thigh- 
 bone immediately below the base of the inner trochanter, is 
 nearly equal to half the length of the entire bone; for ex- 
 ample, the large right femur from Loxwood, (No. 1,) which 
 is 3 feet 8 inches long, is 21 inches round the shaft. But 
 there are exceptions to these proportions ; thus, a femur from 
 Brook Point, presented by me to the Hunterian Museum of 
 the Koyal College of Surgeons, is relatively shorter, for it is 
 only 3i feet long, while the circumference of the shaft is 24 
 inches. The thigh-bone of the Maidstone fossil is of more 
 slender proportions. 
 
 " The tibia is about one-tenth shorter than the correspond- 
 ing femur ; and the fibula somewhat shorter than the tibia. 
 
 " With the view of affording a general idea of the dimen- 
 sions of the known parts of the skeleton of the Iguanodon 
 to which the largest femur in my possession belonged, the 
 following list, calculated from the average size of numerous 
 specimens, is subjoined. The length of the corresponding 
 bones in the Maidstone fossil is added for comparison : 
 
 Isle of'wiffht Maidstone Iguanodon. 
 " Femur, length of .... 4 feet 8 inches. 2 feet 9 inches. 
 
 Tibia 4 1 2 6 
 
 Fibula 3 8 
 
 Humerus 3 2 
 
 Clavicle 3 8 
 
 Scapula 3 4 
 
 Metacarpals 2 
 
 Ilium 3 10 
 
 Metalarsals 2 
 
 1 8 
 
 2 4 
 2 1 
 
 1 2 
 
 2 6 
 1 2 
 
 8} " 
 
 Ungual bones 5f 
 
 THE MAIDSTONE IGUANODON. Case 23. (See Plan of Room 
 III. ante, p. 139.) The fine old. town of Maidstone, in Kent, 
 
 1 From a " Memoir on the Osteology of the Ignanodon and Hylaeo- 
 saurus-," published in the "Philos. Trans." for 1849, pp. 282, 283. 
 
302 PETKIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 is situated on the gentle slope of a valley of Greensand, 
 through which the river Medway winds its way to " The 
 Nore," and flows into the British Channel. The country 
 around is deeply covered by diluvial clay and loam, in which 
 teeth and bones of species of Elephant, Horse, Ox, and other 
 pachyderms, are occasionally found. These beds are of con- 
 siderable thickness, amounting in some localities to forty feet. 
 
 The grey arenaceous limestone of the cretaceous formation, 
 provincially termed Kentish-Rag, occurs interstratified with 
 the more friable beds of greensand, and has long been ex- 
 tensively quarried in the immediate neighbourhood of Maid- 
 stone ; the most calcareous varieties being used for lime, and 
 the harder rock for buildings and roads. 
 
 On the north-west of the town, the greensand strata dip 
 beneath the upper series of the Cretaceous formation, viz. the 
 Gait, Chalk-Marl, and Lower-Chalk, that appear in succession 
 on the surface, in passing to the neighbouring North Downs, 
 which are a continuation of the Surrey range of Upper or 
 flinty Chalk, and extend eastward, till they terminate in the 
 precipitous cliffs of Dover. 1 
 
 The greensand strata in this locality abound in the marine 
 shells which characterise the lowest subdivision of the Chalk 
 formation, viz. the Atherfield or Neocomian series, to which 
 the elaborate researches of Dr. Fitton h^re imparted a high 
 degree of geological interest. 
 
 Trigonise, pernae, gervillise, terebratulse, ammonites, nautili, 
 remains of crustaceans, scales and teeth of various kinds of 
 fishes, bones and teeth of marine saurians (Polyptychodon, 
 ante, p. 200), remains of turtles, &c., occur in these beds in 
 the vicinity of Maidstone. Waterworn blocks of fossil wood 
 perforated by boring- shells, fragments of stems, and branches 
 of monocotyledonous and coniferous vegetables, are also occa- 
 sionally found imbedded with the marine exuviae, having 
 evidently been transported by rivers or land-floods, and 
 drifted into the bed of the chalk-ocean. 
 
 At Rock Hill, on the south-western side of the river, at 
 about half a mile from Maidstone, there is an extensive quarry 
 of Kentish- Rag in the possession of Mr. W. H. Bensted, which, 
 thanks to the sagacity and zeal of its intelligent proprietor, 
 
 1 See " Wonders of Geology," p. 297. 
 
ROOM III. THE MAIDSTONE IGUANODOX. 303 
 
 has acquired an enduring celebrity in British Palaeontology ; 
 for from this quarry was obtained, a few years since, the most 
 considerable portion of the skeleton of the Iguanodon hitherto 
 discovered. 
 
 Mr. Bensted, whose active and intelligent mind was alive 
 to the various objects of interest with which he was sur- 
 rounded, and who had assiduously collected the fossils that 
 were from time to time brought to light in his quarry, had 
 instructed his workmen to preserve every shell or bone im- 
 bedded in the rock. 
 
 In May 1834, upon blasting a large block of limestone, 
 the workmen observed in some of the masses that were 
 blown off, pieces of a brown substance, which they supposed 
 to be petrified wood ; they preserved some of the largest 
 portions for the inspection of Mr. Bensted, who at once per- 
 ceived they were fragments of the bones of some gigantic 
 animal. He therefore directed that every piece should be 
 collected, and succeeded in regaining some fragments that 
 had been taken to the river-side ; and after much trouble he 
 gathered together the dissevered masses of rock, which, when 
 united, formed the specimen in Case 23. 
 
 Mr. Bensted assiduously cleared away the investing lime- 
 stone, as far as the very brittle condition of the bones would 
 admit; and when , I visited him, in company with \V. D. 
 Saull, Esq., the characters of the principal bones were suffi- 
 ciently exposed to view, to admit of my recognising them as 
 analogous to those which I had ascribed to the Iguanodon. 
 
 Some gentlemen of Brighton, anxious that a specimen 
 which shed so much light on the osteology of the Iguanodon, 
 should be placed in the hands of the individual who first dis- 
 covered the teeth and bones of that extraordinary type of 
 reptilian organization, purchased the fossil of Mr. Bensted, 
 and presented it to the author. 1 It was brought to me by 
 
 1 The following is a list of the donors; the proposal originated with 
 the two gentlemen whose names are placed first. 
 
 M. RICARDO, ESQ. Sir Richard Hunter. 
 
 HORACE SMITH, ESQ. E. Lindo, Esq. 
 
 Rev. J. S. M. Anderson. J. Masquerier, Esq. 
 Thomas Attree, Esq. Dr. Price. 
 
 George Basevi, Esq. Rev. Thomas Rooper. 
 
 Thomas Bodley, Esq. W. Tennant, Esq. 
 
 Dr. Hall. Rev. H. M. Wagner. 
 
 R, Heaviside, Esq. J. Sarel, Esq. 
 
304 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 Mr. Bensted in the fragmentary and shapeless state in which 
 it was collected, with a drawing and plan of the respective 
 bones and pieces of stone, to assist rne in its reparation. How 
 far the labour spent in its restoration was successful, is shown 
 by the present state of this interesting group of bones of the 
 same individual. 
 
 " The genuine worker and searcher after truth may well 
 conceive my feelings " upon receiving so gratifying a tribute 
 of respect from my fellow-townsmen, and so unexpected a 
 confirmation of the correctness of my interpretation of the 
 scattered bones of a reptile whose osteology presented such 
 anomalous characters ; for to my great delight, I found that 
 every bone I had ascribed to the Iguanodon solely from 
 analogy, was present in the Maidstone specimen. / 
 
 LIGN. 64. IGUANODON QUARRY, or Mr. W. H. BENSTED, NEAR MAIDSTONE. 
 
 The section exposed in the quarry whence this fossil was 
 obtained, is shown in the annexed sketch from a drawing with 
 which Mr. Bensted favoured me, when he delivered the speci- 
 men into my hands. 
 
 The Kentish-rag is seen in nearly horizontal layers, sepa- 
 rated by thin seams of loose sand. A deep vertical chasm 
 intersects the strata, and this fissure was filled with loam, 
 gravel, and other alluvial detritus, which constitute the 
 
ROOM III. THE MAIDSTONE IGUAXODON. 305 
 
 immediate subsoil of the district, and form a bed of from 
 ten to twenty feet thick above the regular strata of the 
 quarry. This chasm had evidently been a watercourse before 
 the deposition of the drift, for the face of the rock on each 
 side bore unequivocal marks of the long-continued action of 
 currents. 
 
 / The mass of limestone in which the Iguanodon was im- 
 bedded, was situated on the left of the fissure, and near the 
 upper part of the section. 1 
 
 The intelligent reader will remark that the geological 
 position of the Maidstone Iguanodon, forms a striking ex- 
 ception to the circumstances under which all the remains of 
 this terrestrial reptile hitherto described were obtained j for 
 while in the "VVealden deposits the bones were associated 
 with fluviatile and terrestrial exuviae only, this specimen was 
 imbedded in a marine stratum, and marine shells were at- 
 tached to the femur. This fact, however, in no wise affects 
 the validity of the arguments previously advanced as to 
 the fluviatile origin of the Wealden Formation. It merely 
 shows that part of the delta of the ancient river had sub- 
 sided, and was covered by the ocean that deposited the 
 greensand strata, whilst the Country of the Iguanodon still 
 remained above the waters ; so that the carcass of one of 
 these reptiles was drifted out to sea, and became ingulfed 
 in the deposits then in progress ; in like manner as at 
 the present day, remains of land quadrupeds may not only 
 be imbedded in the deltas of rivers, but also in the depths of 
 the ocean. 
 
 There are two bones missing in the specimen, and which, 
 I fear, are irretrievably lost. One is the ungual bone repre- 
 sented at fig. 5. It was narrower, and more convex and 
 elongated, than the ungual that remains near the metatarsal 
 fig. 4. This bone was 3J inches long : its proximal end was 
 H inch in transverse diameter, and 1J in the vertical; the 
 distal end was f inch wide. 
 
 The other missing bone was a remarkably abbreviated 
 phalangeal, imbedded near the former. Its dimensions were 
 as follow : Antero- 
 
 1 See " Medals of Creation," p. 431, for an account of the molluskite, 
 discovered in the Maidstone Iguanodon quarry, by Mr. Bensted. 
 
 x 
 
306 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 LISK. 65. REMAINS OF THE SKELETON OF A YOUNG IGUANODON, IMBEDDED IN 
 
 A BLOCK OF KKNTISH RAG: FROM NEAR MAIDSTONE. 
 
 (Size of the original, 6 ft. 4 in. by G ft. 2 in.) 
 
 This specimen consists of a considerable portion of the skeleton of a young animal, 
 the bones being disconnected, distorted, and imbedded in the rock in a very confused 
 manner. The following are those I have been able to determine : 
 
 Figs. 1,2. Right and left femur : 33 inches long. 
 
 3. Tibia : 20 inches long. 
 
 4, 4, 4. Metatarsal and phalangeal bones. 
 
 5, 5. Ungual bones. 
 
 6. Two metacarpal bones : 14 inches long. Near these are portions of small 
 
 cylindrical bones, apparently fragments of abdominal costal processes. 
 
 7. Humerus: 20 inches long. 
 
 8* 8* Dorsal vertebrae. The group on the right belongs to the same series as 
 that on the left : the * * point out thHr junction. In my " Wonders 
 of Geology," the true form of the specimen is represented. 
 9. Fragments of Ribs. 
 10,10. Clavicles: 28 inches long. Under the distal end of the lowermost 
 
 clavicle there is a bone not yet made out. 
 11, 11. Iliac bones. 
 
 12. Chevron-bone, or haemapophysis. Beneath this process there is a hatchet- 
 
 shaped bone, which I have not been able to decypher. 
 
 13. A tooth and the imprint of another. Unfortunately lost in removing 
 
 the specimen from Brighton. 
 14, 14. The two corresponding portions of a Scapula. 
 
 15. The distal part of the other Scapula. 
 16,16. Caudal vertebrae. 
 
 * Indicates the cavity left by the bore in which the charge was placed to 
 blast the stone. 
 
ROOM III. THE MAIDSTONE IGUANODON. 307 
 
 Antero-posterior diameter 1 inch. 
 
 Transverse 2^ 
 
 Vertical ........ If 
 
 The impressions left by these two bones remain distinct on 
 the stone, and as, fortunately, I had moulds taken of them 
 when in my possession, casts of these important parts of the 
 skeleton may be restored. 1 
 
 As the bones in the Maidstone Iguanodon have been 
 described when treating of the anatomical characters of the 
 several parts of the skeleton, it is unnecessary to extend 
 this notice of a specimen whose interest chiefly depends on 
 the collocation of the principal elements of the osteology of 
 the colossal reptile of the Wealden. 
 
 PHYSIOLOGICAL INFERENCES AS TO THE STRUCTURE AND 
 ECONOMY OF THE IGUANODON. In instituting a comparison 
 between the maxillary organs of the Iguanodon, and those of 
 the existing herbivorous lizards, with the view of obtaining 
 
 1 The Lignograph 65, is merely a diagram or plan to show the posi- 
 tion of the several parts, without any pretensions to accuracy, and in- 
 tended to assist the visitor in identifying the bones referred to in the 
 previous descriptions. The original drawing, from which the litho- 
 graph published in the " Monograph of the Palseontological Society " 
 was taken, was executed by Mr. Dinkel, with great care, when the spe- 
 cimen was in my museum at Brighton (see Appendix G.) ; I therefore 
 regret that the lithograph is a modified copy, and does not convey an 
 accurate idea of the original. The lithograph in my " Wonders of 
 Geology," sixth edition, PL III., is very faithful, but on too small a scale 
 to admit of anatomical details. 
 
 The palaeontologist desirous of ascertaining the structure of the Igua- 
 nodon, and the relative proportions of the respective bones, will I fear 
 be embarrassed by the manifest difference between the measurements of 
 some of the bones given by me, and those by Professor Owen in the 
 " Monograph " referred to. The scale of Professor Owen's Plate XXXIII. 
 is mentioned to be " 2 inches to the foot " = ; and the bone which is 
 termed the ulna, (but which I believe to be a metacarpal bone,) is stated 
 to be eighteen inches long, (See " Monograph," p. 114) ; yet in the Plate 
 XXXI 1 1. this bone measures 2- inches, which is only equal to between 
 13 and 14 inches; a length which nearly agrees with that given by me, 
 namely, 14 inches. 
 
 The "genuine worker" is therefore requested to judge for himself, 
 by a careful examination of the specimen; for there are several other 
 incongruities equally important ; for example, the Clavicle, which when 
 the specimen was in my possession measured 28 inches, is, according to 
 Professor Owen's table, nine inches longer, namely 37 inches. (" Mono- 
 graph," p. 113.) 
 
308 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 some physiological deductions from their peculiar osteological 
 characters, we are at once struck with their remarkable de- 
 viation from all known types in the class Reptilia. In the 
 Amblyrhynchi, the most exclusively vegetable feeders of the 
 saurian order, the alveolar process, beset with teeth, is con- 
 tinued round the front of the mouth; the junction of the 
 two rami of the lower jaw at the symphysis presenting no 
 edentulous interval whatever, and the lips not being more 
 produced than in other reptiles ; for these creatures chip off 
 and bruise their food, and cannot grind or masticate it: in 
 the Iguanas, as previously shown, the same character exists. 
 In the carnivorous saurians the teeth are also continued to 
 the symphysial suture on each side. The extinct colossal 
 lizards offer no exception to this rule ; in the acrodont Mosa- 
 saurus of the Chalk, and in the thecodont Megalosaurus of 
 the Oolite and Wealden, the jaws are armed with teeth round 
 the anterior extremity. In short, the edentulous, expanded, 
 scoop-shaped, procumbent, symphysis of the lower jaw of the 
 Iguanodon, has no parallel among either existing or fossil 
 reptiles, and we seek in vain for maxillary organs at all analo- 
 gous, except among the herbivorous mammalia. The nearest 
 approach is to be found in certain Edentata, as for example 
 in the Cholcepus didactylus, or Two-toed Sloth, in which the 
 anterior part of the lower jaw is edentulous and much pro- 
 longed. The correspondence is still closer in the gigantic ex- 
 tinct Mylodon, in which the symphysis resembles the blade oi 
 a spade used by turf-diggers, and has no traces of incisive 
 sockets; and were not this part of the jaw elevated vertically 
 in front, and the two rami confluent, it would present the 
 very counterpart of that of the Iguanodon. 1 
 
 The great size and number of the vascular foramina distri- 
 buted along the outer side of the dentary bone, and beneath 
 the border of the symphysis, in the Iguanodon, and the mag- 
 nitude of the anterior outlets which gave exit to the vessels 
 
 1 In the Mylodon Darwinii the rami of the lower jaw anterior to the 
 teeth are contracted vertically, and converge to a longer and narrowei 
 symphysis, which is inclined forwards at a more open angle with the 
 horizontal ramus, than in the Mylodon robustus, and therefore stil! 
 more nearly approaches that of the Iguanodon. See Professor Owen on 
 the Mylodon. 
 
ROOM III. PHYSIOLOGICAL INFERENCES. 309 
 
 and nerves that supplied the front of the mouth, indicate the 
 great development of the integuments and soft parts, with 
 which the lower jaw was invested. 
 
 The sharp ridge bordering the deep groove of the sym- 
 physis, in which there are also several foramina, evidently 
 gave attachment to the muscles and integuments of the 
 under lip ; while two deep pits for the insertion of the pro- 
 tractor muscles of the tongue, manifest the mobility and 
 power of that organ. There are therefore strong reasons for 
 supposing that the lip was flexible, and, in conjunction with 
 the long fleshy prehensile tongue, constituted the instruments 
 for seizing and cropping the leaves and branches, which, from 
 the construction of the molars, we may infer constituted the 
 chief food of the Iguanodon. The mechanism of the maxil- 
 lary organs, as elucidated by recent discoveries, is thus in 
 perfect harmony with the remarkable characters w T hich ren- 
 dered the first known teeth so enigmatical ; and in the Wealden 
 herbivorous reptile we have a solution of the problem, how 
 the integrity of the type of organization peculiar to the class 
 of cold-blooded vertebrata was maintained, and yet adapted, 
 by simple modifications, to fulfil the conditions required by 
 the economy of a gigantic terrestrial reptile, destined to ob- 
 tain support exclusively from vegetable substances; in like 
 manner as the extinct colossal herbivorous Edentata which 
 flourished in South America, ages after the Country of 
 the Iguanodon and its inhabitants had been swept from the 
 face of the earth. 
 
 Thus in the unlimited production of successional teeth at 
 every period of the animal's existence, in the mode of im- 
 plantation of the teeth, and in the composite structure of the 
 lower jaw, each ramus consisting of six distinct elements, 
 the saurian type of organization is unequivocally manifest; 
 while the intimate structure of the dental organs approaches 
 that of the Sloths, and the subalternate arrangement and 
 reversed position of the upper and lower series of teeth 
 corresponds with that of the Ruminants. And again, the 
 edentulous and prolonged symphysis, and the great develop- 
 ment of the lower lip and the integuments of the jaws, as 
 indicated by the size and number of the vascular foramina, 
 present a striking analogy to the Edentata. They who doubt 
 the correctness of this interpretation, should remember that 
 
310 PETKIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 it is in this order of Mammalia that we find the nearest 
 approach to the Reptilia : in the scaly covering of the skin, 
 the imperfections of the dental system, the smallness of the 
 brain, and the long continuance of the irritability of the 
 muscular fibre after death ; which are so many decadencies 
 of organization, so to speak, that indicate a step towards that 
 class, of which the Iguanodon appears to have been the 
 highest type. 
 
 If the opinion previously advanced (ante, p. 260) be correct, 
 that the anterior part of the spinal column consisted of con- 
 vexo-concave, and the dorsal of plano-concave vertebrae, the 
 adult Iguanodon must have approached in this part of its 
 skeleton, as well as in its sacrum, in its massive femora, 
 with their large medullary cavities, trochanters, and con- 
 dyles, and in its short and strong metatarsals and pha- 
 langeals, to that of the large herbivorous mammalia. 
 
 The position of the hinder limbs (the thighs and legs) in 
 relation to the pelvis, cannot be accurately determined from 
 the data at present obtained; but the form of the head and 
 shaft of the femur, and the character of its articulations and 
 processes, so closely resemble those of the largest pachyderms, 
 as to suggest the idea, that unlike the rest of its class, the 
 Iguanodon had the body supported as in the mammalia, and 
 the abdomen suspended higher from the ground than in any 
 existing saurians. 
 
 In fine, we have in the Iguanodon the type of the terres- 
 trial herbivora, which in that remote epoch of the earth's 
 physical history, termed by geologists " The Age of Reptiles," 
 occupied the same relative station in the scale of being, and 
 fulfilled the same general purposes in the economy of nature, 
 as the Mastodons, Mammoths, and Mylodons, of the tertiary 
 periods, and the existing Pachyderms. 
 
 With regard to the probable magnitude of the individuals 
 to which the largest bones in my collection belonged, a gene- 
 ral estimate only can be formed, because the relative propor- 
 tions of the limbs, head, and body, are still unknown ; sooner 
 or later an entire, or a considerable portion of the, skeleton 
 of a young Iguanodon will be brought to light, and yield the 
 information necessary to enable the palaeontologist to ascertain 
 .the dimensions, and delineate the physiognomy, of the living 
 original. 
 
ROOM III. PHYSIOLOGICAL INFERENCES. 311 
 
 The size of the largest Iguanodon has been estimated as 
 follows : ! length of the head, three feet of the trunk, twelve 
 feet of the tail, thirteen feet total length, twenty-eight feet. 
 
 This statement will surprise the reader who, from the 
 popular notions of the magnitude of the Iguanodon, has 
 entertained the idea that this reptile attained seventy feet in 
 length ; but the discrepancy between the above estimate and 
 that first suggested by me, admits of an easy explanation. 
 
 In my earliest notices of the Iguanodon, which were pub- 
 lished from time to time, as fresh discoveries disclosed new 
 modifications of structure in this prodigious creature, an 
 attempt was made to estimate the probable magnitude of the 
 original, by instituting a comparison between the fossil bones 
 and those of the Iguana; the recent type which the form of 
 the teeth seemed to point out as the one most nearly related 
 to the extinct reptile. It was thus shown that if the propor- 
 tions were the same in both, the Iguanodon must have at- 
 tained seventy feet or more in length. But this statement 
 was qualified (more than eleven years since) by the remark 
 "It is not, of course, pretended that such an estimate can 
 offer more than a very distant approximation to the truth ; 
 yet it may be confidently affirmed that a reptile, which re- 
 quired a thigh-bone larger than that of the Elephant to sup- 
 port it, could not be of less colossal dimensions. In truth, 
 I believe that its magnitude is here underrated, for, like 
 Frankenstein, I was struck with astonishment at the monster 
 which my investigations had, as it were, called into existence, 
 and was more anxious to reduce its proportions than to exag- 
 gerate them. Should subsequent discoveries prove that the 
 Iguanodon more nearly corresponded in the proportions of 
 the tail with the Crocodilian family than with the Lizards, its 
 total length would be much less than is here inferred ; and 
 from the shape of some of the metacarpals and phalangeals, it 
 seems highly probable chat the original was more bulky in 
 proportion to its length, than the existing Lacertians." 
 
 In subsequent notices this opinion was reiterated, and on 
 the discovery of several perfect anterior caudals, I expressed 
 my conviction that the tail of the Iguanodon was shorter 
 than in the Iguana, and instead of being long and round, was 
 
 1 " Brit. Kep." 1841, p. 144. 
 
312 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 compressed laterally, and largely developed in a vertical di- 
 rection. In my Memoir, in the "Phil. Trans" 1841 (pp. 
 137 140), it is stated that "from the shortness of the 
 caudal vertebrae, and the length of the spinous processes, 
 indicating a great vertical development of the tail, it is pro- 
 bable this organ was not long and slender, as in the Iguana, 
 but approximated more nearly to the tail of the Dory- 
 phorus" 
 
 " The length of the united head and trunk, according to my 
 estimate, 1 is seventeen feet and a half ; by Professor Owen's it 
 is reduced to fifteen feet : a difference of no importance in 
 such merely approximative calculations, particularly when 
 the form of the cranium is unknown. The great discrepancy 
 is in the estimated length of the tail ; if the Iguanodon re- 
 sembled the Iguana in its caudal proportions, its total length 
 would be seventy feet ; but if the tail was short, the total 
 length of the animal would, of course, be proportionately 
 reduced, and the most gigantic individuals may not have 
 exceeded thirty feet in length." 
 
 A recent discovery, however, supports the idea first sug- 
 gested by the stupendous size of the bones of the extremities. 
 
 In a block of calciferous grit picked up on the sea-shore, 
 I have laid bare a chain of eleven caudal vertebrae, belonging 
 to the middle region of the tail ; and the bodies of these 
 bones, instead of being abbreviated, as the shortness of the 
 known anterior caudals led us to infer, are elongated as in 
 the corresponding part of the skeleton of the recent Iguana. 
 The length of four of these vertebras is equal to that of five 
 dorsals ; and their spinous and transverse processes are so 
 well developed, as to show that the tail must have been 
 greatly prolonged probably, in the same degree as in the 
 existing lizards. The length of the femur of this individual 
 is equal to six caudal, or eight anterior dorsal vertebrae. It 
 is, therefore, according to the present state of our knowledge, 
 not at all improbable, that the largest Iguanodons may have 
 attained a length of from sixty to seventy feet. 
 
 Although some important points in the osteology of the 
 Iguanodon are still unknown, we may safely conclude that 
 this stupendous reptile equalled in bulk the large herbivo- 
 
 1 " Geology of the South-East of England," p. 316. 
 
ROOM III. PHYSIOLOGICAL INFERENCES. 313 
 
 rous mammalia, and was as massive in its proportions ; for, 
 living exclusively on vegetables, it must have had the abdo- 
 minal region greatly developed. 
 
 Its limbs must have been of proportionate size and 
 strength to sustain and move so enormous a carcass ; the 
 hinder extremities, in all probability, resembled the unwieldy 
 contour of those of the Hippopotamus or Rhinoceros, and 
 were supported by strong, short feet, protected by broad 
 ungual phalanges : the fore feet appear to have been less 
 bulky, and adapted for seizing and pulling down the foliage 
 and branches of trees j the jaws and teeth demonstrate its 
 power of mastication, and the character of its food ; while the 
 remains of coniferous trees, arborescent ferns, and cycadeous 
 plants, which are found imbedded with its remains, attest the 
 nature of the flora adapted for its sustenance. 
 
CHAPTER III., 
 
 PART VI. 
 WEALDEN REPTILES. 
 
 HYL^EOSAURUS DISCOVERY OP THE FIRST SPECIMEN CHARACTER OF THE 
 SKELETON DERMAL BONES SPINES SPECIMEN OF HYL.EOSAURUS FROM 
 BOLNEY HUMERUS AND SCAPULAE SPINAL COLUMN FROM TILGATE 
 FOREST VERTEBRAE OF HYL^EOSAURUS TOOTH OF HYL.EOSAURUS ME- 
 GALOSAURUS PELOROSAURUS REGNOSAURUS THE COUNTRY OF THE 
 IGUANODON. 
 
 THE present section of this chapter will be devoted to the 
 examination of the fossil remains of the other genera of 
 saurians from the Wealden formation of the south-east of 
 England, that are contained in this department of the na- 
 tional Museum. 
 
 The most remarkable of these extinct forms is the Hylceo- 
 saurus, or Wealden Lizard, of which there are three highly 
 interesting specimens, which were formerly in my collection. 
 
 HYL^EOSAURUS OwENii. 1 Wall-case B : in the middle of the 
 lowermost compartment, (ante, p. 139.) In the summer of 
 1832, upon visiting the quarry in Tilgate Forest, now fami- 
 liar to my readers, I perceived traces of bones in some large 
 masses of stone thrown on the road-side ; and on repairing to 
 the quarry, found the workmen had put by other fragments 
 for my inspection ; but the numerous pieces into which the 
 original block of stone was now broken, the excessive hardness 
 and refractory character of the grit, and the unpromising ap- 
 pearance of the few vestiges of bone that were visible, seemed 
 to render it hopeless to obtain anything of interest. I re- 
 solved, however, to collect the scattered fragments, and after 
 much labour, succeeded in cementing them together, and re- 
 ducing the specimen to the state in which it now appears. 
 
 1 From v\t], sylva, wood, Weald, or forest ; and saurus, lizard ; the 
 WEALDEN LIZARD, or Fossil Lizard of Tilgate Forest. 
 
 
ROOM III. HYL.EOSAURUS OWEXII. 315 
 
 It is 4 1 feet long, and 2 feet 3 inches broad at its widest 
 extremity, but not more than two-thirds of the original mass 
 remain ; of the other third many pieces were lost, and those 
 that were preserved could not be made to fit together. The 
 portion of the skeleton displayed consists of the anterior 
 part, or thoracic region, and comprises the following bones, 
 namely : 
 
 1st, A series of ten vertebrae, five cervical (Lign. 66. -1), 
 and five dorsal (2), adhering to the stone by their spinous 
 processes ; and of three other dorsal vertebrae, which are dis- 
 located, but lie near to each other : there are, likewise, two 
 detached dorsals in other parts of the block. 
 
 2dly, Several ribs (3, 3), more or less displaced, situated 
 on each side of the vertebral column. 
 
 3dly, Near the end of the fifth dorsal vertebra, two Cora- 
 coid bones (6, 6). 
 
 4thly, Two Scapulae or Omoplates (7, 7). 
 
 These bones are somewhat displaced, the left coracoid over- 
 lying the right, and concealing one third of its sternal portion ; 
 in fact, the left scapula and coracoid appear as if they had 
 been driven with great violence against the vertebral column, 
 and over the opposite bone, and had occasioned the removal 
 of the four dorsal vertebrae from their place. 
 
 5thly, On the left side of the column is a series of bony 
 processes (4, 4, 4, 4), of the form of an isosceles triangle ; 
 they are irregularly disposed, yet seven of these are placed 
 somewhat in a parallel line with the vertebral column ; three 
 of the largest, and most remarkable in form (5, o, 5), lie near 
 to each other, and in a direction at right angles with the 
 former, and above the level of the coracoid bones. 
 
 Fragments of ribs and other bones, with two dermal osseous 
 scutes, and here and there traces of lignite and vegetables, 
 and casts of freshwater shells, are observable on the face of 
 the stone which is presented to view. 
 
 On the opposite side (which it was necessary to place in 
 cement), the ends of the spinous processes of the vertebrae 
 were visible ; and I found some interesting vegetable re- 
 mains, and extracted a fine portion of the stem of Clathraria 
 Lyellii, as well as several seed-vessels, which may have be- 
 longed to the same plant. 
 
 Thus the specimen before us consists of a considerable 
 
316 
 
 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 number of the cervical and anterior dorsal vertebrae, eleven 
 ribs, and the bones of the pectoral arch almost in juxta- 
 position ; with numerous dermal scutes and spines ; but there 
 are no vestiges of the cranium, jaws, teeth, or bones of the 
 extremities. 
 
 LIGN. 66. PART OF THE SKELETON OF THE HYLJEOSAURUS ; FROM TILGATE 
 FOREST. 
 
 (Length of the specimen tyfeet.) 
 
 1. Cervical vertebrae. 
 
 2. Dorsal vertebras. 
 
 3. Ribs : for the most part perfect, and but little displaced. 
 4, 4, 4. &c. Dermal spines. 
 
 5. 5. 5. Three very large Dorsal dermal Spines ; 15 inches in length. 
 
 6. 6. The Coracoid bones. 
 
 7. 7. The Scapula: ; the heads of these bones, united to the corre- 
 
 sponding Coracoids, are the only parts seen. 
 
 Vertebrae. " Of the cervical, the remains of five are recog- 
 nisable. The compressed bony mass at the upper end of the 
 spinal column, are probably the remains of two vertebrae ; 
 then follows one that is compressed, but its outline is denned. 
 The succeeding vertebra is entire ; it has two tubercles for the 
 attachment of the costal processes, the transverse processes are 
 short and very strong : this bone is 1 -7 inch long and 2 inches 
 wide. 
 
 The seventh cervical is much crushed ; it has traces of the 
 left lateral apophysis. 
 
 The first dorsal vertebra is entire, it is 2 inches long, and 
 2*2 inches wide at the extremities; it is depressed laterally, 
 
ROOM III. VERTEBILE OF THE HYL.EOSAURUS. 317 
 
 " the anterior part of the body is rounded, the tubercle for the 
 attachment of the rib well marked, and the transverse pro- 
 cess short and strong : its rib is near it, and shows the deep 
 bifurcation of the head, as in the Crocodiles. 
 
 The second, third, fourth and fifth dorsals succeed, and 
 differ but little from each other; except that the third is 
 more carinated ; the fifth, which is 2^ inches long, has its left 
 rib near it ; and the latter, unlike the four other ribs, has no 
 strongly marked bifurcation, but its process sinks into a single 
 head, as in the corresponding rib of the crocodile ; and it 
 is this character which, in the absence of other evidence, has 
 been taken to determine the respective situations in the 
 column to which the vertebrae belonged. 
 
 The second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth Ribs are seen on 
 the left side of the vertebrae ; on the right, the first, second 
 and fourth only remain ; the face of the sixth dorsal vertebra 
 is shown beneath the sternal margin of the left coracoid, and 
 one of its transverse processes appears near the fourth rib. 
 The seventh, eighth, and ninth dorsals are displaced, and lie 
 in a hollow formed by the extremities of the left ribs and the 
 corresponding Coracoid. Another vertebra of the back, 2-8 
 inches long, (perhaps the tenth,) is thrown to the left side of 
 the stone, and rests on portions of two ribs ; the body is 
 smooth and rounded, slightly arched, and its extremities, which 
 are flat, are nearly circular, and two inches in diameter. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to observe, that the ribs and verte- 
 brae above described are decidedly of the fossil crocodilian 
 structure ; the union of the annular part by suture occurring, 
 as M. Cuvier observes, in the living reptiles, in the crocodiles 
 and turtles only ; and if these bones were the only data from 
 which to form an opinion of the nature of the original animal, 
 we could not hesitate to assign it to some one of the fossil 
 crocodiles mentioned in a former part of this Memoir. But 
 the bones we have next to describe incontrovertibly prove that 
 the animal could not have belonged even to the same family ; 
 and they afford another striking example of that union and 
 blending, as it were, of different generic characters, which 
 geology is constantly presenting to the comparative anatomist. 
 
 In the Crocodile, the sternum consists of a long, slender, 
 flat bone, pointed both before and behind ; and this is sup- 
 ported on each side of the middle of its lateral edges by 
 
318 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 " a coracoid of an elongated form, which has a thick neck near 
 the humeral extremity, that enlarges into a plane and wide 
 portion, to attach itself to the sternum. The omoplate or 
 scapula is not unlike the coracoid ; its plane forms a narrow 
 isosceles triangle ; its neck is sub-cylindrical and curved 
 internally, and widens to present a face to the coracoid : on 
 the external edge of this is an articular apophysis, which with 
 the corresponding one of the coracoid, forms the cavity for 
 the reception of the head of the humerus. There are no 
 traces of clavicles ; the coracoid alone appearing to have 
 formed a buttress against the sternum. 
 
 The Scapulae of the Hylseosaurus, (Lign. 69, fig. 1,) cor- 
 respond in many particulars with those 
 of the Crocodiles above described, and 
 unite with the Coracoids in a similar 
 manner. The head of the bone is six 
 inches wide, and very thick ; it is con- 
 tracted at the neck, and passes off into 
 a flat and wide extremity : the articular 
 facet is 2^ inches high, and 3J wide. 
 These bones are about twelve times 
 larger than the scapulae of a crocodile 
 LIGN. 67. 3 feet long ; they are marked 7, 7, in 
 
 CORACOID BONE OF THE iqn. 66. 
 
 HYLJEGSAURUS. JJ_ A* /* a 
 
 (inat.size.) ^ ne Coracoid bones, (Lign. 66, 6, 6, 
 
 and Lign. 67,) are entirely distinct from 
 those of the Crocodile, and are like the coracoids of the true 
 lizards, hatchet-shaped, but not emarginated ; they have no 
 apophyses corresponding with those of the recent Monitors 
 and Iguanas, or the fossil Megalosaurus. 
 
 The longest diameter of the Coracoid is 7 inches; the 
 transverse diameter 5-1 inch : it presents a large articular 
 surface for the glenoid cavity, which is formed mutually by 
 this bone and the scapula. 
 
 Near the neck of the bone there is a foramen for the 
 passage of vessels, as is the case in the lizards, but not in the 
 Plesiosaurus, Ichthyosaurus, 1 Megalosaurus, or Crocodile." 
 
 1 I have seen an exception in a coracoid of an Ichthyosaurus, in which 
 the humeral extremity throws off a kind of apophysis, that unites at the 
 upper end of the glenoid cavity, and produces a foramen. The above 
 account is extracted from my " Geology of the South-East of England." 
 
ROOM III. DERMAL BOXES OF THE HYL^OSAURUS. 
 
 319 
 
 DERMAL BOXES. Elliptical and circular dermal bones, 
 having the under surface flat, and the upper convex with a 
 conical tubercle, were first noticed in this specimen of the 
 Hylceosaurus ; I have since discovered similar scutes asso- 
 ciated with other remains of this extraordinary reptile. (See 
 Lign. 68, figs. 1, 3.) 
 
 LIGX. 
 
 DERMAL BOXES OF REPTILES; FROM TILGATE FOREST. 
 
 Fig. 1, and 3. Dermal scutes of the HYLJEOSATJRUS : not. size. 
 
 la. The under surface of a fragment of a dermal bone, displaying fine 
 
 spicula, decussating each other at right angles, and indicating a 
 
 similar structure to that of the Corium: nat. size. 
 \b. A portion of the same, highly magnified, and viewed by transmitted 
 
 light. 
 2. HORN or DERMAL TUBERCLE, probably of the IGUANODON : i nat. 
 
 size. 
 4. A DORSAL DERMAL SPINE of the HYLJEOSAURUS ; the original is 
 
 thirteen inches long. 
 
 The structure of these scutes is very remarkable ; upon 
 closely inspecting either the under side, or the surface exposed 
 by a transverse fracture, very minute osseous spicula, decus- 
 sating each other at right angles, are distinctly seen. (Lign. 
 68, fig. l a .) In fig. l b , a thin slice of a bone, magnified, and 
 viewed by transmitted light, displays medullary canals, with 
 very fine" lines radiating from them. The peculiar character 
 
320 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 of this organization consists in the disposition of the straight 
 bony spicula ; an appearance which first attracted my atten- 
 tion when chiselling away the stone, and led to the discovery of 
 some perfect bones, that otherwise would have been destroyed. 
 This structure closely resembles that presented by the liga- 
 mentous fibres of the corium, or skin, and seems to have 
 resulted from an ossified condition of the dermal integument. 
 These scutes vary from half an inch to three or four inches in 
 diameter, and were, probably, disposed in longitudinal series 
 on each side the spine, diminishing in size as they approached 
 the tail. 
 
 Dermal Spines. With the scutes above described there are 
 associated in the specimen before us several flat, thin, angular, 
 osseous plates, from three to seventeen inches in length, (one 
 of these is figured Lign. 67, fig. 4.) The manner in which 
 they are imbedded is shown in Lign. 66. 
 
 The probable nature of these spines was suggested in my 
 original Memoir on the Hylseosaurus, as follows : 
 
 " We have next to direct our attention to the triangular 
 processes which lie on the left of the vertebral column, and 
 three of which are very conspicuous near the base of the left 
 scapula (marked 5, 5, 5, in Lign. 66). Of these bones there 
 are no less than ten, more or less perfect, in different parts of 
 the block ; they vary in size from 5 to 17 inches in length, 
 and from 3 to 7J inches in width at the base. The largest 
 spine is 17 inches long, and 3J wide at six inches from the 
 base, which is 4 inches thick ; it differs somewhat in shape 
 from the corresponding spines, and more nearly resembles one 
 of the displaced bones. The middle process is 13| inches 
 long, and 4-7 inches wide at the base, and is flat, and slightly 
 depressed in the centre : the third is also very flat, and is 1 1 
 inches long. What the nature of these processes may be, it 
 must be confessed is extremely problematical." After stating 
 the objection to their being regarded as processes of verte- 
 brae, or of ribs, it is observed that " another conjecture has 
 occurred to me, and, extravagant as it may seem, appears to 
 be the most probable. It is known that many of the lizards, 
 particularly the Iguanas, have large cartilaginous processes 
 with horny coverings, which form a sort of dermal fringe, or 
 crest, along the back ; in an animal 5 feet long, these spines 
 are about an inch in height. 
 
ROOM III. DERMAL BONES OF THE HYL.EOSAURUS. 321 
 
 " Now the situation which the spines in the fossil occupy, 
 is precisely that which the remains of such a dermal appen- 
 dage would have been pressed into, if the carcass of the original 
 animal had sunk down and become imbedded on its back, and 
 the serrated dorsal integument squeezed to one side." ! 
 
 Such were the reasons which led me nearly twenty years 
 ago to ascribe these remarkable bones, then for the first time 
 made known, to the dermal system of my newly discovered 
 saurian, 
 
 In the "Brit. Assoc. Reports," 1841, Professor Owen, 
 whilst admitting that " this ingenious suggestion carries with 
 it a high degree of probability," points out objections to this 
 hypothesis, and concludes that these singular bones are in all 
 probability abdominal ribs ; and referring to the great breadth 
 of the abdominal as compared with the vertebral ribs in the 
 Ornithorhynchus, observes that " after the close repetition in 
 the Ichthyosaurus of another of the remarkable deviations in 
 those aberrant mammals from the osteological type of their 
 class, viz. in the structure of their sternal and scapular arch, 
 the reappearance of the monotrematous modification of the 
 sternal ribs in the present extinct reptile, would not be 
 surprising. 2 
 
 It was some years after Professor Owen's objection to my 
 views had appeared, before I obtained a fragment of a dorsal 
 spine for microscopical examination ; but that test at once 
 corroborated my original interpretation; 3 and in 1850, through 
 the liberality of Mr. Peter Fuller of Lewes, I obtained a spine 
 fifteen inches in length, with the corrugated depressed base 
 entire ; and which perfectly accords in its mode of implanta- 
 tion, as well as in its internal structure, with the dermal 
 scutes of the Hylseosaurus and other reptiles. A model of 
 this spine lies on the shelf to the right of the fossil repre- 
 sented in Lign. 66. 4 
 
 The question, therefore, is now decided in the affirmative, 
 and we have certain proof that in its dermal system the 
 
 1 " Geology of the South-East of England." 
 
 2 " Report on Brit. Foss." 1841 ; p. 116. 
 
 3 " Wonders of Geology ;" 6th edit. vol. i. p. 437. 
 
 4 See my memoir " On a Dorsal dermal Spine of the Hylseosaurus, 
 recently discovered in the strata of Tilgate Forest." " Philos. Trana." 
 for 1850, p. 391, PL XX VII. 
 
 Y 
 
322 
 
 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 Hylseosaurus must have borne a general resemblance to the 
 Cycluras, Iguanas, and other Lacertian reptiles, in which the 
 appendages of the scaly integument are greatly developed. 
 There can be no doubt that the back of this gigantic saurian 
 was armed with a row of large angular spines covered by 
 a thick horny investment. 
 
 HYL^OSAURUS FROM THE WEALD-CLAY NEAR BOLNEY. 
 Wall-case B (ante, p. 178). The second specimen of the Hy- 
 lseosaurus that came under my notice was discovered in 
 a stratum of Weald clay, near the little hamlet of Bolney in 
 Sussex, and unfortunately was sadly mutilated, and many of 
 
 LIGN. 69. SCAPULA ANI> HUMERUS op THE HYL^OSAURUS: 
 FROM BOLNEY, SUSSEX. 
 
 1. The Scapula. 2. The Humerus. 
 
 ( nat. size.) 
 
 the bones destroyed by the labourers, before I was aware of 
 the discovery, and could arrive at the spot to superintend 
 their exhumation. From the relative proportions of the bones 
 that T was enabled to collect, there is reason to conclude that 
 they all belonged to the same skeleton. The principal spe- 
 cimens are placed on the shelves on each side the fossil 
 
ROOM III. SPINAL COLUMN OF THE HYL.EOSAURUS. 323 
 
 previously described, but the quantity collected was very 
 considerable ; there was, also, a large number of mutilated 
 ribs, and of fragments of bones too imperfect to be deci- 
 phered. The following are worthy of notice : 
 
 A perfect Scapula (Lign. 69, fig. 1), eighteen inches long, 
 and the proximal or pectoral end of the corresponding bone. 
 
 One Humerus, sixteen inches long ; this bone is perfect, and 
 the radio-ulnar or distal articulation beautifully displayed 
 (Lign. 69, fig. 2.). 
 
 A phalangeal bone of very abbreviated proportions. 
 
 Ribs : some are perfect, but several specimens show the 
 well developed neck and tubercle for articulation with the 
 vertebra, 
 
 A very peculiar character in some of these costal frag- 
 ments, is the enormous expansion of the outer border of 
 the rib, so as to constitute a wide plate, approaching to that 
 of the Chelonian reptiles. This anomalous character may 
 possibly have relation to the largely developed dermal ap- 
 pendages of the dorsal region. 
 
 SPINAL COLUMN OP THE HYLJEOSAURUS. Wall-case B. 
 A third example of this saurian was brought to light in a 
 quarry in Tilgate Forest, but a short time before I left 
 Brighton, in the autumn of 1837. This fossil, like the 
 former, fell into the hands of the parish labourers, who were 
 unacquainted with the increased value of carefully extracted 
 specimens. From the connected state of the vertebrae, even 
 when first seen by me, it is certain that a much larger portion 
 of the skeleton was imbedded in the rock, and might have 
 been obtained with due care. 
 
 This most valuable specimen is placed immediately above 
 that first described. It consists of three distinct portions of 
 the spinal column, comprising twenty-five caudal vertebra?, 
 which bear three distinct and peculiar modifications of the 
 ha3mapophyses. 
 
 Along each side of the vertebral column, there are several 
 dermal bones of a circular or discoidal form, varying from one 
 to three inches in diameter. There are likewise the bases of some 
 very large angular dermal spines, analogous to those described 
 in the first specimen (ante, Lign. 66). Thus while the sca- 
 pulae and ribs prove the generic relations between the first 
 and second specimens, the dermal bones and vertebral column 
 
324 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP III. 
 
 yield evidence equally conclusive, that the last discovered 
 fossil belongs to a reptile of the same genus. 
 
 VERTEBRA OF THE HYLJEOSAURUS. It is remarkable that 
 detached vertebrae of the Hylseosaurus are very rarely met 
 with. In two of the specimens previously described, there 
 is a considerable number of vertebrae but little removed 
 from their natural juxtaposition : in the collection of de- 
 tached bones from Bolney, but few remains of vertebrse were 
 observed. 
 
 Fortunately, the state of integrity of the anterior, middle, 
 and caudal regions of the spine, in the fossils alluded to, 
 affords ample information as to the structure of the vertebral 
 column in this remarkable genus of saurians. 
 
 The cervical and anterior dorsals are seen in the first dis- 
 covered specimen, and the caudals in the fossil placed imme- 
 diately over it. 
 
 In their general characters the vertebrse of the Hylseo- 
 saurus agree with those of the other Dinosaurians ; there is 
 the same vertical development and expansion of the neural 
 arch and platform in the dorsals, but the bodies are some- 
 what shorter than in the Iguanodon, and both the articular 
 facets are flat and nearly circular, not plano-concave and sub- 
 elliptical, and contracted at the inferior part, as in that ani- 
 mal : there is a depression on each side of the base of the 
 transverse process. 
 
 The cervicals, the visceral aspect of which is shown in the 
 large specimen (Lign. 66), are somewhat flattened below and 
 laterally, so as to present a quadrate form ; and the trans- 
 verse processes, and costal surface for the attachment of the 
 ribs, are displayed ; and several of the ribs are seen lying 
 nearly in their original position. In the dorsal the visceral 
 aspect forms an obtuse ridge, and this gradually becomes 
 broader in the more distal vertebrse : the antero-posterior 
 diameter of the longest dorsal is 2| inches. 
 
 SACRUM OF THE HYL^OSAURUS. Wall-case C. Above the 
 trays containing the large femora of the Iguanodon (ante, 
 p. 237.1), the specimen on the extreme left of the remains 
 of sacra there deposited is a portion of a pelvic arch, which 
 is referred, with much probability, in "Brit. Assoc. Rep." 
 (1841, p. 114), to the Hylseosaurus. This sacrum (labelled 
 consists of the bodies of two vertebrse, two inches 
 
ROOM III. CAUDAL VERTEBRA OF THE HYKEOSAURUS. 325 
 
 long, and parts of two others anchylosed together, with por- 
 tions of the transposed neural arches. These vertebrae are 
 more elongated than in the Iguanodon, and have the visceral 
 aspect slightly furrowed. This fossil is minutely described 
 in the work referred to. 
 
 But I have recently obtained a much finer specimen of this 
 part of the skeleton of the Hylaeosaurus, if, as I believe, Prof. 
 Owen's determination of the fossil above described be cor- 
 rect. It consists of the bodies of four anchylosed sacral vertebrae, 
 with portions of the haemapophyses, and the medullary canal 
 well defined. It was obtained by my friend Captain Lambart 
 Brickenden, from the quarry in which the first known example 
 of this saurian was discovered. 1 
 
 As neither of the bones in this fossil appears to be a termi- 
 nal one, it is probable that the sacrum of the Hylaeosaurus, 
 like that of the Iguanodon, consisted of six vertebrae. In the 
 complete anchylosis of the bodies of the vertebrae, the position 
 of the sacral ribs and neural laminae, and the slightly sul- 
 cated visceral aspect of the bodies, it entirely accords with 
 the fragment of a sacrum in the Case before us. 
 
 CAUDAL VERTEBRAE OF THE HYL.EOSAURUS. The structure of 
 the caudal portion of the spine of this remarkable saurian is 
 admirably shown in the fine series of twenty-six vertebrae 
 from Tilgate Forest (ante, p. 323). This chain of bones com- 
 prises the base of the tail, and extends to a length of six feet ; 
 and though broken into three portions, and somewhat dis- 
 placed, and the intermediate parts wanting, exhibits the 
 various modifications of the vertebrae, and corresponding 
 chevron-bones, which characterise the caudal region of the 
 Hylaeosaurus. 
 
 The anterior caudals are 2J inches in length, and have 
 remarkably long and thick transverse processes, which pro- 
 ceed from the neural arch, and extend outwards and slightly 
 forwards ; the width of the tail at this part must have been 
 from twelve to fourteen inches. A longitudinal furrow tra- 
 verses the visceral aspect of these vertebrae, and is terminated 
 at each end by two tubercles for articulation with the cor- 
 responding chevron bone, which is about five inches hi length, 
 
 1 This fossil is figured and described in " Philos. Trans." 1849, PI. 
 XXVII. p. 301. 
 
326 PETRTFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 and has two diverging and distinct processes of attachment, as 
 in the crocodiles. 
 
 The bodies of the middle caudals are longer, narrower, 
 sub-angular, and somewhat enlarged in the centre ; they are 
 2 1 inches long, and 1| in vertical diameter. The transverse 
 processes proceed from the centrum in these vertebrae, and 
 gradually become less, till they are lost in the terminal 
 caudals. The corresponding chevron bones are hatchet- 
 shaped ; the length, 1 1 inch, is equalled by the antero-pos- 
 terior diameter of the distal expansion of the bone ; the two 
 laminae unite at the proximal end, and form a distinct canal 
 for the passage of the blood-vessels. The terminal caudal 
 vertebrae are elongated, and have mere rudimentary pro- 
 cesses ; length of the body 2 inches, vertical diameter, f of 
 an inch. The chevron bone undergoes a corresponding 
 change ; its antero-posterior extent equals the length of the 
 vertebra, but its vertical dimension is only | of an inch : the 
 contiguous haemapophyses, therefore, meet in the centre of 
 the body of each vertebra, a mechanism which conferred great 
 strength and flexibility. 1 
 
 The osteological characters here pointed out, show that 
 the tail of the Hylaeosaurus presented a striking contrast, 
 in its form and construction, to that of the Iguanodon. 
 Instead of being greatly developed in a vertical direction, 
 the tail was broad and flat at the base, and gradually 
 tapered off into a nearly cylindrical flexible chord, several 
 feet in length. 
 
 TEETH OF THE HYL^IOSAURUS ? No known vestiges of the 
 cranium or jaws of this reptile have been discovered, nor any 
 teeth that can with certainty be ascribed to it. Never- 
 theless, in the same strata with the remains of the skeletons 
 previously described, there have been found several teeth of a 
 peculiar character, which do not belong to the other species 
 of reptiles whose remains are recognised in the same beds, 
 and may in all probability be referred to the genus under 
 consideration. These teeth are about If inch in height, 
 and commence at the base with a cylindrical shank, which 
 
 1 See " Philos. Trans." 1849, PI. XXXII.: a lithograph, the natural 
 size, of the specimen in the British Museum which exhibits this part of 
 the spinal column of the Hylgeosaurus. 
 
 
ROOM III. TEETH OF THE HYL^OSAURUS. 327 
 
 gradually enlarges into a crown of an obtusely lanceolate 
 form, convex in front, slightly depressed behind, and termi- 
 nating in an angular rounded apex, the margins of which 
 are generally more or less worn, as if from detrition (Lign. 
 70.). The crown is solid, but the fang encloses 
 a small pulp-cavity ; the surface is enamelled, 
 and covered with very fine longitudinal striae ; 
 the base in every specimen appears broken 
 transversely, and has not a smooth surface, as 
 if it had been loosened by absorption, and shed 
 naturally. The fang never presents an appear- 
 ance of lateral adhesion, as if it had belonged to 
 a pleurodont lizard. 
 
 Transverse sections of these teeth expose a 
 simple, central, medullary canal, the upper 
 part of which is generally filled with the ossi- 
 fied pulp ; this is surrounded by a mass of 
 firm dentine, with extremely minute calci- LlG *- 7 .- TOOTH 
 
 ,1 j. ,. /. ,1 , OF A REPTILE PROM 
 
 gerous tubes radiating from the centre to TILGATE FOREST: 
 the periphery of the tooth, that is invested ^*s* s E 
 with a relatively thick coat of enamel, in (not. tize.j 
 which no structure is apparent. 1 
 
 The reference of these dental organs to the Hylaeosaurus 
 must not, however, be deemed conclusive, until confirmed by 
 the discovery of similar teeth attached to a jaw, in connexion 
 with other parts of the skeleton. 2 
 
 The locomotive organs of the Hylseosaurus are but im- 
 perfectly known ; a humerus, one phalangeal bone, and 
 fragments of the fibula, are the only remains of the extremi- 
 ties that have come under my observation. 
 
 The Hylaeosaurus, so far as the size and form of its body 
 may be inferred from the remains of the skeletons hitherto 
 discovered (for of its head and jaws nothing is at present 
 known), probably attained a length of from twenty to thirty 
 feet. The body was broader than high, and terminated in a 
 long, slender, flexible tail ; the limbs were relatively short ; 
 the skin was studded with scutes and tubercles ; and a row of 
 very large, thin, angular spines extended down the back, and 
 
 1 See " Medals of Creation," PI. VI. fig. 6*. 
 
 _" Phil. Trans." 1841, p. 144, PI. VT. figs. 9, 10, 11. 
 
328 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 formed a serrated dermal crest. The coracoids, scapulae, and 
 ribs, indicate a pectoral arch, in which were blended the 
 osteological characters of the Monitors and Crocodilians. 
 
 MEGALOSAURUS BUCKLANDI. Wall-case A, lowermost shelf. 
 The oolitic limestone of Stonesfield in Oxfordshire has long 
 been celebrated for its fossil remains, and especially for the 
 teeth and bones of a carnivorous reptile almost equal in bulk 
 to the Iguanodon. Several teeth of this kind are figured in 
 Lhwyd's " Lithophylacii Brit. Ichn." but the description of 
 the lower jaw with teeth, several vertebrae, and bones of 
 the pectoral arch and extremities, by Dr. Buckland in 1824, 
 (" Geol. Trans."" vol. i. new series), was the first scientific 
 determination of the nature and relations of this reptile, 
 which, from its gigantic dimensions, has been named the 
 Megalosaurus. Before the publication of Dr. Buckland's 
 memoir, similar teeth and bones had been discovered in 
 Tilgate Forest, and were described in my "Fossils of the 
 South Downs;" a work in which was first pointed out the 
 general analogy between the fossil terrestrial animals and 
 plants of Stonesfield, and Tilgate Forest. 1 
 
 There are in the British Museum a considerable number of 
 the teeth, and several bones of the Megalosaurus, from the 
 Wealden of the South-East of England, but these specimens 
 are not at present arranged with the reptilian remains under 
 review. There are also some stupendous coracoid bones, part 
 of a clavicle, and a femur, of the same species of reptile from 
 Stonesfield, which are for the present deposited in Room II. 
 Wall-case 0. 
 
 In Room III. Wall-case A, there is placed on the lowermost 
 shelf, a cast of the portion of the lower jaw in the possession 
 of Dr. Buckland, which was presented to me by that eminent 
 palaeontologist. There is likewise a femur of the Megalo- 
 saurus from Tilgate Forest, in Wall-case C, (ante, p. 227,) 
 and a portion of a large sacrum of this reptile, from 
 Stonesfield. 
 
 The osteological characters of the known parts of the Mega- 
 losaurus are so fully described and illustrated in Dr. Buck- 
 land's "Bridgewater Treatise," (PI. XXIII. p. 234), that a 
 brief notice only is requisite. 
 
 " Illustrations of the Geology of Sussex," p. 59. 
 
 
ROOM III. 
 
 LOWER JAW OF MEGALOSAURUS. 
 
 329 
 
 The specimen of the lower jaw from which the cast in Wall- 
 case A was taken, consists of a portion of the dentary bone, 
 1 1 inches long, and 3| inches vertically ; it contains one perfect 
 tooth, 3 inches high and 1 inch wide, and the germs of 
 several others. The tooth has a conical, laterally com- 
 pressed crown, resembling a sabre with the point curved back- 
 wards; the edges are trenchant and finely serrated. It is 
 composed of a central body of dentine, the 
 crown having a coating of enamel, and the 
 whole an external investment of cement, 
 which forms a thicker layer around the 
 fang ; the pulp-cavity is occupied by coarse 
 bone in the adult tooth. The microscopical 
 examination shows the dentine to consist of 
 very fine calcigerous tubes, ^.Woth of an 
 inch in diameter, without any admixture of 
 medullary canals, radiating from the pulp- 
 cavity at right angles with the external 
 surface of the tooth, and sending off nume- 
 rous secondary branches ; these ultimately 
 dilate into, or inosculate with, a stratum of 
 calcigerous cells that separates the dentine 
 from the enamel. 1 
 
 The implantation of the teeth is very peculiar, and exhibits 
 the dentition of the Crocodilians blended with that of the 
 Lacertians. The jaw has an outward parapet, as in the 
 true lizards, but the teeth are fixed in distinct sockets, formed 
 by transverse partitions, that are attached to a mesial, or 
 inner parapet, composed of a series of triangular ossaous 
 plates ; the bases of the old teeth, and the germs of the new 
 ones, being thus enclosed and concealed. 
 
 The form of the lower jaw is but imperfectly revealed in 
 this unique specimen ; it seems to have been very much com- 
 pressed laterally, so that the original animal must have had 
 a very narrow and acute muzzle, strikingly contrasting with 
 that of its colossal herbivorous contemporary. 
 
 The Sacrum of the Megalosaurus is composed of five (six ?) 
 anchylosed vertebra ; and of this part of the skeleton four 
 
 LIGN. 71. 
 
 1 "Odontography," p. 271. See also "Medals of Creation," PI. VI. 
 . 7. 
 
330 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 examples, more or less entire, have been collected. 1 The first 
 discovered specimen, which clearly demonstrates the peculiar 
 construction of the sacrum, is figured and described by Dr. 
 Buckland : a portion of a sacrum from Stonesfield, in Wall- 
 case G, is the only example in the British Museum. 
 
 The Vertebrae have the same remarkable development of 
 the neural arch and platform as in the Iguanodon, but the 
 bodies are rounded, not laterally compressed ; and there are 
 other obvious differences. 
 
 The Coracoids differ entirely from those of the Iguanodon 
 and Hylseosaurus, and closely resemble the corresponding 
 bones in the Monitors. The Clavicle bears considerable 
 analogy to that of the Iguanodon. 
 
 The Femur is easily recognised by two large rounded 
 trochanters of nearly equal size below the head of the bone : 
 its shaft, which like that of the Iguanodon has a large medul- 
 lary cavity, is subcylindrical and slightly arched. There is a 
 model of a metatarsal or metacarpal bone, twelve inches long, 
 in Wall-case A : the original is in the museum at Oxford. 
 
 The decided trenchant character of the teeth leaves no 
 doubt that the Megalosaurus was highly carnivorous ; it ap- 
 pears to have been a terrestrial animal, and probably preyed 
 on the smaller reptiles, and on the young of the colossal 
 Iguanodon, Hylseosaurus, and others of its contemporaries. 
 
 PELOROSAURUS 2 CoNYBEAREi. Wall-case C. In the lower- 
 most compartment on the left side of this case there are four 
 very large and remarkably perfect caudal vertebrae, of a rich 
 umber colour, and though completely petrified, the neural 
 arch, and the lateral processes, are almost as perfect as when 
 the bones were recent. These magnificent fossils were pro- 
 miscuously imbedded in a block of fawn-coloured sandstone 
 in Cuckfield Quarry, together with the bifurcated chevron 
 bone, and the two detached processes, placed above them. I 
 chiselled away the sandstone, extricated the vertebrae, and 
 succeeded in developing them in their present perfect condi- 
 tion. When first obtained I ascribed them to the Iguanodon ; 
 in fact, every large bone found in the same quarry was natu- 
 
 1 See "Brit. Assoc. Eep. Foss. Reptiles," 1841, p. 105. 
 
 2 Pelorosaurus; from Tl4\wp,pelor, monstrous, or unusually gigantic. 
 
ROOM III. VERTEBRA OF PELOROSAURUS CONYBEAREI. 331 
 
 rally referred to that stupendous creature ; for it was not 
 supposed that the remains of several genera of gigantic reptiles 
 were entombed in those previously unproductive deposits. 
 
 These vertebrae are distinguished by their great size and 
 extreme shortness ; the antero-posterior diameter of the body 
 being but little more than three inches, and the transverse di- 
 ameter of the articular face upwards of seven inches. They are 
 doubly concave ; the anterior face being the most depressed. 
 They were ascribed by Professor Owen, ("Brit. Assoc. Reports," 
 1841, p. 101,) to a genus of marine saurians, whose vertebrae 
 and other parts of the skeleton occur in the Oolitic deposits ; 
 and which, from the presumed general 
 resemblance to the cetaceans in the short, 
 doubly concave vertebrae, and the solid 
 bones and natatory character of the extre- 
 mities, has been named Cetiosaurus : the 
 present vertebrae being described as a new 
 species, Cetiosaurus brevis. 
 
 Referring the scientific inquirer to 
 "Philos. Trans." 1849, for the considera- 
 tions which led Dr. Melville and myself 
 to question the correctness of this deter- 
 mination, it will only be necessary to state 
 that these vertebrae are remarkably distin- 
 guished by the entire absence of projecting 
 posterior articular processes, or zygapo- 
 physes. The base of the neural spine has on the posterior 
 part a deep depression on each side, and the anterior processes 
 extend over the body of the vertebra, and are articulated to 
 the corresponding surfaces of the spinous process of the con- 
 tiguous bone. 
 
 The following are the dimensions of the largest vertebra : 
 
 OTHE PE . 
 tmus CONTBEAREI. 
 
 Antero-posterior diameter of the body 
 
 Transverse diameter 
 
 Vertical diameter of the anterior face . 
 
 posterior . 
 
 Height to the top of the spinous process 
 Diameter of the neural canal . . . . 
 
 3 inches. 
 
 e! 
 
 6 
 
 13 
 2 
 
 The general resemblance of these caudals to two vertebrae 
 found at Honfleur, struck me when I first discovered them ; 
 but the latter appear to be generically distinct; they are figured 
 
332 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 and described by Baron Cuvier, (" Oss. Foss" tome v. PI. 
 XXII. figs. 1 & 2, p. 352,) as follows : 
 
 " Corps cylindrique, presque aussi long que large, marque" de 
 chaque cote d'une petite fossette, a faces planes, circulaires, & 
 canal me"dullaire fort e"troit, k partie annulaire non articulee ; 
 1'apophyse e"pineuse, haute, et droite ; les transverses au niveau 
 du canal medullaire, grosses, cylindriques, dilatees verticale- 
 ment an bout ; et, ce qui est tres remarquable, les articulaires 
 posterieures petites, pointues, rapprochees, et donnant dans 
 deux petites fossettes entre les anterieures et au-devant de la 
 basse de 1'epineuse." 
 
 In the autumn of the year 1849, 1 obtained from Mr. Peter 
 Fuller, of Lewes, the most stupendous hurnerus of a terrestrial 
 reptile ever discovered ; it is 4J feet in length, and 32 inches 
 in circumference at the distal end. It was found in the Igua- 
 nodon quarry near Cuckfield, in the bed of sandstone whence 
 the gigantic vertebrae under examination were exhumed ; 1 and 
 two distal caudals, with the same remarkable character of the 
 zygapophyses, have since been obtained. It appears to me 
 highly probable that the gigantic bone of the fore-limb and 
 these vertebrae, belonged to the same genus of terrestrial sau- 
 rians ; and as the vertebrae are unquestionably distinct from 
 those of the Cetiosauri, I would provisionally assign them to 
 the new genus Pelorosaurus ; for I have obtained dorsal ver- 
 tebrae, chevron-bones, coracoids, and scapulae, which prove 
 that the original animal is referable to the Dinosaurian 
 order, as characterised by a sacrum composed of five or six 
 anchylosed bones, and vertebrae with high and expanded neu- 
 rapophyses like the Iguanodon and Megalosaurus. 
 
 These vertebrae are distinguished by the subquadrangular 
 form of the articular facets, and the shortness of the an- 
 tero-posterior diameter of the bodies. They are slightly con- 
 cave in front, and almost flat behind, the upper part of the 
 anterior face being the deepest : the sides of the body are 
 concave, both lengthwise and vertically, with a tranverse 
 median convexity. 
 
 The inferior surface of the centrum is slightly concave 
 
 1 See "Memoir on the Pelorosaurus, an undescribed gigantic terres- 
 trial reptile, whose remains are associated with those of the Iguanodon, 
 in the strata of Tilgate Forest." "Philos. Trans." 1850, p. 379. 
 See APPENDIX H. 
 
ROOM III. REGXOSAURUS NORTHAMPTON!. 333 
 
 in its antero-posterior diameter, and divided by a longitudinal 
 depression, whose termination obscurely indicates the position 
 of the hsemapophysial articulations ; but it must be remarked 
 that no unequivocal surfaces for the attachment of the chevron- 
 bone are apparent. 
 
 The neural arch is large, and anchylosed to the anterior 
 half of the upper surface of the centrum, the posterior part of 
 which is left free. The anterior zygapophyses project directly 
 forwards, and advance over the exposed part of the body of 
 the contiguous vertebrae, and articulate with the depressions 
 on each side the spinous process. The transverse processes 
 are very strong and short, and project at nearly right angles 
 from the body. The spinous process is short and thick. 
 
 These four vertebrae are placed on the shelf in a consecutive 
 line, but it is doubtful whether the two right hand bones are 
 in their natural order ; it seems probable that there was an 
 intermediate vertebra between the second and third, and be- 
 tween the third and fourth, so that two more would be re- 
 quired to complete the series. 1 
 
 The chevron-bone found in the same block, and suspended 
 above the vertebras, 2 is obviously too small for articulation 
 with either of the above ; it is, however, important, as showing 
 the crocodilian modification of the process, if this bone belonged 
 to the same species of reptile ; but that is doubtful, for chev- 
 ron-bones found with similar vertebrae in the Isle of "Wight, 
 have the head confluent, as in the corresponding element of 
 the Iguanodon. 3 
 
 REGNOSAURUS NORTHAMPTONI. Wall-case C. A portion 
 of the right side of the lower jaw of a lacertian reptile, placed 
 on the narrow front shelf in this case (see ante, p. 227), although 
 a mere fragment, and destitute of the crowns of the teeth, is 
 highly interesting, because it unequivocally indicates a genus 
 
 1 See figures and descriptions of these fossils in " Phil. Trans.," 
 1850, p. 381, PI. XXII. XXIV. XXV. 
 
 2 Ibid. PL XXII. fig. 8. 
 
 3 Cetiosaurus. Professor Owen ascribes a few other vertebrae from 
 the "VVealden, which are deposited in this case, to the genus Cetiosau- 
 rus ; but as no bones of the extremities of strictly aquatic saurians 
 have been found in the strata of the Wealden, it appears more pro- 
 bable that these remains of the spinal column are referable to other 
 genera. 
 
334 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 of reptiles distinct from the Megalosaurus, Iguanodon, Gonio- 
 pholis, and other saurians, whose maxillary organs are known. 
 Before the jaw of the Iguanodon was recognised, I thought it 
 probable this fragment might belong to a species of that genus, 
 and under this impression, I communicated a description, 
 with figures, to the Royal Society, in 184 1. 1 Professor Owen 
 (" Brit. Assoc. Reports," 1842) expressed his opinion that the 
 fossil in question might, with greater reason, be ascribed to the 
 Hylaeosaurus. Subsequent observations have led me to con- 
 clude that it is generically distinct, and in my Memoir on the 
 Jaw of the Iguanodon (" Phil. Trans. 1 " 1848, p. 183), I pro- 
 posed to distinguish the reptile to which it belongs by the 
 name of Regnosaurus? with the specific appellation Northamp- 
 toni, as a tribute of the highest respect and regard to my 
 deeply lamented friend the late noble President of the Royal 
 Society. 
 
 This specimen is a portion of the right side of the lower 
 jaw, three inches in length, and If of an inch in the vertical 
 direction, at the proximal end. It consists of the middle 
 portion of the dentary bone, and the distal part of the oper- 
 cular. It contains the lower third of the fangs of fifteen 
 teeth, and the imprints of three others, with indications of 
 the germs of four successioiial teeth. The fangs are cylindri- 
 cal, | of an inch in diameter, and six occupy the space of 
 one inch ; all the crowns are broken off, some close to the 
 margin of the parapet, others low down in the socket ; and 
 this must have taken place before the jaw was imbedded 
 in the strata, for the sandstone filled up all the sockets, 
 and there were no traces of teeth in the surrounding block. 
 The dentary bone forms a strong parapet ; its inner as- 
 pect is deeply sculptured with the alveoli, to which the 
 fangs of the teeth are anchylosed, in the same manner as in 
 the Iguanas ; but the partitions which separate the teeth are 
 very regular : the germs occupy the same relative position at 
 the base of the mature teeth as in those reptiles. There are 
 indications of a thin mesial alveolar process, but its extent 
 cannot be determined, and it seems probable that the fangs of 
 
 1 " Phil. Trans.," 1841, PI. V. p. 131. 
 
 2 Sussex Saurian. The County of Sussex was anciently inhabited by 
 the Regni. 
 
ROOM III. THE COUNTRY OF THE IGUANODON. 335 
 
 the teeth had no osseous protection on the inner side, and were 
 not implanted in complete sockets, but simply covered by 
 the germ as in the existing lizards. The upper margin of the 
 alveolar parapet is regularly scalloped by the termination of 
 the dental sockets, and presents a convex outline, which gently 
 bends towards the front of the jaw ; the same part is straight 
 in the corresponding space of the jaw of the Iguanodon. A 
 few small vascular foramina issue below the alveolar ridge ; 
 the external surface of the bone is minutely striated and 
 punctated. The fractured proximal end displays the oper- 
 cular furrow, and the canal for the maxillary vessels and 
 nerves ; the anterior, or apical extremity is solid. 
 
 The opercular bone was evidently of a rhomboidal form, 
 and extended but a short distance over the dentary; it has 
 two vascular perforations ; characters which correspond with 
 those of the Iguana. 
 
 The well-marked generic difference between this maxillary 
 organ and that of the Iguanodon, will be obvious upon com- 
 paring the above description with the figures Liyn. 53 and 54, 
 ante, p. 245. 
 
 For the arguments in support of the reference of this jaw to 
 the Hylseosaurus, the reader should consult the " Reports on 
 British Fossil Reptiles," 1842, p. 119; to me they do not" 
 appear conclusive, for this jaw clearly belonged to an adult 
 reptile, very much smaller than the Hylasosaurus ; and the 
 teeth of the latter are not positively ascertained. In the hope 
 of determining the question by the microscope, Mr. Tomes 
 kindly examined a portion of a tooth for me, but without deci- 
 sive results : for as the fang was the only part remaining, its 
 structure afforded no evidence as to the nature of the dentine 
 ?f the coronal portion ; I could only ascertain that, as com- 
 pared with the fang of the tooth conjectured to belong to the 
 Hyla3osaurus, (Lign. 70, ante, p. 327,) it presented a much 
 coarser osseous tissue. Under these circumstances, I conceive 
 it desirable to retain a distinct generic appellative for this 
 remarkable specimen, until further discoveries reveal its true 
 character and relations. 1 
 
 THE COUNTRY OF THE IGUANODON. We have now exa- 
 
 1 APPENDIX I. ^Notice of the Author's collection of Organic Remains 
 now in the British Museum. 
 
336 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 mined the principal specimens of the terrestrial plants and 
 animals of the Wealden formation of the south-east of England, 
 that are contained in the British Museum, and I will conclude 
 this section of the present chapter with some general remarks 
 on the physical geography, and the nature of the fauna and 
 flora, of the Country inhabited by the stupendous reptiles, 
 whose fossil remains have so long engaged our attention. 
 
 From the nature of the alluvial sediments accumulated in 
 the lapse of innumerable ages in the deltas and estuaries, 
 which now constitute a great part of the area of the south- 
 east of England, and of the north of Germany, a general idea 
 may be obtained of the aspect of the country through which 
 the river flowed, and the character of the superficial strata ; 
 and from the fossil remains we may learn the nature of the 
 trees and plants which clothed its soil, and of the animals 
 that roamed over the land, or inhabited the waters. 
 
 Whether that country were an Island or a Continent can- 
 not be determined; but that it was diversified by hills and 
 valleys, and irrigated by streams and rivers, and enjoyed a 
 climate of a higher temperature than any part of modern 
 Europe, is most evident. Coniferous trees in all probability 
 clothed its alpine regions ; palms, arborescent ferns, and cyca- 
 deous plants, constituted the groves and forests of its plains 
 and valleys; and in its fens and marshes the equisetacese, 
 and plants of a like nature, prevailed. That the soil was of 
 a sandy character on the hills and elevated grounds, and 
 argillaceous in the plains and marshes, may be inferred 
 from the vegetable remains, and the materials in which 
 they are imbedded. Sands and clays every where prevail 
 throughout the Wealden formation, and have probably resulted 
 from the decomposition of micaceous and felspathic rocks. 
 
 Some inferences also may be drawn as to the prevailing 
 atmospheric condition of the country, from the undulated 
 surfaces of the laminated sandstones and shales, and from the 
 stems of the fossil trees. In the former we have proof, that 
 when the land of the Iguanodon existed, the water was rippled 
 by the breezes which then, as now, varied in intensity and 
 direction in a brief space : from the latter we learn that in 
 certain situations the wind blew from a particular quarter 
 for a great part of the year, and that the mean annual tempe- 
 rature was as variable as in modern times. 
 
 
ROOM III. THE COUNTRY OF THE IGUANODON. 337 
 
 If we attempt to portray the vertebrated animals of that 
 unknown country, our description will partake more of the 
 character of a romance of the fabulous ages, than of a legiti- 
 mate deduction from established facts. Turtles of various 
 tinds must have been seen on the banks and in the waters of 
 ts rivers and lakes, and groups of enormous crocodiles basking 
 in its fens and marshes. The colossal Megalosaurus and 
 Pelorosauras, and yet more marvellous Iguanodon, to whom 
 the groves of clathrarise and arborescent ferns would be mere 
 beds of reeds, must have been of such prodigious magnitude, 
 that the existing animal creation presents us with no fit objects 
 of comparison. Imagine an animal of the lizard tribe, three 
 or four times as large as the largest alligator, with jaws and 
 teeth equal in size to those of the rhinoceros, and with legs as 
 massive in their proportions as the limbs of the elephant 
 such a creature must have been the Iguanodon. 
 
 From what has been advanced, it must not, however, be 
 supposed, that the country of the Iguanodon occupied the site 
 of the South-East of England, and that the animals and 
 terrestrial plants of the Wealden lived and died near the area 
 where their relics are entombed ; for, with the exception of 
 the shells and crustaceans, and certain marsh and aquatic 
 plants, all the fossil remains bear unequivocal marks of having 
 been transported from a great distance. But though three- 
 fourths of the bones discovered have evidently been broken 
 and rolled before their deposition, the teeth detached from their 
 sockets, the vertebrae, and the bones of the extremities, with 
 but very few exceptions, disjointed and scattered here and 
 there, the stems and branches of the trees torn to pieces and 
 stripped of their foliage, there is no intermixture of sea-shells, 
 nor of beach or shingle : these remains have been subjected to 
 abrasion from river currents, but not to attrition from the 
 waves of the ocean. 
 
 The gigantic limbs of the large saurians could not have 
 been dissevered from their sockets without great violence, 
 except by the decomposition of their tendons from long mace- 
 ration in water ; and if the latter were alone the cause of the 
 dislocation of the bones, we should not find them broken and 
 waterworn, but lying more or less in juxtaposition, as is the 
 case in the skeletons of the marine reptiles of the liassic 
 deposits. But the condition in which the fossil relics of the 
 
 z 
 
338 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 Wealden occur, proves that they were floated down the 
 streams and rivers, with rafts of trees and other spoils of the 
 land, till, arrested in their course, they sank down and became 
 buried in the fluviatile sediments then in progress. 
 
 The state of the first discovered specimen of the Hylaeo- 
 saurus is in this point of view highly instructive : many of the 
 bones are crushed and splintered, yet the fractured portions 
 remain near each other ; the vertebrae are more or less dis- 
 placed, yet they maintain relation to the positions they origi- 
 nally occupied; the bones of the fore-legs have been torn 
 from their sockets, and this must have taken place before the 
 specimen was imbedded in the mud and sand, for the glenoid 
 cavities were filled with stone : these facts prove that the 
 carcass of the original must have undergone mutilation before 
 the bones were reduced to a skeleton ; and that the dislocated 
 and broken parts were held together by the muscles and inte- 
 guments ; in this state the trunk was borne down the stream, 
 and at length sank into the mud of the delta, and formed a 
 nucleus around which the stems and leaves of cycadeous plants 
 and ferns were accumulated, and river shells became inter- 
 mingled in the general mass. 
 
 The phenomena here contemplated cannot, T conceive, be 
 satisfactorily explained upon any other supposition than that 
 which implies a long transport, by the agency of streams and 
 currents : the carcasses of the colossal reptiles must have been 
 exposed to such an action for a considerable time, and the 
 source of the mighty river which flowed through the Country 
 of the Iguanodon, must, therefore, like that of the Mississippi, 
 have been far distant from the delta which in the course of 
 innumerable ages accumulated at its mouth. 1 
 
 1 See " Wonders of Geology," p. 444, and pp. 483-490. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 PART VII. 
 THE PLESIOSAURI. 
 
 ENALIOSAURIANS STRUCTURE OP THE PLESIOSAURUS DISCOVERT OP THE 
 PLESIOSAURUS DOLICHODEIRUS BY MR. CONYBEARE HABITS OF THE PLESIO- 
 SAURI PLESIOSAURUS HAWKINSII PLESIOSAURUS ARCUATU8 PLESIO- 
 SAURUS MACROCEPHALUS PLESIOSAURUS RUGOSUS PLESIOSAURI OF THE 
 WEALDEN. 
 
 EXALIOSAURIANS. As in the tertiary and modern epochs, the 
 predominant terrestrial vertebrata, the mammalia, were repre- 
 sented by aquatic forms of gigantic size which inhabited the 
 sea, so also during the "Age of Reptiles," types of the prevailing 
 class of land quadrupeds swarmed in the ocean, and equalled 
 in numbers, and almost in magnitude, the cetaceans of the 
 present day. These reptilian denizens of the seas of the 
 secondary ages, constitute the order Enaliosauria, (i.e. marine 
 saurians,) which comprises two principal groups ; namely, the 
 Ichthyosauri, or fish-like lizards ; and the Plesiosauri, which, 
 as the name implies, are more nearly allied to the saurians 
 than the animals of the former division; both were air-breathing, 
 cold-blooded, carnivorouSj vertebrate animals, with two pairs 
 of natatory extremities. The Plesiosauri first claim our 
 attention, because the specimens of this genus are deposited in 
 the cases of the Room at present under survey. 1 
 
 The perfect skeletons which will now engage the visitor's 
 attention, present a remarkable contrast with the isolated and 
 
 1 Dr. Buckland's " Bridgewater Treatise" contains an admirable expo- 
 sition of their habits and organization ; and " Brit. Assoc. Rep." 1839, 
 an elaborate osteological investigation of both genera. 
 
340 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
ROOM III. PLESIOSAURUS. 341 
 
 fractured bones and waterworn relics of the terrestrial reptiles 
 whose remains formed the subject of the previous section of 
 this chapter. The beautiful state of preservation of many of 
 the Plesiosauri, the entire skeleton, from the point of the 
 muzzle to the extremity of the tail, lying in relief, as if it had 
 sunk down quietly on the soft clay, and become petrified on 
 the spot, manifests how different were the conditions in which 
 the strata of the Lias and the Wealden were deposited ; while 
 the exquisite manner in which the investing stone has been 
 removed, attests the consummate skill and indefatigable zeal of 
 the gentleman by whom these superb fossils were developed. 1 
 
 I shall reserve for the next chapter an account of the 
 circumstances under which the matchless series of Enalio- 
 saurian remains in our National Museum were obtained ; and 
 restrict my remarks to the description of the individual speci- 
 mens in the Wall-cases D, E, and F, of this Room ; those 
 in Case D are arranged as under : 
 
 WALL-CASE D. [4.] 
 
 Original specimen of Plesiosaurus dolichodeirus. I 
 
 (Rev. W. D. Conybeare, " Geol. Trans." vol. i. PI. XVIII. | 2Op " 
 
 Plesiosaurus Hawkinsii. PL XXIV. of Mr. Hawkins's work. 
 
 Bones of the 
 
 Plesiosaurus 
 
 arcuatus. 
 
 Plesiosaurus dolichodeirus : 
 
 the under surface of lower jaw exposed, 
 
 and two paddles on the right side. 
 
 Bones of the 
 
 Plesiosaurus 
 
 arcuatus. 
 
 PLESIOSAURUS. The animals of this genus present in their 
 osteological structure a remarkable deviation from all known 
 recent and fossil reptiles ; uniting the characters of the head 
 of a lizard, with the teeth of a crocodile, to a neck of inordi- 
 nate length, and with such modifications of the ribs, the 
 pectoral and pelvic arches, and the paddles, as to justify the 
 graphic simile of an eloquent Professor, that the Plesiosaurus 
 might be compared to a serpent threaded through the shell of 
 a turtle. 
 
 The character which immediately strikes the observer, is 
 
 1 Thomas Hawkins, Esq. The splendid volume of this gentleman on 
 these marine saurians cannot fail to delight the reader by its graphic 
 descriptions, and beautiful illustrations. See APPENDIX K, Mr. Haw- 
 kins's Collection of Enaliosauria. 
 
342 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 the extraordinary length of the neck, and the relative small- 
 ness of the head. The neck, which in most animals is formed 
 of but five vertebrae, and in the extremest recent example, the 
 Swan, does not exceed twenty-four, is in certain species of 
 Plesiosaurus composed of from twenty to forty vertebrae, and 
 is four times as long as the head, and equal in longitudinal 
 extent to the body and tail ; while the length of the head (in 
 P. dolichodeirus) is less than one-thirteenth of the entire 
 skeleton ; the tail is very short. 
 
 The skull resembles that of the Crocodiles in its general 
 form, but is proportionately smaller ; the breathing apertures 
 are situated anterior to the orbits, on the highest part of the 
 head. The orbit is relatively large, and furnished with a zone 
 of bony plates, as in the sclerotica of certain lizards and birds. 1 
 The lower jaw has the usual structure of the saurians ; but 
 the dentary bone is greatly expanded anteriorly, and united 
 in front. 
 
 The teeth are implanted in separate sockets, and there 
 are from thirty to forty on each side the jaws. They are 
 conical, slender, long, pointed, slightly recurved, and lon- 
 gitudinally grooved from the base upwards, and have a long 
 round fang. The pulp-cavity is long and simple, surrounded 
 by a body of firm dentine, covered on the crown with a layer 
 of enamel, and at the base with cement. The dentition in 
 the Plesiosauri differs from that of the Crocodiles, in the 
 successional teeth emerging through distinct apertures on 
 the inner side of the sockets of their predecessors, and not J 
 through the pulp-cavity. 2 The vertebrae are relatively longer 
 than in the Ichthyosaurus, and their articular faces are either 
 flat, or slightly excavated towards the periphery, with a gentle 
 convexity in the centre. 
 
 The Pectoral arch is remarkable for the greatly elongated 
 and broad Coracoid bones. The Ribs, which are very nume- 
 rous, and extend throughout a great portion of the vertebral 
 column, are connected, anteriorly, by slender bones; the 
 Ichthyosaurus has a similar structure. As these connecting 
 parts are so constructed as to admit of a certain degree of 
 gliding motion upon each other, it is inferred that consi-. 
 
 1 See Dr. Buckland's " Bridge water Essay," PI. X. 
 
 2 See Professor Owen's " Odontography," p. 282. 
 
ROOM III. PLESIOSA.URUS DOLICHODEIRUS. 343 
 
 derable expansion of the pulmonary cavities took place in these 
 air-breathing marine lizards. 
 
 The bodies of the vertebrae are subcylindrical, and their 
 articular surfaces nearly flat ; there are two pits on the under 
 part ; the haemapophyses and costal processes are not anchy- 
 losed to the body ; and the haemapophyses consist of two 
 distinct laminae which do not coalesce distally into a spine, 
 and form a true chevron-bone. 1 
 
 The paddles are composed of fewer and more slender bones 
 than in the Ichthyosaurus, and must have been of a more 
 elegant form, and of greater flexibility. The carpus consists 
 of a double row of round ossicles, which are succeeded by 
 elongated metacarpals, and these by slender and slightly- 
 curved phalangeal bones. 
 
 PLESIOSAURUS DOLICHODEIRUS. Wall-case D. The specimen 
 on the top of this Case is invested with a classical interest, for 
 it was the subject of the admirable Memoir on this remarkable 
 genus by the present Dean of Llandaff, (the Rev. "VV. D. Cony- 
 beare,) on the Plesiosaurus dolichodeirus (long-necked}, read 
 before the Geological Society, Feb. 20, 1824, and published in 
 the " Geol. Trans." vol. i. New Series* In the Case below, 
 there is another specimen of the same species from Lyme Regis ; 
 it is nine feet in length, has the two right paddles, and exhibits 
 the under surface of the lower jaw. A third specimen of this 
 species, consisting of the trunk and paddles, is deposited in 
 the upper compartment of Case F. 
 
 This species presents such extraordinary deviations from 
 the ordinary saurian type, in the great length of its neck, and 
 the extreme smallness of the head, that the correct inter- 
 pretation of its characters and affinities, at the dawn of 
 
 1 For anatomical details consult " Brit. Assoc Report," 1839. 
 
 2 This specimen is figured in "Geol. Trans." vol. i. new series, PI. 
 XL VI II. p. 381. It was discovered and developed by the late Mary 
 Anning, of Lyme Eegis, and purchased by the late Duke of Buckingham 
 for (I believe) 105?. I had the pleasure of being present when Mr. 
 Conybeare read the Memoir at the meeting of the Geological Society in 
 
 4 Bedford Street, Covent Garden ; the specimen was placed in the narrow 
 vestibule at the entrance, for want of room. Some years afterwards I 
 saw it, in company with Dr. Buckland, at the princely mansion of the 
 Duke of Buckingham, at Stowe. On the dispersion of the treasures of 
 nature and art in that noble collection, it was bought for the British 
 Museum. 
 
344 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 British Palaeontology, attests in a striking manner the sagacity, 
 and consummate skill, and profound knowledge of the 
 Cuvierian philosophy, of our eminent countryman, the Rev. 
 W. D. Conybeare. 
 
 In the first specimen, the cranium and jaws are somewhat 
 crushed; of the vertebral column, a great portion of the 
 cervical and caudal regions has the bones in connexion ; but 
 the dorsals are much dislocated, and the ribs displayed. The 
 anterior right, and the left hinder extremity, are almost entire : 
 the corresponding paddles are imperfect, and somewhat dis- 
 placed. The pectoral arch is not seen, but the " sterno-costal- 
 arcs" that protected the abdomen, are perceptible. Of the 
 pelvis, the principal bones remain ; the caudal vertebrae and 
 their hsemapophyses are beautifully shown. 
 
 A good idea of the general form of the living Plesiosaurus 
 is conveyed by this fine specimen ; and the correctness of the 
 restoration of the entire skeleton given by Mr. Conybeare, 
 (PL XLIX. of the same vol.) has been established by subse- 
 quent discoveries, and especially by the perfect examples 
 which the researches of Mr. Hawkins have brought to light. 
 I subjoin a few remarks from the original Memoir, and some 
 additional details of the structure of these marine saurians. 
 
 "The neck is fully equal in length to the body and tail 
 united ; and which, surpassing in the number of its vertebrae 
 that of the longest-necked birds, even the Swan, deviates from 
 the laws which were heretofore regarded as universal in quad- 
 rupedal animals and the cetacea. The whole vertebral column 
 numbers about 90 joints, viz. 35 cervical, 6 anterior dorsal, 
 21 dorsal and lumbar, 2 sacral, and 26 caudal. The propor- 
 tion of these parts will stand nearly thus ; taking the head as 
 1, the neck will be 5, the body 4, and the tail 3 : the whole 
 length being 13 times that of the head. 
 
 " The general proportions of the Tortoise, its length of neck, 
 shortness of tail, and the small ness of its head, are in some 
 degree analogous to what we observe in the Plesiosaurus ; but 
 the structure of the head and teeth of the latter, and its want 
 of shell, entirely negative the idea of its being intimately 
 allied to the chelonians, and decidedly connect it with the 
 saurian order." 
 
 The vertebrse are recognised by their nearly flat articular 
 facets, and the presence of two small vascular pits on the 
 
ROOM III. PLESIOSAURUS DOLICHODEIRUS. 345 
 
 inferior aspect of the centrum ; and they are rather wider 
 than long. The annular part is united to the body by suture, 
 but not anchylosed to it. The spinous process is rather 
 elevated ; the posterior zygapophyses are higher than the 
 anterior, and rest almost horizontally on those of the conti- 
 guous vertebrae. 
 
 The anterior cervical vertebrae support small ribs, which are 
 articulated by two tubercles, and terminate in a hatchet-form, 
 like the analogous elements in the Crocodile. In the six 
 succeeding vertebrae, the ribs are elongated, and assume by 
 degrees the form of the dorsal costal-processes. 
 
 The vertebras of the tail are distinguished by the small 
 facets for the haemapophyses, which, as in the crocodiles, are 
 articulated between the junction of two vertebrae, so that 
 there are two articular depressions for each of the laminae, the 
 centrum having four, viz. two at the anterior edge and two 
 at the posterior ; the transverse processes of the caudals are 
 attached by suture as in the young crocodile. 
 
 The humero-pectoral arch in the Plesiosaurus is very 
 remarkable for the great size, and antero-posterior expansion 
 of the coracoids, (see Lign. 73). 
 
 The structure of the ribs is also peculiar ; for each pair of 
 costal processes formed an osseous cincture, which encircled the 
 body, and was composed of five distinct parts ; namely, the 
 two spinal, which were articulated to the centrum by a bifur- 
 cated head ; and three slender vertical bones that were fitted 
 to one another by oblique grooves ; the median piece being 
 transversely elongated, and slightly curved and pointed at 
 both extremities ; these intermediate processes are termed by 
 Mr. Conybeare the " sterna-costal arcs;" a similar structure 
 exists in the Chameleons and certain species of Iguanas. This 
 mechanism admits of great expansion of the abdominal 
 muscles and integuments during the inflation of the lungs ; 
 and hence M. Cuvier suggested the probability that the 
 pulmonary organs in the Plesiosaurus were very large, and 
 that this marine saurian, like the Chameleon, changed the 
 colour of its skin according to the varied intensity of its 
 respiration. 
 
 The principal bones of the anterior extremities, or paddles, 
 consist of the usual normal elements, viz. a humerus, radius, 
 and ulna ; the first is a stout bone, with a rounded head, and 
 
, 
 
 346 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. Ill 
 
 has the distal extremity expanded to articulate with the short 
 flat bones of the fore-arm ; the carpus or wrist is composed of 
 a double row of from six to eight discoidal ossicula, which 
 support the slender elongated metacarpals, that articulate with 
 the digital or phalangeal bones ; the latter are connected by 
 flattened surfaces. The entire series of bones was, doubtless, 
 enveloped in one common integument, in like manner as the 
 paddles of the cetacea. 
 
 The pelvis, which is well shown in the specimen before us, 
 consists of strong and short iliac, and broad pubic and isckiac 
 bones ; the two latter being expanded in the antero-posterior 
 direction, like the coracoids. 
 
 The hinder paddles are very similar in their construction to 
 the anterior, which they equal in size. 
 
 PHYSIOLOGICAL INFERENCES. Mr. Conybeare concludes his 
 admirable memoir with the following general remarks on the 
 habits and economy of this tribe of marine saurians : 
 
 " In its progression the Plesiosaurus must have more nearly 
 resembled the Turtles than any other reptiles. That it was 
 aquatic is evident from the form of its paddles ; that it was 
 marine is almost equally so from the remains with which its 
 bones are universally associated ; ] that it may have occasionally 
 visited the shore, the resemblance of its extremities to those 
 of the turtle may lead us to conjecture, but its motion 
 must have been very awkward on land : its long neck must 
 have impeded its motion through the water, presenting a 
 striking contrast to the organization which so admirably fits 
 the Ichthyosaurus to cut through the waves. May it not, 
 therefore, be concluded, since, in addition to these circum- 
 stances, its respiration must have required frequent access of 
 air, that it swam upon or near the surface, arching its long 
 neck like the swan, and occasionally darting it down at the 
 fish which happened to float within its reach? It may, 
 perhaps, have lurked in shoal water along the coast, concealed 
 among the sea- weed, and raising its nostrils to a level with the 
 surface from a considerable depth, may have found a secure 
 retreat from the assaults of its enemies ; while the length and 
 flexibility of its neck may have compensated for the want of 
 strength in its jaws, and its incapacity for swift motion through 
 
 1 Remains of Plesiosauri have since been discovered in the Wealden 
 formation. See " Fossils of Tilgate Forest," PI. IX. 
 
ROOM III. PLESIOSAURUS HAWKIKSTI. 347 
 
 " the water, by the suddenness and agility of the attack which 
 they enabled it to make on every animal fitted for its prey 
 that came within its extensive sweep." l 
 
 PLESIOSAURUS HAWKINSII. Wall-case D. The splendid 
 specimen thus labelled (Lign. 73) in the upper compartment 
 of this Case, was one of the earliest examples placed before the 
 scientific world by Mr. Hawkins, as evidence of his consum- 
 mate skill, and untiring patience and perseverance, in develop- 
 ing the enaliosaurian skeletons from the liassic deposits of 
 England. This fossil, beautifully perfect as it now appears, 
 was reduced to fragments in removing it from the stratum 
 in which it was discovered, and as in the instance of the 
 Maidstone specimen, would have thrown no light on the 
 structure of the original animal, but for the successful result 
 of the labour bestowed on its reparation. 2 
 
 1 " Geol. Trans." vol. i. new series, pp. 388, 389. 
 
 2 The following account of the discovery of this specimen is too 
 graphic and characteristic to be omitted. Premising that the specimen 
 named as above by Professor Owen is described by Mr. Hawkins as 
 Plesiosaurus triatarsostinus, I give the following extract from the 
 " Memoirs of Ichthyosauri and Plesiosauri, extinct monsters of the 
 ancient earth," by Thomas Hawkins, Esq. F.G.S.* 
 
 " I was spending the winter of 1831, as usual, in London the pesti- 
 lence came just in time to drive me thence to Somerset, for the salva- 
 tion of the Triatarsostinus. Listen, reader ! December gave up the 
 ghost amidst a thousand frightful rumours of the coming cholera : if 
 I remember right, the first of January, 1832, is mournfully distinguished 
 as the day on which one of the morning papers announced ' the scourge ' 
 present iu Southwark. Who will ever forget the panic that followed? 
 London was comparatively deserted within twenty-four hours. Tuesday 
 six cases were bulletined as having occurred since its breaking out a 
 distinguished physician assured me that 600 were nearer the truth; 
 along the Borough bank of the Thames, in those crowded houses, what 
 havoc and death ! 
 
 " Wednesday fatal cases trebled about twenty were publicly acknow- 
 ledged at least a hundred and twenty known to the intelligent few. 
 Ah ! I was smoking cigars on the box of the Bath mail all the night, 
 and at ten o'clock, Thursday, galloping over the Mendips the British 
 Alps on " the Exeter." The first thing that 1 ever do when 1 come to 
 Glastonbury, is to call on my friend my Pythias there : the second, 
 to drink a cup of cofifee as sedative after my 140 miles journey ; the 
 third is to dash over to the lias quarries at a neck-hazard tangent. Now 
 
 * In one vol. royal folio, with numerous beautiful plates, 1834. 
 Copies of this splendid and scarce work may be obtained of Professor 
 Tennant, 149, Strand. 
 
348 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 The skeleton is attached to the slab of stone by its dorsal 
 aspect, consequently the under surface of the lower jaw, and 
 the series of cervical vertebrae, is exposed. The pectoral arch, 
 with its large coracoids and anchylosed scapulae and clavicles, 
 is well preserved ; the humerus, radius, and ulna, of each 
 side are in situ, and the right carpus, and some of the pha- 
 langes. The sterno-costal arcs of the abdominal region are 
 beautifully shown ; and the pubic and ischiac bones of the 
 pelvis are clearly developed there are no anchylosed sacral 
 vertebrae in the Plesiosaurus. The femora, tibiae, and fibulae, 
 and many of the tarsal and digital bones of the paddles, are 
 likewise well denned ; and the series of caudal vertebrae, 
 though dislocated from the sacrum, and thrown out of the 
 normal position, is very distinct. 
 
 This specimen was figured and described by Dr. Buckland 
 and other authors as Plesiosaurus dolichodeirus ; but Professor 
 
 " it happened that a person of Street, by name Creese, a quarrier, a 
 worthy man enow, came across the Triatarsostinus a few days before, 
 and as I had given him no inconsiderable monies for the bones that he 
 had met with in the course of his business, he was at the pains of taking 
 it home in hopes of getting more. The Philistines from Dan to Beer- 
 sheba know what a vile tendency to mischief every beautiful object that 
 he can set his paw upon disgraces John Bull.",' 
 
 Mr. Hawkins found that in the attempt to clear the specimen, the 
 men had broken it into a hundred pieces, and lost many of the frag- 
 ments. The narrative thus proceeds : 
 
 " May heaven forgive me magna componere parvis I have never 
 forgiven the Goths that sacked the Eternal City, the infamous Caliph 
 that destroyed the Alexandrian library nor these men ! When I came 
 to Street so opportunely, they had thrown away nearly the whole of the 
 two anterior paddles, and the whole of the posterior right one they had 
 reduced the flag-stone to nearly thirty pitiful pieces, and stabbed the 
 bone as a Spanish Matadore does a bull all over. But I should congratu- 
 late myself upon such fortune as fell to my lot, and thank the stars and 
 the cholera that it was no worse, as had I not arrived at that very four 
 of the clock in the afternoon, Bruin had resolved to chissel away the 
 surface of the stone, never dreaming that the process would have swept 
 away the bones too ! 
 
 " Creese paid a severe penalty for his temerity : instead of giving him 
 as much as my conscience told me was the worth of it a rule that I 
 have never departed from but in this deserving instance I was content 
 to pay him liberally for the trouble he had been at in noticing it. The 
 rest of the chapter is short. Some parts of the three minor paddles 
 are recovered. 1 forgot the pestilence, sat up at work all day and all 
 night, and in about two months the Triatarsostinus, my hewn-god, was 
 finished." 
 
ROOM III. PLESIOSAURUS ARCUATUS. 349 
 
 Owen, in his masterly review of the osteology of the Enalio- 
 sauriaus, has established its specific distinction, and assigned 
 to it the name of its discoverer. There are three other re- 
 markably choice examples of this species in Cases E and F. 
 That in the latter case is the most exquisite fossil skeleton in 
 the British Museum ; the perfection of the bones, the ad- 
 mirable manner in which the stone has been chiselled away, 
 and the graceful position of the neck, head, and limbs, render 
 this precious relic invaluable. 
 
 The specific characters which distinguish the Plesiosaurus 
 Hawkinsii from the typical P. dolichodeirus, are chiefly dif- 
 ferences in the relative proportion of various parts of the 
 skeleton. 
 
 The head is somewhat larger : it is three times the length 
 of the neck, instead of being four times, as in P. dolicho- 
 deirus. The length of the neck only slightly exceeds that of 
 the trunk, whereas in the latter it is equal to that of the 
 united body and tail. The number of cervical vertebrae is 
 twenty-nine ; in P. dolichodeirus, thirty-five. 1 There' are also 
 recognisable differences in the forms and relative sizes of the 
 ulna and tibia. 
 
 PLESIOSAURUS ARCUATUS. Wall-case D : and on the top of 
 Wall-case E. Many detached bones of this species are placed 
 on each side the specimens above described in Case D. 
 This species is distinguished by the development of distinct 
 transverse processes, from the sides of the centrum of the ver- 
 tebra, for the support of the cervical ribs, especially from 
 those of the posterior moiety of the cervical region. " These 
 processes have the articular surfaces traversed by a longitu- 
 dinal groove, as in other Plesiosauri, and, consequently, thus 
 present the appearance of the two normal transverse processes 
 
 1 Cei-vical vertebra. Professor Owen reckons as cervicals those in 
 which the centrum or body of the vertebra bears the whole, or a part of 
 the costal articular surface. " The body of a cervical may always be dis- 
 tinguished from that of a caudal vertebra in being without any trace of 
 haemapophysial pits. The dorsal vertebrae are those in which the 
 costal surface is situated wholly on the neurapophysis. The caudal 
 vertebrae are characterised by having both costal and neurapophysial 
 impressions on the body, except the terminal ones, which are readily 
 distinguished by their small size, the absence of both the above-named 
 impressions, and by the concave character of their articular surfaces." 
 ' Brit. Assoc. Reports," 1839, p. 58. 
 
350 
 
 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 confluent at the base. The dorsal vertebrae are distinguished 
 by the correspondingly great development of the transverse 
 processes upon the neurapophyses." x 
 
 Top of the Cases, Specimens of Plesiosaurus Arcuatus. 
 WALL-CASE E. [5.] WALL-CASE F. [6.] 
 
 Cast of 
 Plesiosaurus 
 macrocephalus : 
 presented by 
 the Earl of 
 Enniskillen. 
 
 Plesiosaurus 
 rugosus : 
 from the Lias 
 near Belvoir 
 Castle. 
 The trunk with; 
 four paddles. 
 
 Two noble 
 specimens of 
 Plesiosaurus 
 Hawkinsii. 
 
 Plesio- 
 saurus 
 from 
 Newark ; 
 figured 
 in Phil. 
 Trnns. 
 1719. 
 
 Plesiosaurus dolicho- 
 deirus : the trunk and 
 paddles. 
 
 Magnificent specimen of 
 Plesiosaurus Hawkinsii. 
 (Plate 2 7 of Mr. 
 Hawkins's work. 
 Edit. 1840.) 
 
 PLESIOSAURUS MACROCEPHALUS. Wall-case E. A fine 
 skeleton, between four and five feet in length, from Lyme 
 Kegis, discovered and developed by the late Miss Mary 
 Anning, was figured and described by Dr. Buckland under 
 the name of P. macrocephalus, from the relatively great size 
 of the cranium as compared with that of the typical P. doli- 
 chodeirus.2 A cast of this specimen was presented to the 
 British Museum, by that eminent and zealous palaeontologist, 
 the Earl of Enniskillen ; and the osteology of this species is 
 fully elucidated by Professor Owen. 3 
 
 The arched position into which the vertebral column has 
 been thrown, presents the entire skeleton on a comparatively 
 small area. The upper part of the cranium, with the orbits, 
 and the jaws and teeth, are exposed. The cervical and dorsal 
 vertebrae form a continuous, and but slightly dislocated series : 
 the tail is imperfect ; the anterior and posterior paddles of the 
 left side are entire. 
 
 The length of the neck exceeds that of the lower jaw only 
 twice, instead of thrice as in P. Hawkinsii. The greater de- 
 velopment of the head is associated with thicker and stronger 
 vertebrae ; there are twenty-nine in the cervical region ; the 
 
 1 " Brit. Assoc. Rep." p. 75. 
 
 2 Dr. Buckland's " Bridgewater Essay," PI. XIX. 
 
 3 " Brit. Assoc. Reports," 1839, pp. 6269. 
 
ROOM III. PLESIOSAURIAN REMAINS FROM THE WEALDEN. 351 
 
 vertebrae are shorter than in the species previously described, 
 and approach in their proportions to those of the Ichthyosau- 
 rus : the processes of the cervical vertebrae are stronger. 
 
 The dorsal vertebrae differ from those of P. Hawkinsii in 
 the bodies being more flattened antero-posteriorly, and more 
 concave laterally. Other osteological characters, establishing 
 the specific distinction of this Plesiosaurus, are minutely de- 
 tailed in the Reports so often cited. 
 
 PLESIOSAURUS RUGOSUS. Wall-case D. This specimen of a 
 very rare species of Plesiosaurus was discovered in the Lias 
 near Belvoir Castle, and presented to the British Museum by 
 the Duke of Rutland. It consists of the cervical region of 
 the vertebral column, a considerable portion of the bones of 
 the trunk, those of the four paddles, and some of the vertebrae 
 of the tail ; but the latter are much displaced. The cranium 
 is wanting. 
 
 Some detached Plesiosaurian vertebrae, readily distinguished 
 from all others by the peculiarly rugous character of the free, 
 or non-articular surfaces of the body, were ascribed to a dis- 
 tinct species, under the name of P. rugosus, in " Brit. Rep." 
 1839 ; and other characters of these isolated bones were 
 pointed out. 1 The discovery of the skeleton before us has 
 confirmed the accuracy of the distinction. 
 
 Among other peculiarities, Prof. Owen remarks, that the 
 two costal impressions on each side the bodies of the middle 
 cervical vertebrae are in this species completely divided, and 
 by a wider and deeper groove ; and they are situated near the 
 lower margin of the vertebra. The contour of the articular 
 surface of the vertebral body is almost circular, the peripheral 
 border being convex, and leading inward to a concavity, and 
 the centre of this surface is slightly convex. 
 
 The absence of the cranium, and the dislocated state of the 
 spinal column, together with the loss of many of the vertebrae, 
 render it useless to give a more particular description. 
 
 PLESIOSAURIAN REMAINS FROM THE WEALDEN. Among the 
 reptilian bones discovered in the strata of Tilgate Forest, were 
 dorsal and cervical vertebrae of Plesiosauri, referable to one of 
 the typical species previously described : probably the P. doli- 
 chodeirus : some of them are figured in my " Fossils of Til- 
 
 1 " Brit Assoc. Rep." 1839, p. 82. 
 
352 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 gate Forest." l Several teeth, and specimens of the median 
 bones of the sterno-costal arcs, and portions of coracoids of 
 plesiosauri, have also been found in other localities. These 
 remains were in the same fragmentary and waterworn con- 
 dition as those of the terrestrial reptiles. 
 
 The occurrence of the bones of this remarkable type of 
 marine saurians in the freshwater formation of the south-east 
 of England, may be attributable to the influx of the tidal 
 waters into the ancient estuaries and bays ; but it is also 
 probable, from the presumed habits of the Plesiosauri, that 
 the embouchure of the river of the Country of the Iguanodon 
 was frequented by shoals of these reptiles, as well as by 
 turtles and predatory fishes. Unfortunately, the bones of 
 Plesiosauri collected by me, and transferred to the British 
 Museum in 1839, are not yet placed so that they can be 
 referred to in this volume ; but the fact is worthy of record 
 in relation to the history of the Wealden formation. 
 
 %* In consequence of the arrangement of the fossils in 
 this room, we must defer the consideration of the other group 
 of Enaliosaurians, the Ichthyosauri, till the next chapter, and 
 proceed to notice the contents of Wall-case G, which chiefly 
 consist of an interesting series of mammalian and other 
 remains, from the tertiary deposits of Central France. (See 
 ante, p. 143.) 
 
 1 1 Vol. 4 to. Published in 1827, PI. IX. figs. 4, 5 ; PI. XVII. fig. 20, 
 p. 79. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 PART VIII. 
 FOSSIL REMAINS OF MAMMALIA. 
 
 GEOLOGICAL PHENOMENA OF AUVERGNE EOCENE AND MIOCENE MAMMALIA 
 DISCOVERIES OP M. POMEL COLLECTION OP MAMMALIAN REMAINS FROM 
 AUVERGNE IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM FOSSIL BEAVER; TROGONTHERIUM 
 TAILS OF GLTPTODONS. 
 
 GEOLOGICAL PHENOMENA OF AUVERGNE. Wall-case G. The 
 Fossils in this cabinet are chiefly remains of extinct mammalia 
 from tertiary lacustrine marls and limestones, and were col- 
 lected by M. Pomel, an eminent French naturalist, from a 
 province in Central France, named the Limagne cFAuvergne ; 
 a district of surpassing interest in a geological point of view, 
 for it presents the remarkable phenomenon of an extensive 
 tract of country which has been subjected through long 
 periods to successive volcanic eruptions, and yet the area of 
 those physical revolutions, though studded with extinct 
 jraters, and traversed by lava currents, still preserves its 
 ancient geographical features. 
 
 The specimens are at present unarranged; and many of 
 the bones, teeth, crania, and jaws, are not entirely cleared 
 from the rock ; but the eminent zoologist, MR. WATERHOUSE, 
 of the paleeontological department of the British Museum, 
 has already with great skill and patience brought to light 
 many unexpected treasures in the collection purchased of 
 M. Pomel by the Trustees, and is diligently engaged in 
 
 A A 
 
354 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 developing and determining the zoological characters and 
 relations of this highly interesting series of mammalian 
 remains. 
 
 The country whence these fossils were obtained, and which 
 is the site of the extinct volcanoes, is about 220 miles south 
 of Paris, and forms a vast plain, situated in the department 
 of the Limagne d'Auvergne. It is so remarkable for its 
 fertility, that it is called the Garden of France ; a quality 
 attributable to the detritus of volcanic rocks which enters into 
 the composition of the soil. It is enclosed on the east and 
 west by two parallel ranges of gneiss and granite. Its average 
 breadth is twenty miles, its length between forty and fifty, 
 and its altitude about 1,200 feet above the level of the sea.' 
 The immediate subsoil of this plain is formed of alluvial 
 deposits composed of granitic and basaltic pebbles and 
 boulders, spread over beds of freshwater limestone. 
 
 Hills of various elevations are scattered over the plain ; 
 and the river Allier flows through the district over strata of 
 limestone, marl, and sandstone, except where it has excavated 
 a channel through these sedimentary beds to the foundation 
 rock of granite. The calcareous deposits are the remains of a 1 
 .formation which once constituted an ancient plain of a higher 
 elevation than the present tract ; many of these hills are capped 
 by a crest of basalt, to which their preservation is in great 
 measure owing ; others have escaped destruction in conse- 
 quence of the durable and hard nature of the limestone of 
 which they are composed. 
 
 Thus we have as the ground plan of the district, an exten- 
 sive plain, checquered with low hills of fresh-water limestone, 
 that are capped with compact lava j l the boundaries of this 
 tract being a range of primary rocks, 3,000 feet high. To the 
 westward the limestone disappears, and a plateau of granite 
 rises to a height of 1,600 feet above the valley of Clermont, 
 being 3,000 feet above the level of the sea. This elevated tract- 
 supports a chain of volcanic cones and dome-shaped mountains, 2 
 about seventy in number, which vary in altitude from 100 to j 
 500 feet above their bases, and form an irregular range of ,' 
 
 1 I would refer the reader to " Wonders of Geology," p. 268, for a more 
 particular account of these phenomena; the classical works on the 
 geology of Auvergne are therein pointed out. 
 
 > Ibid. PI. II. ^ 
 
 
ROOM III. GEOLOGICAL PHENOMENA OF AUVERGNE. 355 
 
 nearly twenty miles in length, and two in breadth. The 
 highest point of this chain is the Puy de Dome, which is 
 4,000 feet above the level of the sea, and is entirely composed 
 of volcanic matter ; it has a regular crater which is 300 feet 
 deep, and nearly 1,000 feet in circumference. 
 
 The volcanic vents of Central France are of very different 
 ages ; some being of immense antiquity, whilst others are 
 evidently of comparatively recent origin, for they have exploded 
 through ancient beds of basalt : but even the most modern of 
 the craters and lava streams, belong to a period very remote 
 in relation to the present condition of the country. 
 
 In the plains, and on the flanks of the volcanic mountains, 
 and rising into hills of moderate elevation, are a series of 
 fresh- water strata, with alternations of scoriae, basalt, &c. based 
 on the foundation rocks of granite and gneiss. The lowermost 
 oeds are for the most part composed of clay, sand, and breccia, 
 without organic remains. The next in order are fresh-water 
 tertiary limestones and calcareous marls, in nearly horizontal 
 strata, amounting in total thickness to 900 feet. It is in 
 these beds that the mammalian remains we have to notice 
 occur : they are associated with lacustrine and fluviatile shells, 
 as potamides, planorbis, helix, limnea, &c. and terrestrial 
 plants. In some localities there are beds of gypseous and 
 iaminated marls, and intercalations of siliceous limestones ; in 
 other areas, the limestone has an intermixture of volcanic 
 matter, and presents the characters of a sediment tranquilly 
 deposited in a lake, into which ashes and scorise were showered 
 Tom a neighbouring volcano. 
 
 The fresh-water limestones are in many places covered by 
 thick beds of basalt and scorise, and the summits of the lower 
 aills composed of these strata are capped by basaltic lava. The 
 Drift, or alluvial sand and gravel, contains bones of mastodons, 
 elephants, hippopotami, &c. as in other countries of Europe ; 
 and the more modern superficial soil abounds in remains of 
 dogs, hares, beavers, bears, &c. 
 
 EOCENE AND MIOCENE MAMMALIA. The mammalian re- 
 mains from this region have been referred to three very 
 distinct geological epochs ; ! viz. : 
 
 1 See Sir Charles Lyell, " Proceedings of the Geol. Society," 1845, 
 p. 75. 
 
356 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 I. Mammalia of the most ancient fresh-water strata ; from 
 the presence of remains of palseotheria, anoplotheria, and 
 other Cuvierian pachyderms, these deposits are regarded as 
 Eocene and Miocene tertiary. 
 
 II. Mastodon, Hippopotamus, Elephant, Horse, Tapir, &c. 
 all supposed to be extinct species ; the beds in which these 
 occur are separated from the previous group by ancient lavas. 
 
 III. Bones from the sandy marl and alluvial debris. These 
 are referable to small Rodents (Lagomys), and nearly 50 
 species of other existing mammalia ; as Squirrel, Hare, Martin, 
 Dog, Cat, &c. Hog, Ox, Deer, Horse ; and Reptiles, as Frogs, 
 Lizards, Snakes ; several kinds of Birds ; and eggs of reptiles 
 and birds. 1 
 
 DISCOVERIES OF M. POMEL. Sir Charles Lyell, in the recent 
 edition of his " Elements of Geology," remarks, that it cannot 
 with certainty be determined whether all the fresh-water strata 
 of the Limagne d'Auvergne belong to one period, because ex- . 
 tensive beds both of the arenaceous and marly groups are 
 often devoid of fossils. " Much light has been thrown on the 
 mammalian fauna by the labours of MM. Bravard and Croizefc, 
 and by those of M. Pomel. The last-mentioned naturalist has 
 pointed out the specific distinction of all, or nearly all, the 
 mammalia, from those of the tertiary gypseous series near 
 Paris. Nevertheless, many of the forms are analogous to ; 
 those of eocene quadrupeds. The Cainotherium, for example, 
 is not far removed from Anoplotherium, and is, according 
 to Mr. Waterhouse, the same as the genus Microtherium of i 
 the German naturalists. There are two species of marsu- 
 pial animals allied to Didelphys, a genus also found in the 
 Paris gypsum. The Amphitragulus elegans of Pomel,, has 
 been identified with a Rhenish species from Weissenau near 
 Mayence, called by M. Kaup Dorcatherium nanum; and 
 other Auvergne fossils, e.g. Microtherium Reuggeri, and a 
 small rodent, Titanomys, are specifically the same with mam- 
 malia of the Mayence basin." 2 
 
 COLLECTION IN Wall-case G. The collection formed by 
 M. Pomel, which is now before us, is chiefly, as I am informed 
 
 1 " Wonders of Geology," p. 274. 
 
 2 "Manual of Elementary Geology," 1851, p. 188. See also p. 425, of 
 the same volume. 
 
 
ROOM III. FOSSIL MAMMALIA OP AUVERGXE. 357 
 
 by Mr. Waterhouse, from the eocene marls and limestones, near 
 Clermont ; fresh-water shells are associated with the bones, and 
 no traces of marine remains of any kind have been discovered. 
 
 The bones and teeth, though friable, are in a beautiful 
 state of preservation ; and Mr. Waterhouse has most success- 
 fully developed some exquisite crania and jaws of an extra- 
 ordinary little extinct Pachyderm (not larger than a rabbit) 
 which inhabited ancient Auvergne. 
 
 There are bones and teeth of many genera of Anoplothe- 
 ridse. 
 
 Anthracotherium, several species. 
 
 Cainotherium : a sub-family of Anoplotheridse. 
 
 A small and very peculiar Ruminant. 
 
 An animal approaching the Musk-deer (Amphitragalus of 
 M. Pomel). 
 
 Hysenodon (found, also, at Hordwell, in Hants). 1 
 
 Many small Rodents of species and genera discovered by 
 Searles Wood, Esq., in the eocene deposits, at Hordwell, in 
 Hants. 2 
 
 Small carnivora, allied to the Weasels. (Mustelidce.) 
 
 Jaws of small marsupials. (Didelphidce.) 
 
 Fresh- water Turtles. (Emydians.) 
 
 Crocodilian and batrachian reptiles. 
 
 Small lacertian reptiles. 
 
 Birds : several species and genera. 
 
 Eggs of birds, and probably, also of reptiles. 
 
 For the above list of this highly interesting series of mam- 
 malian remains from the tertiary lacustrine deposits of the 
 volcanic regions of France, I am indebted to the kindness of 
 Mr. Waterhouse ; when this collection is thoroughly arranged, 
 and the characters of the species and genera are determined, it 
 is to be hoped this accomplished naturalist will lay before the 
 public a full account of these palseontological treasures. 
 
 TROGONTHERIUM CUVIEKI. Wall-case G. The rivers of 
 England and of the Continent were inhabited by Beavers at 
 no very remote period, and in more ancient times extinct 
 species or sub-genera of this family, of a large size, were de- 
 nizens of modem Europe. In the lowermost compartment of 
 
 1 See my " Geology of the Isle of Wight," p. 438. 
 
 2 Figured and described in " London PalaeontologicalJouraal," PI. II. 
 
358 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 this case there is a very interesting fossil relic of this kind 
 the half of the lower jaw of a gigantic animal allied to the 
 existing genus Castor, which was discovered by the Rev. J. 
 Green, in a lacustrine deposit of clay and sand at Ostend, 
 near Bacton, on the coast of Norfolk ; a locality which has 
 yielded remains of mammoths, deer, roe-bucks, large water- 
 moles, &C. 1 
 
 The incisor (which is longer and stronger than in the 
 existing Beavers), the molar teeth, and the articulation of the 
 jaw, are beautifully displayed in this highly interesting British 
 example of a gigantic extinct rodent, whose relics were first 
 discovered in Russia, a cranium having been found by M. 
 Fischer, on the borders of the Sea of Azof, in 1822. 2 The 
 original was probably about one fifth longer than the common 
 species of Beaver. The skull and jaws of a much larger ro- 
 dent related to the Castor, has lately been discovered in the 
 
 LIGN. 74. LOWER JAW OF AN EXTINCT GIGANTIC BEAVER, FROM OSTEND, 
 NORFOLK. (^ nat. size.) 
 
 alluvial deposits that contain the remains of Mastodons, in; 
 the State of Ohio. An admirable memoir on this cranium has 
 been published by the eminent American palaeontologist, Dr.j 
 Jeffries Wyman. The name of Castoroides Ohioensis has been 
 given to this colossal beaver ; the entire length of the original 
 
 1 See Professor Owen's elegant and interesting " History of British : 
 Fossil Mammals," p. 25. 
 
 2 Described by Baron Cuvier, under the name of Castor Trogonthe-4 
 T ium, " Oss. Foss." Vol. v. Part I. p. 59. 
 
ROOM III. 
 
 TROGONTHERIUM. GLYPTODON. 
 
 359 
 
 animal is estimated at twice that of the existing species, viz. 
 five feet. 1 
 
 GLYPTODON. Wall-case G. In the lowermost compart- 
 ment of this case, there are two remarkable relics of colossal 
 edentate animals allied to the Armadillos, to which I would 
 direct the visitor's attention ; but it will be convenient to 
 reserve an account of the geological conditions in which these 
 and similar remains occur, till the skeletons of gigantic ani- 
 mals of this order in Room VI. come under 
 examination. 
 
 I will, therefore, only remark that these 
 fossils are the osseous dermal cases, or sheaths, 
 of the tails of two distinct species of Glyp- 
 todon ; an animal somewhat resembling the 
 Armadillo, being covered with a coat of 
 mail, formed of polygonal osseous plates, 
 united by sutures, that constituted an im- 
 penetrable covering to the body. The plates 
 of this bony investment were not disposed 
 in rings, as in the Armadillos, but were ar- 
 ticulated to each other, and formed a tes- 
 selated cuirass ; the tail was inclosed in a 
 case of this kind, like a sword in its scab- 
 bard. 2 
 
 One of the specimens in the British 
 Museum appears to belong to the species 
 named Glyptodon clavipes ; but the other 
 (see Lign. 75), which is nearly three feet in 
 length, is remarkable for the expanded lobes OF THE TAI J; OF A 
 
 > . *"L SPECIES OF GLTPTO- 
 
 n ear the distal termination of the tail. DON (^ not. size.) 
 These fossils are deserving of particular examination ; they 
 will, I presume, sooner or later, be placed in Room VI. with 
 the other remains of the Edentata of South America. 3 
 
 1 " Boston Journal of Nat. Hist." 1846. 
 
 2 A splendid specimen of the bony cuirass of the Glyptodon is in the 
 Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, in London. 
 
 3 A restored figure of the Glyptodon forms the frontispiece of the 
 highly interesting work on " Buenos Ayres and the Province of Rio de 
 la Plata," by Sir Woodbine Parish, K.C.H. &c. ; the indefatigable explorer, 
 to whom science is indebted for the most important examples of the 
 extinct colossal Edentata hitherto brought to Europe. 
 
PLAN OF ROOM IV. 
 
 Room III. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 f 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 J 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 / 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 4- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 & 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 f 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 /7 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 /O 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 10 
 
 
 J3 
 
 
 
 
 /4 
 
 
 3 
 
 J 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Hi 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 E 
 
 
 s 
 
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 I 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 .Room F. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 PART I. 
 
 PLAN OF BOOM IV. SYNOPSIS OP CONTENTS ICHTHYOSAURI COLLECTED BY 
 MR. HAWKINS ICHTHYOSAURUS TENUIROSTRIS I. INTERMEDIUS I. LONQI- 
 
 PENNIS I. COMMUNIS 1. PLATYODON I. LONCHIODON I. LONGIROSTRIS 
 
 FOSSIL REMAINS OF RUMINANTS FOSSIL CARN1VORA OF THE CAVERNS 
 MACHAIROI>US FOSSIL MAMMALIAN FROM STONESFIELD MINERALS UNI- 
 VALVE SHELLS OF THE OOLITE AND CRAG FOSSIL ZOOPHYTES. 
 
 THE Wall-cases A, B, C, D, E, on the south or left side of 
 Room IV., like those in the apartment we have just surveyed, 
 are assigned to fossil remains of reptiles, and contain a 
 noble collection of ICHTHYOSAURI, from the liassic deposits of 
 England. With but few exceptions, these splendid specimens 
 were obtained and developed by Thomas Hawkins, Esq. of 
 whom they were purchased by the Trustees of the British 
 Museum, together with the unrivalled series of Plesiosauri 
 described in the former chapter. 
 
 A collection of bones of ruminants from the alluvial deposits 
 [of the valley of the Thames, chiefly from Grays and Ilford in 
 [Essex, is deposited in Wall-case F. It comprises some fine 
 [skulls, jaws with teeth, and bones of the extremities, of several 
 [species of Bos or Ox, Deer, &c. 
 
 In Wall-case G, there is a considerable number of very 
 [perfect crania, jaws with teeth, &c. of extinct species of 
 [Bears, from the ossiferous caves of Gailenreuth, in Germany; 
 land a most interesting and precious fossil relic the half of 
 fthe lower jaw of a small terrestrial mammalian, from the 
 lower Oolite of Stonesfield. 
 
 Besides the fossils above specified, there are many species 
 land genera of tertiary and secondary univalve shells, and 
 
362 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. IV. 
 
 corals and other zoophytes, which occupy three Table-cases. 
 The other cabinets contain minerals only. 
 
 These numerous and diversified objects will be noticed 
 under the following sections; viz. I. Synopsis of Contents. 
 II. The Ichthyosauri. III. Fossil remains of Ruminants. 
 IV. Fossil Carnivora of the Caverns. V. The Fossil Mam- 
 malian of Stonesfield ; and VI. the collections of Shells and 
 Zoophytes : of the last, a brief notice only is within the scope 
 of the present volume. 
 
 ROOM IV. 
 
 (62 feet long.) 
 
 SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS. 
 
 OEGANIC REMAINS. 
 
 WALL-CASES : these contain a fine suite of Ichthyosauri 
 from the Lias formation of England. 
 A. [1.] Specimens of 
 Ich 
 
 thyosaurus tenuirostris. 
 inlermedius. 
 longipennis. 
 communis. 
 
 In one specimen coprolites are seen in the abdominal space 
 
 Ichthyosaurus platyodon. There is a very large and fin 
 
 skull and jaws of this species, with the osseous plates of th 
 
 sclerotica perfect, and part of the spinal column. 
 
 B. [2.] Two specimens of Ichthyosaurus inter medius. 
 
 On a slab of Lias limestone there is a fine Ichthyosaurus, 
 with the spine in an arched position, and the four paddles 
 nearly entire ; from Street, Somersetshire. 
 
 There are in this compartment many small examples ol 
 paddles, and other detached parts of Ichthyosauri. 
 
 C. [3.] In this Case is a noble skeleton of Ichthyosaurvm 
 platyodon, eighteen feet long; and a small and beautiful; 
 Ichthyosaurus, presented by Mr. Brodejip. 
 
ROOM IV. MINERALS. 363 
 
 D. [4.] In the upper division is a splendid specimen of 
 Ichthyosaurus communis. 
 
 The lower compartment contains a large example of Ichthy- 
 osaurus lonchiodon; the paddles imperfect. In the angle on 
 the right, is deposited a small and beautiful head of Ichthyo- 
 saurus tenuirostris : and below, a specimen of Ichthyosaurus 
 latifrons. 
 
 E. [5.] An interesting example of Ichthyosaurus tenui- 
 rostris is placed in the upper division. In the lower, there 
 is an exquisite Ichthyosaurus intermedius, showing the upper 
 surface of the skull, the spinal column, and paddles ; and 
 a specimen of Ichthyosaurus longirostris. 
 
 F. This Case contains numerous bones of Ruminants, 
 among which is a skull of Bos longifrons ; bones and antlers 
 of Deer, &c. 
 
 On the top of this Case is placed the skull and horn-cores 
 of a species of Bos, from Texas. 
 
 G. This Case, which is at the east end of the room, to 
 the right of the doorway on entering, contains many skulls 
 and bones of Bears, Hyaenas, and other carnivora, from the 
 caves of Gailenreuth, &c. 
 
 On the upper shelf there is a cast of the skull and jaws of 
 the Machairodus, (Ursus cultridens of Cuvier); a remarkable 
 extinct carnivorous animal whose upper canines are very long 
 and of a sabre-like form, resembling the teeth of the Megalo- 
 saurus. 
 
 In this Case, in a small glass frame, there is one of the most 
 valuable fossils in the collection : the loiver jaw of a 'small 
 marsupial animal on a slab of Oolitic limestone, from Stones- 
 field, in Oxfordshire. It is labelled Didelphis Bucklandi ; 
 presented by W. J. Broderip, Esq. F.R.S. It is represented 
 in the vignette of the title page of this volume. 
 
 MINERALS. 
 
 TABLE-CASE 1. [37.] One half of this table is set apart for 
 silicates containing glucina and alumina, the principal species 
 of which is the Beryl, including the Emerald, a gem which 
 owes its green colour to oxide of chromium. The other part 
 of the table is occupied by oxides of Titanium and titanites. 
 
364 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. IV. 
 
 2. [24.] One half of the Case contains varieties of Jasper. 
 The other half is appropriated to Opaline substances, the 
 noble opal ; sun-opal ; common opal ; semi-opal ; wood-opal, 
 or opalized wood ; menilite ; quincite. 
 
 3. [36.] Varieties and species of Garnet, chrome-garnets ; 
 lime-garnets ; colophonite, &c. 
 
 4. [25.] Silicates of lime, and some of the silicates of 
 magnesia and of alumina. Wollastonite ; Steatite or soap- 
 stone ; keffekil or meerschaum, of which pipe-bowls are 
 made ; Serpentine ; Hydrophite j metalloid diallage or diul- 
 lagite ; Chrysolite or periodot. 
 
 5. [35.] Pyroxenic minerals. Augite imbedded in lava 
 from Vesuvius ; thallite ; sahlite ; epidote. Idocrase from 
 Vesuvius, &c. 
 
 6. [26.] Silicate of Zinc, or Smithsonite. Silicate of 
 magnesia of cerium of iron of copper of bismuth of 
 zirconia of alumina. Andalusite. Kyanite or disthene. 
 Sillimanite. Xanthite. Catlinite or Indian pipe-stone. Agal- 
 matolite, employed by the Chinese for images, vessels, <fec. 
 
 7. [34.] Abestine and Pyroxenic minerals. Asbestus ; 
 amianthus ; augite ; jeffersonite ; yenite from Elba ; sahlite. 
 
 8. [27.] Zeolitic substances. Apophyllite ; chabasite ; ! 
 mesotype ; natrolite, &c. 
 
 9. [33.] Amphibolic and pyroxenic minerals. Basaltic and 
 common hornblende ; actinolite ; tremolite, &c. 
 
 10. [28.] Zeolitic substances. Stilbite ; Heulamdite ; Lau- 
 montite ; Comptonite from Vesuvius ; Thompsonite ; hydro- 
 lite, &c. ; and several other scarce zeolitic minerals. 
 
 11. [32.1 Micaceous and talcose substances. 
 
 12. [29.] Prehnite. Koupholite. Jade or nephrite, of 
 which there are some manufactured articles. Harmotome ; 
 Andreolite, a magnificent specimen. Herschelite. Felspar, &c. 
 
 13. [31.] Felspathic substances. Triphane ; spodunien; 
 petalite ; Davyne ; nepheline ; Wernerite. 
 
 14. [30.] Felspathic substances. Common felspar ; amazon- 1 
 stone from the Urals ; icespar ; albite ; adularia, &c. ; Labrador \ 
 felspar ; leucite or amphigene from Vesuvius. 
 
ROOM IV. SYNOPSIS OP CONTENTS. 365 
 
 %* With these Cases the collection of minerals terminates, 
 the Table-cases in Booms V. and VI. being devoted to fossil 
 remains. 
 
 It may be useful to the student to know that hi the cabinets 
 we have enumerated, the same mineral species in each Case is 
 indicated by a coloured border corresponding with that of the 
 label on which the name of the mineral is written ; as, for 
 example, the same coloured margin as that on the ticket 
 " QUARTZ," surrounds every specimen of quartz in that Case. 1 
 
 15. Fossil shells of Gasteropodous mollusks, (holostomata 
 and siphonostomata,) from Tertiary and Secondary strata, 
 named and arranged by Mr. Woodward. There are many very 
 fine specimens from the Great Oolite of Minchinhampton. 
 
 A polished slab of a septarium showing displaced sections 
 of shells, (Turritella imbricata,) from the London clay of 
 Western Sussex, (discovered by the Author,) is very inte- 
 resting ; a mass of perfect shells of the same species is placed 
 near it. 
 
 16. Vacant. 
 
 1 7. This Table-case contains a collection of fossil Zoophytes, 
 I as Corals, Sponges, <fcc. Many are from the Bradford clay ; 
 I others from the Silurian limestone of Dudley, Wenlock, &c. 
 
 There is likewise a series of the larger forms of Forami- 
 \niferd ; viz. Nummulites, Orbitolites, <fcc. 
 
 18. Fossil univalve shells from tertiary strata ; chiefly 
 [from the Eocene deposits of Grignon, near Paris ; Hordwell, 
 [&c. ; and from the Coralline, Norwich, and Red Crag. 
 
 1 Communicated to me by Prof. Tennant. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PART II. 
 THE ICHTHYOSAURI. 
 
 DISCOVERT OP THE ICHTHYOSAURUS MR. KONIG AND SIR E. HOME MISS. 
 MARY ANNING REV. W. D. CONYBEARE AND SIR H. DE LA BECHE REV. 
 DR. BUCKLAND MR. HAWKINS THE LIAS FORMATION STATE OP PRE- 
 SERVATION AND STRUCTURE OP THE ICHTHYOSAURUS PADDLES INTEGU- 
 MENTS, &C. COPROLITES - SPECIES OF ICHTHYOSAURUS IN THE BRITISH 
 MUSEUM ICH. TENUIROSTRIS ICH. INTERMEDIUS ICH. LONGIPENNIS 
 ICH. COMMUNIS ICH. PLATYODON ICH. LONCHIODON ICH. LONGIROSTRIS 
 ICH. LATIFRONS - RETROSPECTIVE SUMMARY. 
 
 DISCOVERY OF THE ICHTHYOSAURUS. Nearly forty years ^ 
 elapsed since the attention of the scientific world was first 
 directed to the fossil remains of this extraordinary tribe of^ 
 marine reptiles by a memoir, by the late Sir Everard Home, on j 
 a cranium, and other parts of the skeleton, that were exhibited 
 in the then celebrated museum of Mr. Bullock, in Piccadilly. 
 Teeth, vertebrae, and other detached parts of the skeleton of! 
 these animals, had attracted the notice of the earlier collectors 
 of British fossils ; but until Sir Everard Home's communi- ! 
 cation to the Royal Society, in 1814, no definite idea as to 
 the nature of the originals had been entertained. The ano-|j 
 malous character of these fossil skeletons, which in certain 
 parts of their structure resembled those of fishes, and in; 
 others those of crocodiles, suggested the name, so happily 
 chosen by my friend Mr. Kb'nig, the accomplished " Keeper of 
 Mineralogy and Geology of the British Museum," of Ichthyo- \ 
 saurus, 1 or fish-like lizard ; a name by which this group 
 
 a fish, and Saupos, lizard. 
 
 I 
 
ROOM IV. DISCOVERY OF THE ICHTHYOSAURUS. 367 
 
 of marine reptiles is now distinguished. Many instructive 
 specimens were soon discovered, and important additions 
 rapidly made to the knowledge of these extinct denizens of 
 the ancient ocean, by Dr. Buckland, Sir H. De la Beche, Mr. 
 Conybeare, &c. But the name of an humble individual, to 
 whose talent and perseverance in discovering and developing 
 these relics of former ages, the eminent naturalists above 
 mentioned were mainly indebted for the objects of their inves- 
 tigation, must not be omitted even in this brief sketch of the 
 history of the Ichthyosaurian remains in the British Museum ; 
 that person was the late Mary Arming, of Lyme Regis, who, 
 to employ Mr. Hawkins's graphic language, "devoted 
 herself to science, and explored the frowning and precipitous 
 cliffs, when the furious spring-tide conspired with the howling 
 tempest to overthrow them, and rescued from the devouring 
 ocean, sometimes at the peril of her life, the few specimens 
 which originated all the facts and ingenious theories of those 
 eminent persons, whose names must ever be remembered with 
 I sentiments of the liveliest gratitude." l 
 
 Several memoirs were published by Sir E. Home and 
 i others on detached parts of the skeleton, and in 1821, Messrs. 
 Conybeare and De la Beche communicated to the Geological 
 Society a " Memoir on the genus Ichthyosaurus," in which the 
 osteology of the original was so fully elucidated, as to leave 
 [but few points undetermined, for the investigation of subse- 
 luent observers. 
 
 Ten years afterwards, Mr. Hawkins astonished British 
 ituralists by the splendid and perfect skeletons of several 
 tew species of both tribes of Enaliosauri, which his anatomi- 
 skill, and untiring perseverance and patience, enabled him 
 dissect from the rock, in a state of integrity previously 
 lought unattainable. The principal gems of that gentle- 
 L'S collection are now before us, having been purchased by 
 Trustees of the British Museum. 2 
 
 To the admirable Memoir on the Enaliosauransi, by Baron 
 hivier, in 1823, the beautiful illustrations in the Bridge water 
 
 " Memoirs of Ichthyosauri," &c. by Thomas Hawkins, Esq. 1 vol. 
 folio, 1834, p. 9. 
 
 2 Two collections were purchased of Mr. Hawkins ; the first was valued 
 >y Dr. Buckland and myself. See APPENDIX K. 
 
368 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. IV. 
 
 Essay, by Dr. Buckland, and the elaborate and highly philo- 
 sophical review of the subject, and the determination of all 
 the then known species, by Professor Owen, in 1839, in the 
 " Reports on British Fossil Reptiles," undertaken and pub- 
 lished under the auspices of the British Association of Science, 
 we are indebted for the present advanced state of this depart- 
 ment of British Palaeontology. The number of species of 
 both genera is now considerable, and many specimens, both 
 of Ichthyosauri and Plesiosauri, have been discovered in 
 various localities on the Continent. 
 
 THE LIAS FORMATION. Although remains of Enaliosaurians 
 occur in all the formations from the Muschelkalk below the 
 Lias, to the Chalk inclusive, it is in the liassic deposits that 
 the greatest number, and the most perfect examples, have 
 been discovered ; and as the specimens which now engage 
 our attention were collected from those strata by Mr. Haw- 
 kins, I shall offer a few remarks on the geological characters 
 of the localities whence these splendid fossils were obtained. 
 
 The Lias, situated between the Triassic, or New Red 
 Formation, and the Oolite, consists of a series of argillaceous 
 limestones, marls, and clays, which may be regarded as 
 forming the base of the latter formation, for there are scarcely 
 sufficient grounds for their separation ; the Upper Lias, and the 
 Inferor Oolite which lies upon it, having many fossils in com- 
 mon, and in some localities passing into each other. The 
 total thickness of the Lias varies from 500 to 1000 feet : the 
 strata have a very uniform lithological character, and con- 
 tain many peculiar organic remains. 1 
 
 The Lias appears beneath the Oolite, through the south- 
 east of Somersetshire, and extends into Dorsetshire, forming 
 a range of cliffs, above four miles in length, along the sea- 
 shore at Lyme Regis, where it may be traced on the coast till 
 it gradually sinks beneath the Inferior Oolite. Lyme Regis 
 in Dorsetshire, and Watchet, Street, and Westbury, in Somer- 
 setshire, are the localities that have afforded the most in- 
 structive specimens. 
 
 The subdivisions of the Lias are characterised by the 
 abundance of particular groups of fossils. Some of the strata 
 
 1 See " Wonders of Geology," p. 521; and Sir C. Lyell's "Elements 
 of Geology," p. 273. 
 
ROOM IV. STATE OF PRESERVATION OF ENALIOSAURIANS. 369 
 
 contain a greater number, and more perfect skeletons of sau- 
 rians, than others. The uppermost beds consist of Alum shale, 
 with a profusion of ammonites and crinoidal remains. The 
 next subdivision comprises strata of marlstone and blue marl, 
 in which bones of Enaliosaurians are but rarely met with ; 
 but ammonites, belemnites, and other cephalopoda, and the 
 usual marine shells and zoophytes of the Liassic formation 
 are abundant. 
 
 The next group, the limestones, is the grand depositary of 
 the reptilian remains, " the inestimable treasury of the most 
 splendid epoch in the physical records of our planet." l Some 
 of the thin intermediate layers of stone are, however, literally 
 a mass of pentacrinites, and others are wholly made up of 
 ammonites ; the organic remains being^ more or less mineral- 
 ized by pyrites. 2 
 
 The most beautiful and perfect examples of Plesiosauri and 
 Ichthyosauri collected by Mr. Hawkins, were extracted from 
 these strata. The total thickness of the limestones, and al- 
 ternating layers of marl, at Kingston, near Street, is about 
 twenty feet ; at Lyme Regis (forty miles from Street), the 
 section east of Church Cliff, is thirty feet thick. 
 
 A bituminous marl, of a black colour, the last deposit in 
 the series, contains similar remains with the limestones ; and 
 in addition, some fossil terrestrial vegetables not observed in 
 the other strata- 3 
 
 At the base of the Lias, and separating the lowermost shale 
 from the uppermost Triassic bed beneath, there is a layer of 
 coarse detritus, a few inches thick, commonly known as the 
 Bone-bed, composed of mud and sand, and the debris of 
 fishes and reptiles. 4 
 
 STATE OF PRESERVATION OF ENALIOSAURIANS. The remark- 
 ably perfect state of the skeletons of the Plesiosauri has 
 already been pointed out ; many of those of the Ichthyosauri 
 are equally entire. In several of the specimens in the Museum, 
 the bones are seen in all their integrity, as in recent anatomi- 
 
 1 Mr. Hawkins's Memoir, p. 5. 
 
 2 Specimen of Pentacriniles from these strata are deposited in "\Vall- 
 case G, Koom II. see ante, p. 74. 
 
 3 Mr. Hawkins's Memoir, p. 7. 
 
 4 See " Wonders of Geology," p. 529. 
 
 B B 
 
370 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. IV. 
 
 cal preparations. Reflecting on the circumstance that the 
 Enaliosaurians lived in an ocean which swarmed with pre- 
 daceous fishes and other animals, and that both genera were 
 carnivorous, and doubtless preyed on the young and the 
 feeble of their own races, it seems difficult to account for the 
 great number of entire carcasses that must have been buried 
 in the mud at the bottom of the sea, and left unmolested on 
 the spot where they died and became imbedded. 
 
 In explanation of this fact, Dr. Buckland has suggested the 
 probability that these creatures experienced a sudden death, 
 from a diffusion of tnephitic vapours through the water, by a 
 submarine volcanic eruption ; such a phenomenon, it is in- 
 ferred, would account for the destruction of shoals of those 
 reptiles that were within the reach of the gaseous influence, 
 and at the same time prevent the approach of any predaceous 
 animals, till the carcasses were enveloped in the mud, and 
 placed beyond the reach of assailants. 
 
 In connexion with the facts referred to, it is worthy of 
 remark that the Ichthyosauri are, for the most part, found 
 lying on the side, while the Plesiosauri are extended on their 
 backs, with the abdominal region uppermost, as in the 
 splendid fossil figured in Lign. 73. It has been very in- 
 geniously conjectured by Mr. Samuel Stuchbury,' that this 
 difference of position is referable to the form and structure 
 of the animals of the two genera. In the case of the Ple- 
 siosauri it is assumed, that after death, the gases evolved by 
 putrefaction from the abdominal viscera, were retained by 
 the tough dermal integuments and the sterno-costal arcs, and 
 the body was thus suspended with the belly uppermost, till 
 it became water-logged, and buried in the silt. Whereas the 
 fish-like form of the Ichthyosauri, the vertical diameter of 
 the body being greater than the lateral, is presumed to ac- 
 count for the lateral position of the fossil skeletons ; while 
 the frequently dislocated state of the bones is supposed to 
 have resulted from the strong integuments of the body 
 having remained entire, until the internal parts were decom- 
 
 1 " Description of a new species of Plesiosaurus (P. megacephalus), in 
 the Museum of the Bristol Institution." By Samuel Stuchbury, Esq. 
 F.G.S. " Geolog. Journal," vol. ii. 1846, p. 411. 
 
BOOM IV. STRUCTURE OF THE ICHTHYOSAURUS. 37 1 
 
 posed and the bones disunited, but tept from dispersion, as 
 in a sack, till the whole mass was imbedded. 
 
 STRUCTURE OF THE ICHTHYOSAURUS. The Ichthyosaurus, 
 though agreeing in its general characters with the Plesiosaurus, 
 presents a much nearer approach to the fishes than that 
 genus of Enaliosaurians. From the shortness of the neck, and 
 great breadth of the base of the cranium, its general outline 
 must have closely resembled that of a large Porpoise, or 
 Grampus, with enormous eyes, two pairs of fins or paddles, a 
 long tail, and, probably, a large integumentary caudal fin. 
 
 The internal structure corresponds with the outer form in 
 its close approximation to fishes or cretaceans. The ver- 
 tebrae have their articular surfaces so deeply cupped, that it 
 is inferred " they were originally connected together by an 
 elastic capsule, filled with a fluid, as in the vertebral joints 
 of fishes, and the perennibranchiate, or most fish-like, of 
 Reptiles." 1 
 
 The muzzle of the Ichthyosaurus is long and pointed ; the 
 lower jaw is formed of two branches, united anteriorly through 
 nearly half their length ; each branch is composed of six 
 bones, as in the Crocodiles and Lizards, but differently ar- 
 ranged than in those reptiles. 
 
 The teeth are very numerous, amounting to nearly two 
 hundred in some species, and are placed in a single row on 
 each side the jaws, being implanted in a deep continuous 
 : groove without sockets. These teeth are of a pointed conical 
 form, longitudinally striated, with an expanded base. The 
 new teeth are developed at the inner side of the base of the 
 old ones, and grow up and displace them. The tooth con- 
 sists of a pulp-cavity, surrounded by a body of dentine, 
 which is invested at the base by a thick layer of cement, 
 and at the crown by a coat of enamel ; the pulp-cavity, in 
 fully-formed teeth, is more or less occupied by coarse bone. 2 
 The chief peculiarity of this structure consists in the inflec- 
 tion of the cement into vertical folds at the base of the 
 tooth, by which the marginal portion of the basal dentine is 
 divided into a corresponding number of processes, as in the 
 
 1 Professor Ovren, on the Ichthyosaurus. " Brit Assoc. Rep." 1839, 
 p. 87. 
 Bee Prof. Owen's " Odontography," p. 275. 
 
372 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. IV. 
 
 tooth of the Lepidosteus, an existing genus of river fishes. 
 (See " Medals of Creation," PL VI. fig. 9.). 
 
 The nasal apertures, or openings of the nostrils, are placed 
 as in the Plesiosaurus, near the anterior angle of the orbit. 
 
 The orbits are very large, and the sclerotic coat, or capsule 
 of the eye, has in front an annular series of bony plates, 
 which often occur in their natural position, and are beauti- 
 fully displayed in many of the specimens in the Cases before 
 us. This mechanism is not possessed by fishes, but is analogous 
 to that observable in the eyes of turtles, lizards, and many 
 birds ; as, for example, in the owl and eagle : it confers on the 
 eye additional power of adaptation, and intensity of vision. 
 
 The vertebrae, of which there are upwards of one hundred 
 and forty in the individuals of some species, are, as we have 
 already remarked, very short in their antero-posterior dia- 
 meter (i.e. from front to back), and deeply cupped on each 
 articulating face. The annular part is not united to the 
 body of the vertebra, as in quadrupeds, nor connected by 
 suture, as in Crocodiles, but terminates on each side in a 
 compressed oval base, which fits into corresponding sockets 
 placed on the boundary line of the spinal depression on the 
 body, and thus completes the neural canal. The first and 
 second vertebrae are anchylosed together, and have additional 
 sub-vertebral, wedge-shaped bones, which render this part of 
 the column a fixed point of support. 1 
 
 The pectoral arch presents a remarkable resemblance to 
 that of the Ornithorhynchus, or Duck-billed Platypus of New 
 Holland. The episternum is of a triradiate form ; the clavicles 
 are strong, elongated, and slightly curved ; the scapulae ate 
 stout and broad, and in the form of a parallelogram ; the 
 coracoids are of a hatchet-shape, with a strong, thick, glenoid 
 extremity, and a thin mesial expansion, which articulates 
 with the episternal bone. 2 
 
 The pelvic arch consists of the same elements as in the 
 Plesiosaurus, but the ischium and pubis are much smaller 
 than in that genus. The ilium is a short, simple, strong, and 
 compressed bone, slightly expanding as it descends, to com- 
 
 1 This structure was first demonstrated by Sir Philip Egerton. See 
 Geol. Trans. Second Series," Vol. V. p. 187, PI. XIV. 
 
 2 See Dr. Buckland's " Bridgewater Essay," PI. XII. 
 
BOOM IV. PADDLES OF THE ICHTHYOSAURUS. 373 
 
 bine with the ischium and pubis to form the acetabulum, or 
 socket for the femur. Professor Owen has directed especial 
 attention to the fact, that " its upper or proximal end is not 
 connected by syuchondrosis to the extremities of the sacral 
 ribs, but lies simply upon them, just as the scapula rests 
 upon the ribs at the anterior part of the thorax. This is a 
 condition of the ilium which is of great interest, and pecu- 
 liarly characteristic of the Enaliosauria, among reptiles. It 
 renders their pelvic extremities remarkably analogous to the 
 ventral fins of fishes, which are in like manner simply sus- 
 pended in the muscular mass, and not fixed to a sacrum." l 
 
 PADDLES, AND INTEGUMENTS. The extremities or limbs of 
 the Ichthyosaurus, with the general structure of those of the 
 Plesiosaurus, have the humerus, femur, and the antibrachial 
 bones, relatively shorter and broader. The carpus and tarsus 
 are composed of polygonal bones, which are succeeded by 
 several longitudinal rows of similar ossicles ; and the re- 
 mainder of the paddle is made up of a gradually diminishing 
 series of the same character. 
 
 An unexpected light has been thrown upon the original 
 structure of the paddles of the Ichthyosaurus, by the discovery 
 of a specimen with remains of the integuments in a carbon- 
 ized state ; and so admirably preserved, as to demonstrate 
 that the fin extended far beyond its osseous frame-work, and 
 was bordered by cartilaginous rays, which bifurcated as they 
 approached the margin. 
 
 Lign. 76, is a reduced figure of the hinder paddle of an 
 Ichthyosaurus, (/. communis), with the integuments preserved, 
 from the plate accompanying the original memoir on this 
 fossil, in the " Geological Transactions." The specimen, which 
 was discovered by Sir Philip Egerton, consists of the pha- 
 langeal bones of a posterior paddle, with the soft parts, or 
 integuments, lying together in their natural position ; , marks 
 the termination or distal extremity of the fin, consisting 
 entirely of the carbonized integuments ; these gradually widen 
 and expand to receive the terminal rows of the phalangeal 
 ossicles or bones, marked, 6. The upper border of this soft 
 
 1 " Brit. Assoc. Rep." 1839, p. 107. The admirable exposition of the 
 osteological characters of the Ichthyosauri contained in this Report 
 should be consulted by the palaeontologist who is interested in the 
 subject. 
 
374 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. IV. 
 
 part of the paddle, c, is formed by a smooth, well-defined 
 line, apparently a mere duplicature of integument. The 
 lower margin, d, exhibits the remains and impressions of a 
 series of rays, by which the fold of skin was supported, and 
 these rays bifurcate as they approach the margin of the fin ; 
 it is inferred that these processes were either cartilaginous, 
 or albuminous, like the horny tissue composing the marginal 
 rays in the fins of Sharks. The Lias at Barrow-on-Soar, 
 appears to have been peculiarly adapted to the preservation 
 of the more perishable parts of animal tissues, for Dr. Buck- 
 land detected the dermal integument of an Ichthyosaurus 
 in a specimen from that locality ; and in the fine skeleton 
 
 LION. 76. HINDER PADDLE OF AN ICHTHYOSAURUS WITH ITS INTEGUMENTS. 
 LIAS. BARROW-OX-SOAR. 
 
 ($ nat. size.) 
 (From "Geol. Trans." Vol. VI. PL XX.) 
 
 with four paddles, deposited in Wall-case B, p. 377, and 
 which I obtained from Barrow, there were decided traces of 
 the carbonized integuments around each paddle, but which 
 were, unfortunately, chiselled away, in developing the bones, 
 before I was aware of their true nature. 
 
 SKIN OF THE ICHTHYOSAURUS Remains of the epidermis 
 or scarf-skin, and of the cor turn or true skin, of the Ichthyo- 
 saurus, were discovered, and first made known, by the Dean of 
 Westminster, the Very Rev. Dr. Buckland, in his " Bridge- 
 water Treatise." ! These remains were observed in the inter- 
 
 Dr. Buckland's " Bridgewater Essay," p. 23, PL X. 
 
ROOM IV. COPROLITES OF ICHTHYOSAURI. 375 
 
 spaces of the ribs and sterno-costal arcs of a small Ichthyo- 
 saurus, now in the Oxford Museum. 
 
 "The spaces between these bones are covered with the 
 remains of skin : the epidermis being represented by a delicate 
 film, and the rete mucosum by fine threads of white carbonate 
 of lime : beneath these the corium, or true skin, is preserved 
 in the state of dark carbonate of lime, charged with black 
 volatile matter of a bituminous and oily consistence. Similar 
 black patches of skin are not unfrequently found attached 
 to the skeletons of Ichthyosauri from Lyme Regis, but no 
 remains of any other soft parts of the body have yet been 
 noticed. 
 
 " The preservation of the skin shows that only a short 
 interval elapsed between the death of the animal, and the 
 interment in the muddy sediment at the bottom of the sea, of 
 which the lias is composed." 
 
 There were no traces whatever of a scaly integument, and 
 there is every reason to conclude that the Ichthyosauri had a 
 naked skin, like the Cetaceans. 
 
 COPROLITES. The excrementitious contents of the intestinal 
 canal both of fishes, reptiles, and mammalia, occur in a fossil- 
 ized state : those of the Enaliosaurians are found in great 
 abundance in the lias of Lyme Regis, Street, &c. Before the 
 true nature of these substances was detected and made known 
 by Dr. Buckland, they were called bezoar-stones by collectors. 
 They are often found occupying the abdominal cavity of the 
 skeleton, as in the specimen in Wall-case A, Room IV. (see 
 p. 376.) 1 
 
 The state of preservation of the Coprolites, as these bodies 
 are now termed, is such, as to show not only the nature of 
 the food of the original animals, but also the dimensions, 
 form, and structure, of the intestinal canal ; and from the 
 evidence thus obtained, we learn that these viscera in the 
 Ichthyosaurus were convoluted spirally, as in some of 
 the most voracious existing fishes. In the corresponding 
 organs of Sharks, Dog-fish, (Acanthias,) and Rays, the 
 interior of part of the intestinal tube is spirally coiled ; 
 an arrangement by which the extent of surface of the 
 mucous membrane is greatly increased, and the consequent 
 
 1 See Dr. Buckland's " Bridgewater Essay/' PL XV. 
 
37G 
 
 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. IV- 
 
 absorption of nutriment from the food, in its passage through 
 the canal. 1 
 
 SPECIMENS OF ICHTHYOSAURI IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 
 The collection of Ichthyosauri in Room IV. comprises eight 
 or nine recognised species, which have been rigorously ex- 
 amined and carefully determined by Professor Owen. From 
 the length to which our general observations on the organiza- 
 tion of these reptiles have extended, a concise notice of the 
 species will suffice ; and the annexed tables of the order in 
 which the specimens are arranged, will enable the visitor to 
 refer to a particular fossil with but little trouble. 
 
 There are about thirty very fine specimens in the Gallery ; 
 including the most interesting of the separate crania, paddles, 
 vertebral columns, &c. ; besides a great number of isolated 
 bones, parts of skulls and jaws, coprolites and other remains 
 of Ichthyosauri. 
 
 WALL-CASE A. [1.] 
 On the Top. Ichthyosaurus tenuirostris. 
 
 A small beautiful 
 cranium, and one 
 paddle. 
 
 Ichthy. intermedius. 
 (Hawkins, PI. XX.) 
 
 Ichthyosaurus with coprolite 
 in the abdominal region. 
 
 Jaws with teeth ; very beautiful. 
 (Hawkins, PI. XIX.) 
 
 (Hawkins, PI. IX.) 
 
 Fine skull and vertebral column, ribs, &c. with paddles, of Ichthyosaurus 
 longipennis. 
 
 Ichthyosaurus communis, with anterior and posterior paddles. 
 (Hawkins, PI. VII.) 
 
 ICHTHYOSAURUS TENUIROSTRIS 2 (Conybeare). Wall-cases A, 
 D, and E. Of this species there is a specimen in Wall-case A ; 
 a fine cranium arid jaws, with the spinal column, many bones 
 of the trunk, and paddles, in Wall-case E ; two imperfect 
 specimens, and a small beautiful cranium in the left hand' 
 compartment of the same Case. 
 
 The Ichthyosaurus tenuirostris is characterized by the 
 great length and slenderness of the jaws, which resemble in 
 this respect the maxillary organs of the Gavial or Teleosaurus. 
 The length of the snout is produced by the prolongation of 
 
 1 See Dr. Buckland's "Bridgewater Essay," p. 193. 
 
 2 "Brit. Assoc. Reports," 1839, p. 117. 
 
ROOM IV. ICHTHYOSAURUS INTERMEDIUS. 377 
 
 the intermaxillary bones, and of the dentary bones of the 
 lower jaw. The malar bone is remarkably long and slender. 
 The cranium is flat, and the orbits are very large. 
 
 The teeth are slender ; there are from 60 to 70 on each side 
 the upper jaw, and 60 on each ramus of the lower jaw. 
 
 The anterior extremities or paddles are much larger than 
 the posterior pair, and very strong and massive. The shafts 
 of the humerus and femur are relatively long, and their distal 
 ends broad. 
 
 This species, according to the known specimens, attains a 
 length of thirteen or fourteen feet ; the largest teeth are 1 J 
 inch in length. It was named Ich. chirostrongulostinus, (sig- 
 nifying round-boned-paddle) by Mr. Hawkins ; and is figured 
 in PL XV. XVI. of his work. 
 
 WALL-CASE B. [2.] 
 
 On thf Tnn I ^" wo P^dles an <l I Ichthy. intermedius, ribs I Skull and jaws of 
 | detached bones. | and vertebral column. | Ichthy. longipennis. 
 
 Upper Shelf. Miscellaneous specimens of detached parts. 
 
 Hawkins, PI. XII. 
 
 Ichthyosaurus intermedius: a beautiful 
 fossil; the cranium and jaws, spinal 
 column, &c. the large anterior, and 
 small posterior, pair of extremities. 
 (Hawkins. PI. XVII.) 
 
 Several small spe- 
 cimens of Ichthyo- 
 saurian remains. 
 
 Cranium, trunk, and 
 four paddles ; very 
 fine : from Street. 
 
 Ichthy. interme- 
 dius. 
 Hawkins PI XVIII 
 
 \ arious small 
 specimens. 
 
 Cranium, trunk, spinal column, and two 
 left paddles of Ichthyosaurus. 
 
 Beautiful head and 
 jaws. 
 
 ICHTHYOSAURUS INTERMEDIUS * (Conybeare). Wall-cases A, 
 B, and E. The beautiful example of this species, figured in 
 Air. Hawkins's work, PL XX. is placed in Wall-case A. 
 
 In Case B, there is a splendid specimen, seven feet long, 
 from Street, with the vertebral column gently arched, and the 
 four paddles entire. It is figured in Mr. Hawkins's Memoir, 
 PL XVII. 
 
 A skeleton, six feet long, showing the upper surface of the 
 cranium and spinal column, with the four paddles exquisitely 
 displayed, is in the lowermost compartment of Case E. 
 
 The name given to this species by Mr. Conybeare, is indi- 
 cative of the intermediate character of the teeth, which are 
 
 1 "Brit Assoc. Reports/ 1839, p. 120. 
 
378 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. IV. 
 
 " more acutely conical than in Ichthyosaurus communis, and 
 the striae less prominent ; but are less slender than in Ich. 
 tenuirostris." There are other characters, alike intermediate 
 between those of the above-named species, but which would 
 be unintelligible to the reader, without figures. " The maxil- 
 lary portion of the skull is relatively shorter, and converges 
 more regularly to the snout, than in Ich. communis ; and the 
 teeth are longer, more slender and numerous. 1 In a skeleton 
 in Mr. Johnson's museum at Bristol, there were =2." The 
 number of vertebrae exceeds 125. The orbit is large, and has 
 16 or 18 sclerotic plates. 2 
 
 This Ichthyosaurus does not exceed seven feet in length ; it 
 is the most common species, and its remains are very gene- 
 rally distributed throughout the Lias of England. 
 
 ICHTHYOSAURUS LONGIPENNIS. Wall-case A. The fossil 
 thus labelled, is from the Lias of Whitby, in Yorkshire. It 
 consists of a cranium with the jaws and teeth, a confused mass 
 of the anterior part of the trunk, a few bones of one fin, and 
 a nearly perfect paddle, the humerus of which is short and 
 very strong. The carpals, metacarpals, and digitals, comprise 
 thirty rows of ossicles ; the fin must therefore have been very 
 long and tapering, if the present bones are the normal number; 
 but it seems probable that the paddle was wider in proportion 
 to its length, and that many ossicles are lost. I am not aware 
 of any published description of this species. 
 
 ICHTHYOSAURUS COMMUNIS S (Conybeare). Wall-cases A and 
 D. Of this species there is a most beautiful specimen with 
 the anterior and posterior paddles, in the lowermost compart- 
 ment of Case A* and another nearly perfect skeleton in the 
 upper division of Case D, 
 
 1 Prof. Owen in "Brit. Assoc. Rep." p. 110, which the scientific 
 inquirer should consult for anatomical details. 
 
 2 This species is named by Mr. Hawkins chiroparamekostinus, (or 
 oblong-boned paddle,) from the oblong form of the phalangeal ossicles ; 
 a character which, however, is not peculiar to this species. See " Memoirs 
 on Ichthyosauri," p. 32. 
 
 3 " Brit. Assoc. Rep." 1839, p. 108. 
 
 4 I cannot resist the insertion of the following racy account of the 
 discovery and exhumation of this exquisite fossil. One Jonas Wish- 
 combe, a fossil dealer, of Charmonth, had perceived the remains of an 
 enormous Ichthyosaurus at low water, but in a situation so unfavourable 
 
ROOM IV. ICHTHYOSAURUS COMMUNIS. 379 
 
 The skull of this species is wide behind, and rapidly contracts 
 to the base of the jaws, which are prolonged and sub-coin- 
 
 for its extraction, being always covered with water, except for a brief 
 interval at the very lowest tides, that its removal appeared impossible, 
 and he willingly sold his right to the discovery to Mr. Hawkins. It was 
 upwards of a month after the purchase of this treasure of the deep, 
 before the tide was sufficiently low to allow of its being visible we will 
 now leave Mr. Hawkins to tell the story : 
 
 "The best street of Lyme Regis is disfigured but all the world 
 knows this by an ugly market place, which has an ugly tower, sur- 
 mounted by an ugly fish to tell the way of the wind. To this most 
 ungainly place and puppet of a tower were my eyes directed with the 
 first sunbeam, and to the weather-cock my orisons went thrice seven 
 days in vain : there it stuck, with its mouth agape, as if to bugbear the 
 violent wind and storm, which blew all the time from the south and 
 west. Every day for upwards of three weeks I sought with a kind of 
 forlorn hope from the lofty cliffs, the sandstone rocks. 
 
 " One day I arose in such imperturbable mood as disappointment like 
 this may be supposed to occasion, and gaped to see the brazen fish turn 
 tail, as much as he himself did at the hollow tempest that flitted by from 
 the rugged north. The weather had veered to the right quarter at last, 
 and if it continued a few hours I might accomplish my long deferred 
 hope : all my friends congratulated me. ' Make haste, the tide's going 
 out fast,' said Miss Anning, as I passed her on the way to the Ichthyo- 
 saurus. 
 
 " Half a dozen of us, all lusty and eager for the occasion, meet : we 
 arrange the mode of exhumation, dispose our instruments, and wait the 
 crisis when the returning waves shall desert the remains. It arrives 
 ' let no one invade this' a square marked around the skeleton in the 
 marl, six feet and a half by three and a half. ' What d'ye think, Zur, to 
 dig un out a whcal,' exclaimed the Atlean Blue the best tempered but 
 unhappily bacchanal fellow that ever lived. 'Yes.' The tide goes 
 back back back our square is cut ten inches deep; I lessen its 
 length and breadth a foot: 'The crow-bars and pick-axes to loosen it 
 from its bed : now, my boys, now now : does it come up in one piece ? ' 
 ' Yeas, Zur.' 
 
 " The spectators say the tide flows it does : we attempt to raise the 
 heavy mass upon its side, but our strength fails us ' 'tis more than we 
 can accomplish.' Assisted by several gentlemen who were spectators, it 
 is at length removed from its situation ' the tide flows fast' we try to 
 lift it into the vehicle prepared for its transport from the reach of 
 danger we cannot. ' You must break un in half, Zur.' ' No.' The 
 waters approach us they make a breach in the rude bank cast up by us 
 against them another billow and yet another they are at our heels: 
 ' One more trial, my boys, your own reward, if successful ye-o' the 
 saurus is safe ! When that beautiful thiug, of which our beautiful 
 plate is but a faint type, came forth at the magic touch of my chisel, 
 such a feeling possessed me as few can ever realize ! " Hawkins's 
 "Memoirs of Ichthyosauri " <tc. 
 
380 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. IV. 
 
 pressed. The teeth are relatively large, round, conical, and 
 longitudinally furrowed, the base being expanded and deeply 
 grooved ; there are from 40 to 50 on each side the upper, and 
 from 25 to 30 on each ramus of the lower jaw. 
 
 The anterior paddles are three times longer than the poste- 
 rior pair, and are proportionately broader, and contain a greater 
 number of ossicles, than in other species. This character 
 induced Mr. Hawkins to change the specific name to chiro- 
 polyostinus, (or many-boned paddle. 1 ) There are eight meta- 
 carpal bones, and two hundred and twelve digital ossicles. 
 The huuierus is relatively shorter and stouter than in any 
 other species. 
 
 Professor Owen considers that each anterior paddle of 
 this species has an additional series of digits, and about 50 
 more phalangeal bones, than that of the Ich. intermedius, the 
 entire breadth and the power of the anterior fins being thereby 
 increased. 
 
 There are 17 sclerotic plates in each eye ; the orbit and eye 
 are relatively smaller than in Ich. tenuirostris. 
 
 This is one of the larger species of the genus, some speci- 
 mens indicating a total length of 14 feet. 
 
 The specimen in Case A, which is figured by Mr. Hawkins 
 in PL VII. shows the fractured or dislocated state of the tail, at 
 about one-fourth of the length from its distal extremity, which 
 Professor Owen supposes is connected with the presence of a 
 large tegumentary caudal fin : and the laterally compressed 
 form of the terminal caudal vertebra, first ascertained by Sir 
 Philip Grey Egerton, is presumed to afford additional demon- 
 stration of the existence and direction of such an organ. 2 
 
 ANGLE BETWEEN WALL-CASES A & B. 
 Part of the series of bones of a paddle of Ichthyosaurus platyodon. 
 
 Portion of an enormous cranium of Ichthyos. platyodon. | Hawkins, PI. VIII. 
 
 Magnificent cranium and jaws, and part of the spine of Ichthyos. platyodon. 
 
 Various specimens of paddle bones, &c. 
 
 ICHTHYOSAURUS PLATYODON S (Conybeare). Wall-cases B and 
 
 1 Hawkins's " Memoir," p. 25, PI. VII. X. 
 
 2 See " Brit. Assoc. Reports," p. 87. 
 
 3 Ibid. 1839, p. 112. 
 
ROOM IV. ICHTHYOSAURUS PLATYODOX. 381 
 
 C. Of this gigantic species there is one magnificent example, 
 and several very fine detached crania and jaws, paddles, &c. 
 
 A series of carpal bones of an enormous paddle, is placed in 
 the angle uniting Cases A and B : in the same division 
 there is a portion of a stupendous cranium and jaws, with the 
 teeth beautifully preserved; and beneath, a splendid skull, 
 4 1 feet long, with the zone of sclerotic plates entire ; this fossil 
 is figured in " Philos. Trans." for 1814. 
 
 WALL-CASE C. [3.] 
 
 On the Top. 
 
 Vertebrae and ribs : 
 detached bones im- 
 bedded in lias. 
 
 Ichthyosaurus platyodon, var. immanis. Enor- 
 mous jaws, and detached bones of the trunk 
 and spinal column. 
 
 Skeleton of Ichthyosaurus platyodon, 18 feet long ; consisting of the skull with the 
 jaws and teeth, the spinal column composed of upwards of 90 vertebrae, and three 
 of the paddles. (Hawkins, PI. III.) 
 
 A small skeleton presented by Mr. Broderip. 
 
 Separate bones of the spinal column of an Ichthy. platyodon, amounting to upwards 
 of 100 vertebrae. 
 
 The magnificent skeleton of Ich. platyodon, in Wall-case C, 
 is a noble monument of the zeal, skill, and patience of Mr. 
 Hawkins, by whom it was literally "snatched from the 
 devouring ocean," and developed and restored. 1 
 
 1 When this stupendous fossil first arrived at the British Museum, 
 together with the other specimens purchased of Mr. Hawkins for a sum 
 awarded by Dr. Buckland and myself, much misapprehension was enter- 
 tained by the Curators as to the genuineness of these splendid specimens, 
 in consequence of some portions of this skeleton having been restored 
 and coloured so as to resemble the original bones; and a report was 
 quickly in circulation that the valuers had been deceived, and had 
 awarded a sum for the collection far beyond its real value. 
 
 This supposition was altogether erroneous ; the unequalled magnitude 
 of this specimen the circumstances under which it was found imbedded 
 the great difficulty of extracting it from the stratum the expense, 
 the time, the labour, the trouble, of repairing it setting aside the skill 
 and experience required to conduct the operation successfully, were, in 
 my opinion, but inadequately remunerated by the sum of 21 0. given 
 for this unique specimen, which is one of the choicest treasures in the 
 British Museum. 
 
 That the reader may have some idea of the circumstances under which 
 this matchless fossil was obtained, 1 will give, in Mr. Hawkins's own 
 language, an account of the exhumation of this saurian of the ancient 
 world from the bed of its native ocean, and its rescue from the billows 
 
382 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. IV. 
 
 This fossil is exposed so as to show the dorsal aspect of 
 the skeleton from the tip of the muzzle to near the extremity 
 of the tail. The cranium, the vertebral column and ribs, and 
 the bones of three paddles, are clearly displayed. 
 
 This is the most gigantic of the known species of Ichthyo- 
 saurus, and attains a length of 30 feet j the orbit, in some 
 
 "of the sea that rolled over its petrified remains, and threatened their 
 destruction. 
 
 "In the month of July, 1832, Miss Anning obtained from the lias 
 limestone near the church at Lyme, part of the head of the Ichthyosaurus 
 Chiroligostinus," (the large specimen in Case C.). " Happening to 
 arrive at Lyme the same day, 1 was fortunate in availing myself of the 
 specimen. Accompanying Miss Anning the next morning to the beach, 
 she pointed out to me the place whence it was brought. Persuaded that 
 other portions of the skeleton must be there, I advised its extrication ; 
 this Miss Anning deemed impossible, and left me at liberty to make 
 the attempt. 
 
 "If our reader knows Lyme, he will remember that four or five 
 hundred yards of the coast from the borough eastward, has an elevation 
 of from 60 to 100 feet above high water mark, and that a bed of diluvial 
 gravel conceals the blue marl of the lias from observation, except in 
 those places where the waters have ploughed a channel towards the sea. 
 At this spot there was a peninsular rock that had long defied the fury 
 of the destructive current that a south-wester invariably propelled against 
 it from the Cob. There it abutted against the angry waves, and resisted 
 the power of the surge. Beneath this rock was the Chiroligostinus. 
 
 " But that venerable tiny promontory is no more. What the warring 
 elements failed in, curiosity achieves : the hand of man came upon it, 
 and it departed like a shadow. 
 
 " The sun rose bright on the 26th day of July, 1832 ; and the morning 
 mists were hardly rolled away from the hill-side, ere many men busily 
 engage with spade and pick-axe to humble the doomed summit of this 
 cliff. Progress was also made on the following day, when people from 
 the adjacent country flocked to witness the execution of a purpose which 
 seemed to stagger their faith in our sanity. By next day's noon twenty 
 thousand loads of earth cast from the crown of the rock constitute a good 
 road-way to the beach from that part of it to which we had dug, and a 
 few minutes more suffice to lay bare the wonderful remains ! My eyes 
 the first which beheld them ! But, alas ! the bones with the marl in which 
 they lay, broke into small fragments, so that I almost despaired of their 
 reunion. At length all was secured; the skeleton and its matrix 
 weighed a ton. When my manual labours terminated, it counted about 
 six hundred pieces, some of which were so brittle that it was dangerous 
 to touch them. These a trusty Lucchese under my especial direction 
 fixed in sulphate of lime, of which three thousand pounds were used, in 
 a case that weighed half a ton I" Hawkins's "Memoirs on Ichthyo- 
 sauri" p. 13. 
 
ROOM IV. ICHTHYOSAURUS LONCHIODON. 383 
 
 specimens, is 1 foot in diameter, and the teeth 2J inches in 
 length. There is a scapula in the collection 17 inches long, 
 and 9 inches broad at the distal end ; and vertebra 6 inches 
 in transverse diameter. 
 
 The teeth are distinguished from those of the other species 
 by the form of the crown, which is conical and subcompressed, 
 and has a sharp ridge on each side ; the base is not grooved as 
 in the teeth of I. communis : these dental characters suggested 
 the specific name. The numbers of the teeth are 4 ~ o . 
 
 The head is relatively longer in proportion to the trunk 
 than in I. communis and I. intermedius. The lower jaw is 
 remarkably massive and powerful, and projects further back- 
 wards beyond the joint, than in the preceding species. 1 
 
 Thevertebrse are about 120 in number; their bodies are 
 more compressed than in the other species. 
 
 The anterior and posterior paddles are equal in size, more 
 simple in their structure, and composed of fewer bones, than 
 the extremities of the species previously described. This 
 structure, first pointed out by Mr. Hawkins, induced that 
 gentleman to name the species chiroligostinus (signifying few- 
 boned-paddle). 
 
 The humerus is short in relation to its breadth : the femur 
 is proportionately longer than in other species. Professor 
 Owen remarks, that the small number of digital ossicles in the 
 extremities of this gigantic Ichthyosaurus, and the greater 
 distances at which they are placed from each other in the 
 lower half of the paddle, indicate " that the ligamentous sub- 
 stance which connected them together, entered more abun- 
 dantly into the composition of the fin." 
 
 WALL-CASE D. [4.] 
 
 n the Top. 
 
 Vertebral column 
 and paddle. 
 (Hawkins, PI. XXI.) 
 
 Fragmentary specimens of 
 '' Ichthy. intermedius. 
 
 Fragmentary 
 specimens. 
 
 Two exquisite skeletons of Ichthyosaurus communis. 
 (Hawkins, PI. XII.) 
 
 Ichthyosaurus lonchiodon : a large specimen, comprising the cranium and jaws, the 
 vertebral column and ribs, and one of the anterior, and one of the posterior 
 extremities. 
 
 1 " Brit. Assoc. Rep." 1839, p. 116. 
 
384 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 
 
 ICHTHYOSAURUS LONCHIODON.' (Owen.) Wall-case D. A 
 fine skeleton of this species, fifteen feet in length, with the 
 skull and jaws, one anterior and one posterior paddle, is 
 deposited in Wall-case D ; the spinal column, consisting of 
 upwards of 120 vertebrae, remains, but part of the tail is defi- 
 cient. This specimen is from Lyme Regis, and was obtained 
 by Miss Anning. The teeth, as implied by the specific name 
 (lonchiodon, signifying lance-shaped), are more slender in pro- 
 portion to their length than in I. communis, or I. platyodon, 
 and straighter than in I. tenuirostris, or I. intermedius. 
 Their base is cylindrical, and regularly fluted ; the transverse 
 section of the crown is nearly circular, not compressed, as in 
 I. platyodon. The paddle is relatively less than in the last 
 named species. 
 
 But the great interest of this fossil consists in the preserva- 
 tion of the elements of the os hyoides, which are seen in their 
 natural relative position between the rami of the lower jaw ; 
 these parts of the structure of the Ichthyosaurus were first 
 detected by the illustrious Cuvier. 1 
 
 The hyoid bones in the skeleton before us are thus de- 
 scribed by Prof. Owen : 
 
 " The cornua are robust, elongated, sub-prismatic bones, slightly 
 enlarged and truncate at both extremities ; their junction with the small 
 flattened hyoid body seems to have been by means of abundant flexible 
 ligamentous material ; the length of each cornu is a fifth part that of 
 the lower jaw. 
 
 " The condition of the hyoid apparatus in the Ichthyosaurus, besides 
 corroborating the evidence afforded by the rest of the skeleton, 
 that this extinct reptile was an air-breather, indicates that its tongue 
 was almost as little developed as in the Crocodile ; and since the 
 Ichthyosaurus obtained its food at all times under the same circum- 
 stances which necessitate the modification of the hyoid apparatus in 
 the Crocodile, it maybe inferred that the hyoid arch was physiologically 
 related to the working of a similar valvular apparatus for defending 
 the orifice of its air-tube from the water admitted into the interspace 
 of the jaws, during the capture and slaughter of its prey ; and the 
 structure and the relative position of the hyoid apparatus corroborates 
 this inference." 2 
 
 1 " Os. Foss." tome v. p. 465. 
 
 2 " Brit. Assoc. Kep." p. 98. 
 
ROOM IV. 
 
 ICHTHYOSAURUS LATIFRONS. 
 
 385 
 
 WALL-CASE E. [5.] 
 
 On the Top. 
 
 Ichthyosaurus : the cranium, one paddle, and many displaced 
 bones of the trunk. 
 
 Ichthy. intermedius: skull, 
 and paddles. 
 
 Ichthyosaurus tenuirostris : the skull, spine, and 
 paddle-bones. 
 
 Ichthy. tenuirostris : two . 
 imperfect specimens. 
 
 Ichthyosaurus longirostris : a fine cranium, ver- 
 tebral column, many bones of the trunk, and 
 paddles. 
 
 Ichthy. latifrons : portion of 
 vertebral column, &c. 
 
 Ichthyosaurus intermedius : an exquisite skele- 
 ton: the skull and four paddles, and the 
 entire vertebral column, &c. 
 
 ICHTHYOSAURUS LONGIROSTRIS. Wall-case E. In the 
 middle compartment of Case E there is part of the skeleton 
 of an Ichthyosaurus from Whitby, about six feet in length. 
 It is remarkable for the exceedingly slender and elongated 
 muzzle ; the skull is crushed ; and with the exception of the 
 chain of vertebrae which extends to the tail, and a few bones 
 of one paddle, there are no characteristic parts preserved. The 
 specific name, longirostris, is affixed to this specimen ; but 
 I cannot ascertain that it is figured or described. 
 
 ICHTHYOSAURUS LATIFRONS. ! (Konig.) Wall-case E. The 
 mutilated cranium, with a large foramen on the top of the 
 head between the orbits, and attached to a considerable 
 portion of the vertebral column, deposited in Case E, is 
 figured and described by Mr. Konig in his " Icones Sectiles" 
 PL XIX., under the name of Ichthyosaurus latifrons. This 
 specimen is characterised by the great breadth of the fore part 
 of the cranium, and the large size of the parietal foramen. 
 The periphery of the vertebras is flatter than in those of other 
 species ; but I am not aware that other specimens have been 
 found with a similar character. The upper portion of the 
 circle of sclerotic plates remains in the orbit. 
 
 RETROSPECTIVE SUMMARY. From the data afforded by the 
 remains of the trees and plants, and of the herbivorous and 
 carnivorous reptiles, imbedded in the fluviatile deposits of the 
 south-east of England, described in the previous chapter, we 
 endeavoured to determine the physical conditions, and the 
 
 1 " Brit. Assoc. Rep." 1839, p. 122. 
 
 c c 
 
386 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. IV. 
 
 nature of the flora and fauna of the islands, and continents, of 
 the secondary geological epochs. 
 
 The fossil relics of the inhabitants of the seas of the same 
 remote periods occur in such profusion, as to supply ample 
 materials for the restoration of the swarms of living things 
 that peopled the waters, through the countless centuries 
 during which the liassic, oolitic, Wealden, and cretaceous 
 formations were deposited. 
 
 A fanciful representation of a gulf of the liassic ocean, 
 swarming with zoophytes, cephalopodous mollusca, and fishes, 
 with Ichthyosauri sporting on the billows, and devouring 
 their prey with uplifted jaws, and Plesiosauri skimming the 
 surface of the deep, and seizing pterodactyles by their 
 " leathern " l wings, is probably familiar to most of my 
 readers; for ajeu $ esprit of an eminent geologist, privately 
 circulated soon after the true characters of those marine 
 reptiles were made known, was lithographed and published 
 as a faithful delineation of the fish-like lizards, and swan- 
 necked saurians, that inhabited the seas of the liassic ages. 
 
 The structure and economy of the Plesiosauri, as sketched 
 by the vigorous pen of their original interpreter, Mr. Cony- 
 beare, have already been fully considered; those of the 
 Ichthyosauri are portrayed by the illustrious Cuvier, in 
 characters not less graphic. 
 
 The Ichthyosaurus was a reptile having a moderate tail, a 
 large head, with a very short neck, a long pointed muzzle, and 
 jaws armed with numerous conical teeth. Two eyes, of enor- 
 mous bulk, imparted to the head a physiognomy altogether 
 peculiar, and this great development of the organs of sight 
 jendowed the animal with nocturnal vision. It is probable 
 that it had no external ear, and that the tympanic bone was 
 covered by the skin, as in the chameleon. 
 
 The Ichthyosaurus respired air from the atmosphere, and 
 not through a watery medium like fishes ; it must, therefore, 
 have risen frequently to the surface of the sea to breathe, like 
 the cetaceans. Its short, flat, undivided limbs, were adapted 
 only for progression through the water, and could have ad- 
 mitted but of very feeble locomotion on the land. 
 
 1 Leathern wings of Pterodactyles, for the authority, see Prof. Owen, 
 cited ante, p. 193. 
 
ROOM IV. RETROSPECTIVE SUMMARY. 387 
 
 It existed in seas peopled with extinct species and genera 
 of fishes, and teeming with mollusks allied to the cuttle-fish 
 and the nautilus, but of types that perished at the close of 
 the cretaceous period. Groves of corals and of other zoo- 
 phytes, related to forms now of excessive rarity, even in 
 tropical seas, clothed the bottom of the deep ; and echino- 
 derms, star-fishes, crustaceans, and other tribes of inverte- 
 brata, were included in that prodigious assemblage of extra- 
 ordinary forms of being, which constituted the population of 
 the liassic ocean. Shoals of turtles inhabited those waters, 
 and many kinds of crocodilian reptiles frequented their shores. 
 
 Such was the marine fauna in which the Ichthyosauri and 
 Plesiosauri held the highest place ; such the inhabitants of that 
 ocean whose waters surrounded the islands, and washed the 
 shores of the continent, that were tenanted by the stupendous 
 terrestrial herbivorous and carnivorous lizards, whose fossil 
 relics formed the subject of our previous investigations : and 
 amidst those multitudes of reptilian forms, that traversed the 
 air, or crawled on the earth, or sported in the seas, two 
 diminutive genera of quadrupeds were the sole representa- 
 tives of the Mammalia, either on the land or in the waters. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PART III. 
 FOSSIL EEMAINS OF KUMINANTS. 
 
 DILUVIUM OF THE VALLEY OF THE THAMES FOSSIL BOVID.E BISON PRISCDS 
 BOS PBIMIGENIUS BOS LONGIFKONS. 
 
 DILUVIUM OF THE VALLEY OP THE THAMES. The banks of 
 the Thames and of its tributary streams, are in great part com- 
 posed of an ancient alluvial silt, or brick earth, many yards in 
 thickness, which contains, in some localities, great numbers of 
 fossil bones of Mammalia, of many extinct, and some recent 
 species, with existing kinds of land and river shells. Among 
 the latter there is a freshwater bivalve, a species of Cyrena, 
 which is supposed to be identical with one that abounds in the 
 river, at Alexandria ; and an Unio, of which the living ana- 
 logue inhabits the lakes of Auvergne in France. 1 
 
 At Erith, on the south bank of the Thames, a spot well 
 known for its beautiful sylvan scenery, this deposit attains an 
 elevation of 40 feet above the level of the river ; and at Maid- 
 stone, (ante, p. 302,) it is 60 feet above the Medway. At 
 Grays, in Essex, opposite Gravesend, there are extensive cut- 
 tings of these deposits in the brick-fields, in which the following 
 section is exposed. 1. Gravel and sand. 2. Loamy sand and 
 brick-earth. 3. Ferruginous sand, shells, and gravel. 4. The 
 Chalk, which is the foundation rock of the country. 
 
 From this locality alone have been obtained bones of the 
 
 1 See a highly interesting communication on these deposits, by John 
 Morris, Esq. (of Kensington) ; " Magazine of Nat. Hist." vol. ii. p. 539. 
 
ROOM IV. FOSSIL BOVIDJE BISON PRISCUS. 389 
 
 Elephant, Rhinoceros, Hippopotamus, Horse, Deer, Ox, Irish 
 Elk, Bear, Hyaena, Vole, &c. 
 
 From Grays and Ilford in Essex, the fossil bones of rumi- 
 nants in Wall-case F were chiefly obtained. 
 
 The specimens in this Case are too miscellaneous to .admit 
 of particular description, until they are properly arranged and 
 numbered. They comprise skulls, jaws with teeth, and bones 
 of the extremities, of Deer, Elk, Ox, &c. The only fossils that 
 can be conveniently selected for description, are the crania 
 and horns of the three species of Bos or Ox, whose remains are 
 very generally distributed throughout the post-pliocene or 
 diluvial deposits of Europe ; and also in the bone-breccia, 
 and in the ossiferous caverns. 
 
 FOSSIL BOVID^;, OR OXEN. Distinguished from other rumi- 
 nants by their strong and massy head, armed with horns 
 having a cavernous core or pith, and extending laterally from 
 the skull, the crania of the Bovidse are easily recognised. 
 Their molar teeth, the crowns of which, as in the other rumi- 
 nants, have double crescents, the convexity in the upper 
 molars being internal, and in the lower external, are readily 
 distinguished from those of the Elk and Deer, with which 
 they are often intermingled, by the presence of a little column 
 or pillar between the ridges of the crown, and which is of suffi- 
 cient length to be worn down in common with the crescents, 
 by mastication. 
 
 There are the remains of three well-known fossil species of 
 Ox in this collection ; and it is an interesting fact, that one 
 of the species still exists, and that the others in all proba- 
 bility have died out, within the last thousand, or fifteen 
 hundred years. 
 
 M. Pictet remarks, that the Aurochs are the only bovine 
 animals ancient tradition assigns to Europe, and that their 
 fossil remains prove they lived from a very remote antiquity ; 
 there is also another species, which is apparently the ancestor 
 of our domestic Ox. Bones of this family are found in the 
 upper tertiary or pliocene deposits of Montpellier, and Puy- 
 de-D6me ; and in the eocene of the Sewalik or Sub-Hima- 
 layan hills. 
 
 BISON PRISCUS; OR FOSSIL AUROCH. Wall-case F, and 
 Wall-case in Room V. Tn the Case before us there are 
 several horn-cores, and on the top of the Case in Room V. a 
 
PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 fine cranium and horn-cores, of the great fossil Auroch or 
 Bison ; a species, according to Professor Owen, that except in 
 its larger size, and in having longer and somewhat less bent 
 horns, presents no satisfactory specific distinction, compared 
 with the bones of the existing Lithuanian Auroch, 1 of which 
 a living pair were lately exhibited in the Zoological Gardens, 
 in the Regent's Park.* 
 
 The Lithuanian Au- 
 roch, which has been 
 preserved from extinc- 
 tion solely by the pro- 
 tective laws of the Em- 
 peror, appears to have 
 abounded in the forests 
 of Europe when the 
 Romans extended their 
 conquests to the north, 
 Lies. 77. ssru. AXD HORX-CO*SS OF BISOX and overran Germany. 
 
 The skull in the sub- 
 
 \i* *** stze.) .p. . . , 
 
 genus Bison or Auroch, 
 
 differs from that of the Bos or Ox, in the convexity and greater 
 breadth of the forehead, and in the horns being placed more 
 
 anteriorly in relation to 
 the supra-occipital ridge, 
 and in the obtuse angle, 
 and semicircular form of 
 the occipital plane. 
 
 There is a cranium in 
 the Museum, fromDant- 
 rig, which was described 
 and figured by Klein in 
 the a Philosophical Trans- 
 actions." 
 
 Bos pRunGExnrs, OB 
 GBEAT FOSSFL Ox. 
 WaU^case F, Room V. 
 nearly entire, is from 
 
 LIGX. 78. SKCLL AXD HOKN-COKES OF Bos 
 PEIMIGESHS. Front view. 
 
 This fine skull, with its horn-cores 
 
 1 " Brit Foes. Mammals and Birds." 
 
 Presented by the Emperor of Eossia; in compliance with the soli- 
 ilrtmiofSir Roderick Murehison. 
 
ROOM IV. BOS PRIMIGENIUS. 391 
 
 the alluvial deposits near Athol, in Perthshire. It is figured 
 and described in " British Fossil Mammals," l and I would refer 
 the scientific inquirer to that work for a full exposition of 
 its character and specific affinities : a brief notice will here 
 suffice. " The concave forehead with its slight median longi- 
 tudinal ridge, the origin of the horns at the extremities of 
 the sharp crest which divides the frontal from the occipital 
 regions, the acute angle at which these two surfaces of the 
 cranium meet to form the above ridge, all identify this 
 specimen with the Bos primigenius described by Cuvier, 
 Bojanus, and Fremery." 2 
 
 This skull is one yard long, and the span of the horns 
 three feet six inches. The breadth of the forehead between 
 the horns is lO? inches. 
 
 The remains of this gigantic Ox are not uncommon in the 
 alluvial deposits of Scotland; as my friend Dr. Fleming, the 
 distinguished Professor of Zoology in the New College of Edin- 
 burgh, pointed out 25 years ago. 3 In England similar remains 
 have been found in many localities ; but this species appears 
 to have been more abundant in Scotland down to a compara- 
 tively recent period ; and therefore it may be concluded that 
 the os primigenius maintained its ground longest in Scot- 
 laud, before its final extinction.* 
 
 The remains of this species have been found in British 
 tumuli, and also among the rejectamenta of Roman encamp- 
 ments. This large species of Ox, and its contemporary the 
 Auroch, above described, doubtless inhabited these Islands, 
 and the Continent of Europe, when the aboriginal human 
 tribes first took possession of the land ; and both have gra- 
 dually become extinct. 
 
 Cuvier, and other eminent naturalists, regard this species as 
 the origin of our domestic cattle ; but Professor Owen is of 
 opinion that the evidence is in favour of our herds being the 
 
 1 " Brit. Foss. Mammals," p. 498. 
 
 2 Ibid. p. 501. 
 
 3 " British Animals," Edinburgh, 1828, p. 24. 
 
 * An almost entire skeleton of the Bos primigenius was obtained 
 from the alluvial deposit overlying the London clay at Herne Bay, and 
 is now in the collection of Mr. Wickham Flower. The length of each 
 horn-core in this specimen is 3 feet 3 inches along the outer curve : and 
 the circumference at the base 18| inches. See "Brit. Assoc. Rep." 
 1843, p. 233. 
 
392 
 
 PETKIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. IV. 
 
 descendants of a smaller primitive wild species of Bos, charac- 
 terized by its long frontlet and short horns ; of which there 
 are part of a skull and horn-cores, and some detached bones 
 in the Museum. 
 
 Bos LONGIFEONS (Owen). Wall-case F. The horns and 
 skull of this species of Ox appear to have been first described 
 from specimens found in the bogs of Ireland. 1 Similar 
 
 remains have been obtained from 
 the alluvial deposits of the val- 
 ley of the Thames. In 1822, 
 I received from G. B. Green- 
 ough, Esq. a horn of this species 
 from Walton, in Essex, together 
 with fragments of the antlers of 
 the Irish-Elk, and horns of the 
 great Auroeh, which were found 
 with it. 
 
 nm Ipnorfh from thp <annrn 
 
 occipital ridge to the nasal bones 
 is 8 inches ; the breadth of the 
 forehead 6J inches ; span of the horn-cores from tip to tip 
 1 foot ; length of the horn-core 4 inches. 3 
 
 But independently of this disparity in size, the Bos longi- 
 frons differs from the great Bos primigenius, by the smallness, 
 shortness, and different form of the horns. 
 
 That the Bos longifrons was abundant in England during 
 the Roman period, is proved by the occurrence of skulls and 
 horns, and other parts of the skeleton, in several localities 
 associated with remains of Roman art ; as at Colchester, in 
 1849. 4 
 
 I will conclude this notice with the following remarks of 
 the Hunterian Professor on the question as to the species of 
 Bos, from which the domestic breed has probably originated. 
 
 " In this field of conjecture, the most probable one will be 
 
 LIGN. 79. SKULL AND HORN-CORES OF 
 Bos LONGIFRONS. Front view. 3 
 
 (Oj nat tize j 
 
 1 Oper. cit. p. 511. 
 
 2 From Professor Owen's figure of a specimen from Ireland. " Brit. 
 Foss. Mamm." p. 508. 
 
 3 I have a specimen of a horn-core attached to a portion of the frontlet, 
 which is 5J inches long. It was dredged up off the Essex coast with 
 teeth of Elephants, and presented to me by Lord Londesborough. 
 
 4 See " Archaeological Journal." 
 
ROOM IV. BOS LONGIFRONS. 393 
 
 admitted to be that which points to the Bos longifrons as the 
 species that would be domesticated by the aborigines of 
 Britain before the Roman invasion. Had the Bos primigeiiius 
 been the source, we might have expected the Highland and 
 Welsh cattle to have retained some of the characteristics of 
 their great progenitor, and to have been distinguished from 
 other breeds by their superior size, and the length of their 
 horns. The kyloes and the runts are, on the contrary, 
 remarkable for their small size, and are characterised either 
 by short horns, as in the Bos longifrons, or by the entire 
 absence of these weapons." 1 
 
 From what has been advanced, we may conclude that three 
 well characterised types of Bovidse existed in great numbers 
 contemporaneously with the extinct species of Elephants, and 
 other pachyderms, and were not extirpated till within a com- 
 paratively recent period; their remains occur in the most 
 ancient post-pliocene deposits, and in the peat-bogs, and debris 
 of existing marshes and rivers : they form therefore a link 
 between the present and the past, uniting the extinct mam- 
 malian faunas with those of modern times. 
 
 1 "Brit. Fossil Mammals," p. ,514. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PART IV. 
 FOSSIL CABNIVQBA OF THE CAVEBNS. 
 
 FOSSIL CARNIVORA OF THE CAVES CAVE OF GAILENREUTH FOSSIL BEARS 
 OF THE CAVERNS URSUS SFEL^US URSUS PRISCUS MACHAIRODUS MA- 
 CHAIRODUS LATIDENS, FROM KENT'S CAVERN. 
 
 FOSSIL CARNIVORA OF THE CAVERNS. The fossil bones and 
 teeth of numerous species of Carnivora, as the Lion, Tiger, 
 Bear, Cat, Dog, &c. abound in fissures and caverns, in breccias 
 and conglomerates, and in drifted sand and gravel. The 
 remains of the large Pachyderms and Ruminants are for the 
 most part found buried in the superficial alluvial deposits; 
 but those of the carnivora, although occasionally entombed 
 with the herbivora in Drift, are generally imbedded in the 
 floors of extensive fissures or caverns in stratified rocks. In 
 some instances, such immense quantities of bones and teeth 
 of individuals of all ages, and belonging to but one or two 
 species occur, as to render it probable that these caves were 
 for a long period the dens of the extinct species of Bears, 
 Wolves, Hyenas, Tigers, &c. whose bones they enclose. 
 
 Another remarkable geological condition in which fossil 
 carnivora occur, is that of an ossiferous, or bone-breccia ; that 
 is, a conglomerate formed of fragments of limestone and 
 bones, cemented together into a hard rock, by a reddish 
 calcareous concretion. This breccia is found in almost all the 
 islands on the shores of the basin of the Mediterranean Sea ; 
 as for example, at Gibraltar, Cette, Nice, Cerigo, Corsica, 
 Palermo, &c. 
 
ROOM IV. OSSIFEROUS CAVES OP ENGLAND. 395 
 
 The most celebrated ossiferous caverns are situated in 
 Franconia, and in numerous parts of the Hartz. That of 
 Gailenreuth has long been known and frequented for its fossil 
 treasures, which principally consist of the bones and teeth 
 of extinct species of bears ; skeletons have been found of 
 animals of all ages, from the adult to the cub but a few days 
 old. 1 There are numerous caverns in the neighbouring 
 district, some of which are equally rich in the remains of 
 camivora ; 2 fossils of a like nature are also found in the consoli- 
 dated gravel and drift of various parts of Germany, and in the 
 fissures of rocks containing iron-ore, at Kropp, in Carniola. 
 
 In Australia, caverns with ossiferous breccia are numerous ; 
 but the bones belong to extinct marsupial animals of genera 
 still existing in the country : while in the New Zealand caves, 
 the bones hitherto obtained are those of the Moa and other 
 extinct colossal brevipennate birds, (ante, p. 104.) 
 
 OSSIFEROUS CAVES OF ENGLAND. In England, several 
 caverns presenting similar phenomena have been discovered. 
 That of Kirkdale, near Kirby Moorside, Yorkshire, is well 
 known from the celebrity it acquired by the description and 
 illustration of its contents by Dr. Buckland.a This cave, or 
 rather fissure, for its dimensions were too limited to merit the 
 name of cavern, was situated in oolitic limestone ; it was two 
 hundred and fifty feet long, from two to fourteen high, and 
 six or seven wide. The floor was occupied by a bed of indu- 
 rated mud, covered over with a thick crust of stalagmite; 
 the roof and sides being invested with a sparry coating, as 
 is commonly the case in the fissures of limestone rocks. 4 
 From this cave were obtained numerous bones of hyenas, 
 associated with bones, more or less fractured, of a species of 
 
 1 See " Wonders of Geology," 6th edit. p. 176. 
 
 2 A highly interesting account of the Ossiferous Caves of the Hartz 
 and Franconia, by Sir Philip Grey Egerton, Bart., is published in 
 " Geol. Proc." vol. ii. p. 94, for 1834. 
 
 3 Dr. Buckland's celebrated work "Reliquiae Diluvianae," contains an 
 admirable description of these caverns and their contents, with numerous 
 plates. The student, in consulting this volume, must separate the facts, 
 from the diluvial theory, which, at the period of its publication (1823), 
 they were supposed by Dr. Buckland, and other eminent geologists, to 
 confirm. See " Wonders of Geology," 6th edit. p. 179. 
 
 4 For a general description of the cave at Kirkdale, see " Wonders of 
 Geology," p. 180 ; and for details, " Keliq. Diluv." 
 
396 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. IV. 
 
 tiger, bear, wolf, fox, weasel, elephant, rhinoceros, hippopo- 
 tamus, horse, deer, ox, hare, or rabbit, mouse, water-rat, and 
 fragments of skeletons of ravens, pigeons, larks, and ducks. 
 Many of the bones exhibited marks of having been gnawed 
 and crushed by the teeth of some animals. From all the facts 
 observed, and which are detailed by Dr. Buckland with his 
 wonted graphic power, it is inferred that the cave was inhabited 
 for a considerable period by Hyenas ; that many of the 
 remains found there were of species carried in and devoured 
 by those animals, and that in some instances the hyenas 
 preyed upon each other. The portions of bone referable to 
 the elephant are supposed to prove that occasionally the large 
 mammalia were also obtained for food ; but it is probable that 
 the smaller animals were either drifted in by currents of 
 water, or fell into the chasm through fissures now closed up 
 by stalactitical incrustations. 
 
 Kent's Cave near Torquay, Oreston Cave near Plymouth, 
 and several other caves in Devonshire, have yielded great 
 numbers of bones and teeth of Carnivora, and of Pachydermata. 1 
 Kent's Cavern, or Hole, has proved the most productive ossi- 
 ferous cavern in England ; its vicinity to Torquay rendering it 
 easy of access, it has been thoroughly explored. An extensive 
 collection of fossil bones was obtained from this cavern by the 
 late Rev. J. MacEnery ; comprising, in addition to the usual 
 extinct Carnivora, skulls and teeth of a species of Badger 
 (Meles taxus), Otter (Lutra vulgaris), Pole-cat (Putorius vul- 
 garis), Stoat or Ermine (P. erminius). The choicest speci- 
 mens in that collection were obtained for the British Museum, 
 and are deposited in Room VI. 
 
 In the western district of the Mendip Hills, in Somerset- 
 shire, there are several ossiferous fissures and caves. The 
 most interesting are those of Button, on the northern es- 
 carpment of Bleadon Hill ; and of Banwell, lying about a 
 mile to the east of Hutton. They contain remains of the 
 two species of cavern bears, one ( Ursus spelceus) of immense 
 size and strength; and of a species of Tiger, Hyena, Wolf, 
 Fox, Deer, Ox, and Elephant. 2 
 
 From the caves at Hutton, the Rev. D. Williams obtained 
 the milk-teeth and other remains of a calf-elephant, about 
 
 1 "Reliquiae Diluv." p. 67. 2 See " Wonders of Geology," p. 181. 
 
ROOM IV. CAVE OP GAILENKEUTH . 397 
 
 two years old, and those of a young tiger, just shedding its 
 milk-teeth; also the grinders of a young horse, that were 
 casting their coronary surfaces, and remains of two species of 
 hyena. 
 
 In the modern silt of our alluvial districts, the remains of 
 carnivorous animals, formerly indigenous in this island, are 
 occasionally met with ; and the skeleton of the Brown Bear 
 (a species which inhabited Scotland eight centuries ago), and 
 of the Wolf, whose extinction is of a yet later date, have been 
 discovered. The Woodwardian Museum at Cambridge con- 
 tains an entire skull of the Brown Bear ( Ursus arctos), found 
 in the Manea Fen of Cambridgeshire ; and in an ancient 
 fresh-water deposit, near Bacton, in Norfolk, the right lower 
 jaw of the Ursus spelaeus has been discovered. 
 
 Thus the remains of fossil Carnivora discovered in England 
 comprise several kinds of Bear, including the two species of 
 the caverns of Germany (U. priscus and U. spelceus); and of 
 Tiger, Hyena, Wol Fox, <fec. 
 
 CAVE OF GAILENKEDTH. For many centuries certain caves 
 in Germany have been celebrated for their osseous remains, 
 particularly those in Franconia. The most remarkable of 
 these caverns is that of Gailenreuth, which lies to the north- 
 west of the village of that name, on the left bank of the river 
 Wiesent, on the confines of Bayreuth. 1 The entrance to this 
 cave is in the face of a perpendicular rock, and leads to a 
 series of chambers from fifteen to twenty feet high, and 
 several hundred feet in extent, terminating in a deep chasm. 
 The cave is quite dark; and the icicles and pillars of stalac- 
 - tite, reflected by the light of the torches, which it is necessary 
 to use, present a highly picturesque effect The floor is 
 literally paved with bones and fossil teeth, and the pillars and 
 corbels of stalactite also contain similar remains. The bones 
 are generally scattered and broken, but not rolled ; they are 
 lighter and less solid than recent bones, and are often en- 
 crusted with stalactites. Three-fourths of the bones belong 
 to two species of Bear (Ursus), the remainder to Hyenas, 
 Tigers, Wolves, Foxes, Gluttons, Weasels, and other small 
 
 1 See " Medals of Creation," vol. ii. p. 869, for an interesting account 
 of the present state of these caverns, by my friend, Major Willoughby 
 Montague. 
 
398 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. IV. 
 
 carnivora. The Hyena was allied to the spotted species of the 
 Cape, but differed in the form of the teeth and skull. 
 
 Bones of the Elephant and Rhinoceros are said to have 
 been discovered, together with those of existing animals, and 
 fragments of sepulchral urns of high antiquity.' 
 
 Since the publication of the " Ossemens Fossiles" fossil 
 remains of carnivora have been found in numerous localities 
 of the Continent, and in our own island, and their anatomical 
 characters and affinities examined and determined. In the 
 " History of British Fossil Mammals," those of England are 
 illustrated and described. 
 
 FOSSIL BEARS OF THE CAVERNS. Wall-case G. The col- 
 lection contains a fine suite of crania, and jaws with teeth, and 
 numerous detached teeth, and bones of other parts of the 
 skeleton, of the two well-known species of cave-bears ( Ursus 
 spelceus, and Ursus prisons) ; and teeth and bones of hyenas, 
 tigers, and other carnivora. As the bones are not arranged 
 and labelled so as to admit of being identified without close 
 inspection, our remarks must necessarily be limited to a few 
 obvious specimens. 
 
 URSUS SPELCEUS, AND U. pRiscus. Wall-case G : Lower 
 compartment. The bones are principally referable to two 
 extinct species of the genus Ursus; the largest has the skull 
 more prominent in front than in any living species, and was 
 named by M. Cuvier Ursus spelceus, or Cave-Bear ; the other, 
 which is of less size, and with a flattened forehead, is distin- 
 guished as Ursus priscus. A very extraordinary type of 
 carnivora, which was named by Cuvier Ursus cultridens, 
 from its enormous sabre -like canine teeth, is now placed in 
 a distinct genus Machairodus. 
 
 Ursus spelceus. As the specific differences between the 
 species of fossil cave- bears, of which there are some fine 
 crania in the collection, chiefly relate to minute anatomical 
 characters, which cannot be rendered intelligible without 
 figures, it must suffice to mention in general terms, that the 
 skull of the great Bear of the Caverns (Ursus spelceus) is 
 much larger than that of any other species ; the forehead is 
 
 1 Dr. Buckland's " Keliquiae Diluvianse," previously referred to, con- 
 tains a full account of the most remarkable ossiferous caverns and their 
 contents. 
 
ROOM IV. URSUS SPEL^EUS AND U. PRISCUS. 399 
 
 more elevated, and forms a convex protuberance, and the pro- 
 file of the head in front descends more suddenly to the nasal- 
 bones than in other species ; and some of the molar teeth are 
 relatively larger and more complicated. 
 
 Some of the crania and bones from Gailenreuth indicate, 
 according to Cuvier, a bear equal in magnitude to a large 
 horse ; the canine teeth are five inches long. 
 
 Ursus prisons. There is a nearly perfect skull of an aged 
 individual of this species from Gailenreuth in the Museum. 
 The contour of the skull is less elevated than in the Brown 
 Bear, and the forehead flattened, and the profile from the 
 forehead to the nose has no depression. 
 
 The lower jaw resembles that of the recent Brown Bear 
 ( Ursus arctos), and is distinguished from that of Ursus spelceus 
 by a small persistent premolar tooth in front of the antepen- 
 ultimate molar, while the much greater relative space be- 
 tween the last-named tooth and the canine, separates the 
 Ursus priscus from the existing Brown Bear. 1 The eminent 
 zoologist, Mr. Waterhouse, under whose care this department 
 of the Museum is placed, will, I doubt not, so soon as his mul- 
 tifarious duties permit, arrange and label this fine collection, 
 so as to be intelligible and instructive to the casual visitors. 
 
 MACHAIRODUS ( Ursus cultridens of Cuvier). Wall-case G : 
 Uppermost Shelf. The upper canines of the animals of this 
 genus, so closely resemble in their sabre-like form and ser- 
 rated edges the teeth of the Megalosaurus (ante, p. 329), that 
 when, in 1825, I received a cast of one from Baron Cuvier, 
 I could scarcely persuade myself it did not belong to a species 
 of that colossal reptile. 
 
 The teeth were first discovered in the Val d'Arno, associated 
 with bones of bears, and M. Cuvier described them under the 
 provisional name of Ursus cultridens. Specimens of large 
 falciform canines, collected by the late Rev. J. MacEnery, in 
 Kent's Cavern, were recognised by Dr. Buckland as belonging 
 to the same genus of carnivora ; and subsequently, a skull 
 with teeth, but specifically distinct, was discovered in Au- 
 vergne, by M. Bravard ; and other specimens were found 
 by M. Kaup, at Epplesheim, near Darmstadt. M. Bravard 
 described his specimen under the name of Felis megantereon : 
 
 1 See Professor Owen's " Hist. Brit. Fos. Mam." p. 82. 
 
400 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. IV. 
 
 M. Kaup proposed that of Machairodus for this new sub- 
 genus of Felidse; a term which is now adopted by palaeon- 
 tologists. 
 
 A good model of the skull, with the jaws and teeth, is 
 placed on the uppermost shelf of this cabinet. This cranium 
 resembles that of the Panther, but the two enormous upper 
 canines impart a most peculiar character to its physiognomy. 
 The lower jaw has the symphysial portion of unusual depth, 
 and there is a depression on each side to receive the upper 
 canines when the mouth is closed. These teeth are of a 
 falciform shape, thin and broad, with their edges finely ser- 
 rated ; they are relatively thinner, natter, and wider, than 
 the teeth of the Megalosaurus : the fang is contracted and 
 solid. 
 
 MACHAIRODUS LATIDENS. Room VI. The teeth obtained 
 from Kent's Cavern are placed, with other remains from the 
 same ossiferous deposit, in Room VI. They are stated by Pro- 
 fessor Owen to be specifically distinct from the M. cultridens 
 of the Val d'Arno, and the M. megantereon of Auvergne. 
 They are 6 inches long, and one inch two lines wide across the 
 base of the crown ; their greater width has suggested the 
 name of M. latidens; they are figured and described in " Hist. 
 Brit. Foss. Mammalia," p. 180. The animal to which they 
 belonged is supposed to have been as large as the Tiger, and 
 " to judge by its instruments of destruction, of even greater 
 ferocity." 
 
 Two species of this remarkable genus have been collected 
 by Major Cautley and Dr. Falconer, from the tertiary deposits 
 of the Sewalik Hills. 
 
 I must not dwell longer on the specimens in this Case, 
 except to notice the smallest, but most interesting, of the 
 fossil remains it contains, namely, the lower jaw of a Marsu- 
 pial Mammalian from the Oolite of Stonesfield. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PART V. 
 FOSSIL MAMMALIA OP STONESFIELD. 
 
 THE STOXESFIELD OOLITE FOSSIL MAMMALIA OF STONESFIELD PHASCOLO- 
 THERIUM AMPHITHERIUM STRUCTURE AND AFFINITIES OF THE FOSSIL 
 MAMMALIA OF STONESFIELD GEOLOGICAL INFERENCES. 
 
 THE STONESFIELD OOLITE. On the middle shelf of Wall- 
 case 6r, containing the fossil remains of the Bears of the 
 Caverns, described in the preceding pages, the visitor will 
 observe, in a mahogany tray, the lower jaw of a very small 
 quadruped, attached to a piece of limestone from Stonesfield, 
 which was presented to the Museum some years since by 
 the eminent naturalist, W. J. Broderip, Esq. F.R.S. 
 
 This little fossil is one of the most interesting in the 
 whole Gallery, for it was the earliest proof obtained of the 
 presence of warm-blooded animals during that period of the 
 earth's physical history, the " Age of Reptiles," of which we 
 have treated so fully in a former part of this volume ; and, 
 consequently, carries back the existence of the highest class 
 of vertebrata, to a period of unfathomable antiquity. The 
 circumstances under which this fossil was discovered, and 
 on which its interest so much depends, require therefore par- 
 ticular notice, for Stonesfield is the only locality in which 
 mammalian remains have been observed in deposits more 
 ancient than the eocene. 
 
 Stonesfield, a small village near Woodstock, about twelve 
 miles north-west of Oxford, has long been celebrated for the 
 
 DD 
 
402 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. IV. 
 
 fossils imbedded in its slaty limestones, as we had occasion to 
 observe when describing the remains of the Megalosaurus, in 
 the previous chapter. In crossing the country from Oxford 
 to Stonesfield, the Oxford clay, so rich in Ammonites, Belem- 
 nites, &c. is first observed ; this deposit is succeeded by the 
 Cornbrash, 1 the uppermost stratum of the Great Oolite group, 
 which is seen beneath the clay in several quarries on the 
 road-side between Woodstock and Blenheim. 
 
 The village of Stonesfield is situated on the brow of a valley, 
 both sides of which are deeply excavated by the shafts and 
 galleries that have been constructed for the extraction of the 
 laminated oolitic limestone, or slate, as it is locally termed. 
 The beds that supply the stone are at a depth of about fifty 
 feet below the summit, and are worked by shafts. The upper 
 twenty-five feet consist of clays alternating with calcareous 
 stone ; the lower, of fine-grained oolitic limestone abounding 
 in casts of marine shells, among which a small species of 
 trigonia is conspicuous. The strata that are worked do not 
 exceed six feet in thickness, and consist of rubbly stone, with 
 sand imbedding concretional masses of laminated grit, which, 
 by exposure to the frost, admits of easy separation into thin 
 flakes or slabs, that were formerly in general use for paving 
 and roofing ; like the slaty limestones of the Weald of 
 Sussex. 2 
 
 The abundance of the remains of terrestrial plants, of rep- 
 tiles, and of land insects, in the Stonesfield strata, associated 
 with the usual marine shells, &c. of the Oolite, proves the 
 fluvio-marine origin of these deposits : in other words, this 
 assemblage of terrestrial and deep-sea exuviae indicates that 
 these strata were formed in the bed of an ocean, into which 
 the remains of the animals and plants of the neighbouring 
 lands were transported by currents ; while the fresh-water 
 shelly limestones of the Wealden, together with the absence 
 of marine species, equally demonstrate the fluviatile origin 
 of that formation. Referring the reader to the " Wonders of 
 Geology " 3 for a full consideration of the interesting questions 
 
 1 See Table of Formations, ante, p. 5. 
 
 2 See " Wonders of Geology," p. 508, for an abstract of Dr. Fitton's 
 account of the Stonesfield slate. 
 
 3 Sixth Edit. Section V. pp. 507512. 
 
ROOM IV. FOSSIL MARSUPIAL OF STONESFIELD. 403 
 
 connected with this subject, we proceed to the examination 
 of the specimen before us. 
 
 FOSSIL MARSUPIAL ANIMAL OF STONESFIELD. (Phascolo- 
 therium. 1 ) Wall-case G. The following is Mr. Broderip's 
 account of the discovery of this fossil : " Some years have 
 elapsed since an ancient stone-mason, living at Heddington, 
 who used to collect for me, made his appearance at my rooms 
 at Oxford, with two specimens of the lower jaws of mam- 
 miferous animals, imbedded in Stonesfield slate, fresh from 
 the quarry. One of the jaws was purchased by my friend 
 Professor Buckland, who exclaimed against my retaining 
 both, and the other I lent him some time ago." 2 It is now 
 in the British Museum. 
 
 The discovery of the remains of undoubted mammalia in 
 the lower oolite of Stonesfield, was first made known by Dr. 
 Buckland in his Memoir on the Megalosaurus, in 1823, in 
 the following words : " The other animals that are found at 
 Stonesfield are not less extraordinary. Among the most 
 remarkable are two portions of the jaw of the Didelphys, or 
 Opossum, being of the size of a small Kangaroo Eat, and be- 
 longing to a family which now chiefly exists in America, 
 South Asia, and New Holland. I refer the fossil in question 
 to this family on the authority of M. Cuvier, who has exa- 
 mined it ; and without the highest sanction I should have 
 hesitated to announce such a fact, as it forms a case hitherto 
 unique in the annals of Geology, viz. that of the remains of a 
 land quadruped being found in a formation subjacent to the 
 chalk." 3 
 
 In the course of the quarter of a century that has since 
 elapsed, six specimens of one side of the lower jaw, belonging 
 to three species of mammalia, have been obtained from Stones- 
 field ; and what is most remarkable, no other recognisable 
 parts of the 'skeleton have been discovered. 
 
 STRUCTURE AND AFFINITIES OF THE FOSSIL MAMMALIA. 
 
 1 Phascolotherium ; signifying A ncient phascolomys, or pouch-animal ; 
 indicative of its affinity to the Wombat of New South Wales. 
 
 2 " Observations on the Jaw of a fossil Mammiferous Animal found 
 in the Stonesfield Slate." By J. W. Broderip, Esq. See "Zoological 
 Journal," 1828, p. 1. 
 
 2 "Geol. Trans." New Series, vol. i. p. 398. 
 
404 PETKIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. IV. 
 
 These mammalian jaws belong to very small animals, and are 
 referable to two genera. One of these, the Ampfiitherium, 
 appears to have been an insectivorous mammal j it had thirty- 
 two teeth (twelve molars, one canine, three incisors) in the 
 lower jaw ; its marsupial affinities are doubtful. 1 
 
 The other genus, Phascolotherium, presents in its dental 
 and maxillary organs the true characters of the Marsupialia. 
 Baron Cuvier pointed out the extent and position of the 
 inward inflection of the angular process of the lower jaw 
 observable in the fossil, as indicating its marsupial affinities ; 
 for in the placental mammalia the same degree of incurvation 
 is not present. This fossil mammalian has four true molar 
 teeth, three false molars, one canine, and four incisors (three 
 only remain in the specimen), in each ramus of the lower 
 jaw; thus agreeing with the living species of Didelphys. 
 
 LIGN. 80. RIGHT SIDE OF THE LOWER JAW OF A MARSUPIAL MAMMALIAN; 
 FROM STONESFIELD. 
 
 (Phascolotherium Bucklandi.) 
 (Inner aspect; nat. size.) 
 
 The condyle of this jaw presents the same form and degree of 
 convexity as in the genera Didelphys and Dasyurus; the 
 general shape and proportions of the coracoid process resemble 
 those in the zoophagous marsupials ; but in the depth and 
 form of the entering notch between this process and the con- 
 dyle, it corresponds most closely with the Thylacinus, a 
 solitary genus of Australia (the Hyena of the colonists), 
 
 1 " Amphitherium JBroderipii" of Professor Owen. See "British 
 Fossil Mammals," pp. 2970, for figures and an elaborate account of the 
 Stonesfield Mammalia. 
 
ROOM IV. FOSSIL MAMMALIA OF STONESFIELD. 405 
 
 whose term of existence seems fast waning to its close. 1 Pro- 
 fessor Owen concludes with the following remark : " Con- 
 necting the close resemblance which the molar teeth of the 
 Phascolotherium bear to those of the Thylacine, with the simi- 
 larities which have already been shown to exist in the several 
 characteristic features of the ascending ramus of the jaw, 
 I am of opinion that the marsupial extinct genus indicated 
 by the Stonesfield fossil, was nearly allied to Thylacinus, 
 and that its position in the marsupial series is between Thyla- 
 cinus and Didelphys." 2 
 
 GEOLOGICAL INFERENCES. From what has been stated, it 
 is evident that these mammalian remains from Stonesfield 
 prove the existence at the commencement of the Oolitic 
 period, of the two grand divisions of the class Mammalia, 
 namely, the marsupial, and the placental. Commenting on 
 this remarkable fact, Sir Charles Lyell observes, that "the 
 singular accident of our having as yet found nothing but the 
 half of the lower jaws of seven individuals, and no other bones 
 of the skeleton, is alone sufficient to demonstrate the frag- 
 mentary manner in which the memorials of our ancient 
 terrestrial fauna are handed down to us. We can scarcely 
 avoid suspecting, that the two genera above described may 
 have borne a like insignificant proportion to the entire assem- 
 blage of warm-blooded quadrupeds which nourished in the 
 islands of the oolitic sea." 3 
 
 1 "British Fossil Mammals," pp. 64, 65. 
 
 2 Ibid. p. 67. 
 
 3 "Manual of Elementary Geology," p. 270. This eminent philo- 
 sopher, in his late Address on retiring from the chair of the Geological 
 Society, again adverts to this important fact. " Yet no small diligence 
 has been used by collectors for more than a quarter of a century to 
 obtain even the smallest isolated bones from these beds. I can only 
 compare the capricious chance which has hitherto put us in exclusive 
 possession of these seven mammalian jaws, with the equally strange 
 accident recorded by Dr. Mantell in his career of discovery in the 
 AVealden. He computed that in the course of 20 years he had found 
 teeth and bones of the Iguanodon which must have belonged to no less 
 than 70 distinct individuals, varying in age and magnitude from the 
 reptile first burst from the egg, to one of which the femur measured 24 
 inches in circumference. Yet it was not until the relics of all these 
 individuals were known, that a solitary example of part of a jaw-bone 
 was obtained." Address delivered at the Anniversary Meeting of the 
 Geological Society of London, Feb. 21, 1851, by Sir Charles Lyell, FM.S. 
 p. 49. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PART VI. 
 FOSSIL SHELLS AND COEALS. 
 
 TERTIARY AND OOLITIC GASTEROPODOTJS SHELLS UNIVALVES PROM MINCHIN- 
 
 HAMPTON SHELLS IN SEPTARIUM SHELLS PROM GRIGNON, HORDWELL, 
 
 AND THE CRAG CORALS AND OTHER ZOOPHYTES NUMMULITES OP EGYPT, 
 
 FOSSIL SHELLS. Table-cases 15 and 18. The fossil shells 
 deposited in these Table-cases are arranged zoologically ; that 
 is, as gasteropodous mollusca, without reference to their 
 geological relations : thus the remains of extinct species and 
 genera of molluscous animals that inhabited the seas of the 
 oolitic period, and were contemporaries of the marine reptiles, 
 the Ichthyosauri and Plesiosauri, which engaged our attention 
 in the earlier pages of this chapter, are placed with the uni- 
 valves that sported in the seas of the comparatively recent 
 periods of the London Eocene, and the Crag. 
 
 The shells in Case 15, are chiefly from tertiary deposits; 
 there is a fine suite from Hordwell, 1 and from Grignon. The 
 fossils from the Great Oolite of Minchinhampton are particu- 
 larly deserving attention, not only on account of the recently 
 discovered species from that formation, but also for their 
 remarkably perfect state ; for they have been extracted from 
 the rock with great skill. 
 
 SEPTARIUM WITH SHELLS. Table-case 15. In this Case 
 there is a group of shells which affords an instructive illus- 
 tration of the different aspects in which the same species may 
 occur in a fossil state. The specimens to which I allude are 
 
 11 See my "Geology of the Isle of Wight/' p. 171. 
 
OOM IV. 
 
 BRACKLESHAM SEPTAKIUM. 
 
 407 
 
 on the right hand of the observer, and may readily be iden- 
 tified by the annexed Lign. 81. 
 
 The fossil, Lign. 81, fig. 2, is a polished slice of indu- 
 rated argillaceous limestone, from the tertiary strata at 
 
 LIGX. 81. SEPTARIUM WITH TURRITELLX; FROM BRACKLESHAM, SUSSEX. 
 
 Fig. 1. TURRITELLA IMBRICATA; the perfect shell. 
 
 2. A polished slab of the Septarium. 
 3. A cast of one of the shells, in calcareous spar. 
 (not. tize.) 
 
 Bracklesham Bay, Sussex, and is part of a septarium abound- 
 ing in spiral univalves (Turritellce). Fig. 1 represents a 
 sheD, extracted from soft clay; and fig. 3, a cast in calca- 
 reous spar, from the septarium. In the polished slab, fig. 2, 
 sections of numerous shells are seen. The dark partitions, 
 or septa, are veins of spar, which occupy interstices that 
 
408 PETBIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. IV. 
 
 were formed in the clay-nodule by shrinking; and if the 
 specimen be closely examined, the shells will be found split 
 across and displaced by the fissures; thus presenting an inte- 
 resting illustration of the faults, or dislocations of the strata, 
 so familiar to the geological observer. 
 
 FOSSIL SHELLS. Table-case 18. These are chiefly from 
 tertiary deposits; many are from the eocene strata of the 
 Paris basin, at Grignon ; these are recognisable by their white- 
 ness ; those from Hordwell by their dull leaden colour ; while 
 the shells from the Crag are more or less tinted with ochre. 
 The specimens in both Cases are labelled, and named with 
 great accuracy, by the eminent conchologist, Mr. S. P. Wood- 
 ward, who has greatly increased the value and interest of this 
 department of the Gallery of Organic Remains. 
 
 CORALS AND OTHER ZOOPHYTES. Table-case 17. Until these 
 fossils are marked and arranged, it is in vain to attempt a satis- 
 factory description. I can merely mention that there are 
 some fine specimens of corals from the Silurian rocks, and 
 others from the Coral-rag of the Oolite formation. 
 
 FoRAMiNiFERA. 1 Of this interesting family of invertebrata, 
 whose organization and zoological relations have but very 
 recently been understood, there are specimens of some of the 
 larger forms in the Case before us; viz. of Nummulites and 
 Orbitolites. 2 Among the former, the visitor may observe 
 a block of white limestone, composed of an aggregation of a 
 species of Nummulites, of which there are detached specimens 
 affixed to cards, and labelled ; it is a fragment of the Great 
 Pyramid of Egypt, that stupendous fabric being in a great 
 measure built of nummulitic limestone. 3 
 
 1 I would refer the reader for an account of the nature of the Forami- 
 nifera, to my " PICTORIAL ATLAS OP ORGAKIC REMAINS," p. 142, and p. 186 
 and Plates LXI. and LXII. 
 
 2 The structure of these bodies has lately been ably elucidated by our 
 eminent physiologist, Dr. W. B. Carpenter; "On the microscopic Struc- 
 ture of Nummulites, Orbitolites, and Orbitoides." Geol. Journal for 
 1850. 
 
 3 This specimen was formerly in my collection. See " Wonders of 
 Geology/' vol. i. p. 248. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 PART I. 
 
 PLAN OP BOOM V. SFNOPSIS OP CONTENTS FOSSIL GANOID FISHES SAUROID 
 FISHES CTENOID FISHES CYCLOID FISHES PLACOID FISHES MALLOTUS 
 
 VILLOSUS OP GREENLAND FOSSIL RHINOCEROS SIVATHERIUM LEPIDOTUS 
 
 ASTEROLEPIS ANTLERS OP THE IRISH ELK FOSSIL PLACOID FISHES 
 
 ICHTHYODORULITES TEETH OP SHARKS AND CESTRAdONS BELEMNO- 
 
 TEUTHIS BELEMNITES SEPIAD3! AMMONITES NAUTILI HAMITES 
 
 SCAPHITES TURRILITES ORTHOCERATITES SKELETON OF THE IRISH ELK 
 
 FAMILIES OF FOSSIL FISHES IN THE MUSEUM. 
 
 THIS Room is chiefly devoted to the collection of Ichthyolites, 
 or Fossil Fishes, which is very extensive, and admirably 
 arranged and classified. 
 
 The specimens from the Devonian, Carboniferous, Oolitic, 
 and Cretaceous formations, include a considerable number of 
 species and genera; and among them are some splendid 
 examples of Lepidoid and Ganoid fishes. 
 
 There are also many fine and rare Ichthyolites from the 
 tertiary limestone ,of Monte Bolca, and from the slate of 
 Glaris, and the keuper-schist of Mansfeld. 
 
 In the Table-cases on the left side of this apartment, are 
 placed the fossil remains of the Placoid order, among which 
 there are many choice specimens of the teeth and dorsal rays 
 of Cestradons and Chimceroids. 
 
 The Wall-case F, contains crania, teeth, and bones, of the 
 two extinct species of Rhinoceros, whose remains are commonly 
 associated with those of the Elephant, Hippopotamus, &c. in 
 the diluvial deposits of England and the Continent. 
 
 A part of the splendid collection of mammalian remains 
 from the tertiary strata of the Sewalik Hills, is deposited in 
 Wall-case E. The cranium, jaws, and teeth, of the Sivatherium 
 giganteum, and of an extinct species of Camel, Giraffe, &c. are 
 in this Cabinet. 
 
 A perfect skeleton of the gigantic IRISH ELK is a conspi- 
 cuous object in the centre of this room ; and there are antlers 
 of the same noble animal on the Cases ; one pair, originally 
 in my collection, was purchased by me at the sale of the late 
 Mr. Joshua Brooke, the eminent anatomist. 
 
410 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. V. 
 
 PLAN OF ROOM V. 
 
 /4 
 
 Room IV. 
 
 \ I 
 
 15 
 
 Room VI. 
 
 To the 
 landing- 
 place 
 of the 
 Egyptian 
 Gallery. 
 
ROOM V. SYNOPSIS OF CONTEXTS. 411 
 
 A most interesting collection of fossil Cephalopoda occupies 
 the Table-cases on the north side ; it includes many rare and 
 beautiful specimens of Belemnites, Belemnoteuthis, Ammon- 
 ites, Nautili, <fcc. 
 
 It is impossible within the prescribed limits of this volume 
 to do justice to the vast and important assemblage of fossil 
 remains which this room contains, and I am compelled to 
 restrict myself to a rapid survey of the most interesting 
 objects. I subjoin for the aid of the scientific visitor a list 
 of the principal genera of Ichthyolites of which there are 
 specimens in the collection ; as my descriptions must neces- 
 sarily be of a very general nature. * The subjects will be treated 
 of under the following heads : viz. I. Synoptical view of the 
 Contents of Koom V. II. Fossil Fishes of the Ganoid Order. 
 III. Ctenoid, Cycloid, and Placoid Fishes. IV. Fossil Mam- 
 malia; Khinoceros, Irish Elk, Sivatherium, &c. V. Fossil 
 Cephalopoda. 
 
 
 ROOM V. 
 
 (56 feet long.) 
 
 SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS. 
 ORGANIC REMAINS. 
 
 THE Wall-cases from A to D, inclusive, are filled with the 
 rich and well-arranged collection of Fossil Fishes; M. Agassiz's 
 classification is adopted. 
 
 "They are divided into four orders, viz. the Placoids, Ganoids, 
 Ctenoid* and Cycloids. The first of these orders comprises 
 fishes mostly of considerable dimensions, and whose skeletons, 
 by reason of their soft cartilaginous nature, are less en- 
 during than those of the osseous fishes ; their fossil remains, 
 therefore, generally occur as detached scales, spines, teeth, 
 palates, and fins, some of which, being small objects, are 
 arranged in the Table-cases. The remaining three orders, 
 demanding ample space, are placed in the upright Wall- 
 cases. The red figures on the labels of the genera refer to the 
 larger suspended boards bearing the names of the orders and 
 families ; but the names of the species are written on labels 
 variously tinted, in accordance with the coloured tablets 
 
 1 I would refer the reader wholly unacquainted with Fossil Ichthyology, 
 to my " Medals of Creation," chap. xv. 
 
412 PETKIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. V. 
 
 within the cases, indicating the geological habitat of the 
 respective specimens." Mr. Kdnig's Synopsis. 
 
 The upright divisions of the glass-frames are numbered 
 and labelled with the names of the tribes and families, as 
 shown in p. 416. 
 
 A. [1 to 5.]. This Case is chiefly devoted to the Ganoid 
 fishes. It contains beautiful specimens of the Devonian, or 
 Old Red Sandstone genera (Cephalaspides), and of the Lepi- 
 doids of the Oolite, Wealden, &c. 
 
 B. [6 to 13] contains a rich assemblage of Lepidoids, 
 Sauroids, and Ccelacanthians. Some splendid specimens 
 of Rhizodus, Holoptychius, and Macropoma, are especially 
 worthy of attention j the former, are from the Carboniferous 
 strata of Burdie House, the latter from the Chalk near 
 Lewes ; in the division [13], there is a large collection of 
 coprolites of these fishes. Below the last-named specimens 
 there are slabs of Old Red Sandstone, from Dura Den, in 
 Fifeshire, with groups of fishes of the genus Holoptychius. 
 
 The specimen of Holoptychius nobilissimus, on the ledge 
 below the Macropoma, is a splendid fossil from the Old Red 
 Sandstone of Clashbinnie, near Perth, by the Rev. J. Noble. 
 There is, likewise, a rare specimen of the same genus from 
 Lethenbar, Scotland. 
 
 C. [15 to 22.] A beautiful collection of Ganoid, Ctenoid, 
 and Cycloid fishes : many of these are from the Chalk of 
 Sussex ; others are from the tertiary strata of Monte Bolca, 
 and among them are teeth, &c. of Pycnodus, Spherodus, and 
 Placodus, from the Oolite. Fishes of the Perch Family ; 
 Sparoids, or Breams ; Cottoids, or Bull-heads ; Goboids ; 
 Chcetodons ; Scomheroids, &c. 
 
 D. [23 to 27] contains many fine examples of various 
 species and genera of Cycloid fishes, comprising Esocids, 
 Scomberoids, Clupeoids, Cyprinoids, &c. In this Case are 
 some remarkable uncompressed fishes of the Salmon family, 
 from the chalk of Lewes, in Sussex. 
 
 In the division at the end (27), is a specimen of the only 
 known existing species of fish that has been found fossil, 
 namely, the Angmarset (Mallotus villosus), which occurs in 
 nodules of marl of recent formation, on the West Coast of 
 Greenland. 
 
 E. This Case (on the right hand of the entrance to Room 
 VI.) is filled with a very good collection of crania, teeth, and 
 
ROOM V. SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS. 413 
 
 bones, of two species of extinct rhinoceros (R. tichorimts, and 
 R. leptorhinus), from the diluvial deposits of this country. 
 There are also skulls of Rhinoceros from the frozen gravel of 
 Siberia. 
 
 F. (On the right side of the entrance from Room IV.) 
 There are several crania, and many teeth and bones of mam- 
 malia from the Sub-Himalayas, or Sewalik Hills. Among 
 them are fine examples of jaws and teeth of an extinct species 
 of Camel. But this Case contains a most interesting and 
 unique specimen, the skull of the Sivatherium giganteum. 
 There is, likewise, the cast of the skull of another species of 
 the same remarkable animal, the Sivatherium Perimense. On 
 the top of this case there are casts of the entire series of bones 
 of one of the limbs of the Sivatherium giganteum, from the 
 originals in tfie museum of the East India Company. 
 
 On the top of the Wall-cases. 
 
 A. On the angle : a fine specimen of a very large river fish 
 (Lepidotus Mantelli), from the Wealden of Sussex, presented 
 by the Rev. John Gould. 
 
 B. Casts of the bones of the head of a gigantic species of 
 Aster olepis (A. Asmusii), from the Devonian deposits of Riga; 
 presented by Sir R. I. Murchison. 
 
 E. The skull and antlers of the Irish Elk. 
 
 F. There are three fine crania of bovine animals placed 
 upright, and two or three imperfect specimens lying near 
 them. The cranium on the left is from the Sewalik Hills ; 
 the central specimen is also from India, but I could not 
 ascertain the locality ; it is said to have been presented by 
 Major Rawlinson : both are undescribed species. The skull 
 with horns of Bos primigenius, on the right, is from Scotland. 
 There are several fossil crania of Bovidse among the unar- 
 ranged bones of mammalia in Case B. of Room II. ; but in 
 the present state of the collection, it is useless to attempt to 
 particularise them. 
 
 Table-cases. As the Table-cases containing fossil fishes 
 are on the south or left side of the room, and are num- 
 bered consecutively, it will be convenient to describe them 
 in that order, beginning with Table-case, 2, of the annexed 
 plan, (ante, p. 410.) 
 
 2. [1.] ORDER!. PLACOIDS. Ichthyodorulites. The osseous 
 fin-rays, or spines, of various genera of cartilaginous fishes. 
 They comprise a great many species from the secondary and 
 
414 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. V. 
 
 palaeozoic formations. M. Agassiz has divided them into 
 genera, according to their form and sculpturing. 
 
 This Case contains some beautiful Ichthyodorulites from 
 the Chalk, Oolite, Lias, and Devonian strata, of the genera 
 Oracanthus, Ctenacanthus, Asteracanthus, Gyracanthus, Lepta- 
 canthus, Ptychacanthus, &c. 
 
 4. [2.] Teeth offfybodus, and maxillary bones of Chimceroid 
 fishes : a fine series of the latter. Some of these beautiful speci- 
 mens were collected by the late FREDERICK DIXON, ESQ. from 
 the London Clay, at Bracklesham, Sussex, namely, Eda- 
 phodon, Ischyodus, &c. which have been figured and described 
 by Sir Philip Egerton. 1 
 
 The other division of this Case is devoted to teeth of the 
 Squalidce, or Shark family; many are fromj the Sussex 
 Chalk, and belong to the genera Lamna, Otodus, Notidanus, 
 &c. There are also spines of a species of Acanthias, from the 
 Lower Chalk, &c. 
 
 6. [3.] Vertebrae, teeth, and spines of Squalidse from the 
 Chalk, &c. Teeth and other remains of Hybodus from the 
 Wealden, Oolite, and Lias. 
 
 8. [4.] Teeth of fishes allied to the Cestracions. The Cestra- 
 cion is a genus of existing fishes inhabiting the seas of New 
 Holland, and is commonly called the Port- Jackson Shark. 
 
 Teeth of species of Ptychodus (generally known as fossil 
 palates, leeches, &c.), from the Chalk ; and of Acrodus, Oro- 
 dus, Cochleodus, Psammodus, Strophodus, Ctenoptychius, &c. 
 
 10. [5.] Teeth, and maxillary bones of fishes of the Ray 
 family, chiefly from the London Clay. Many are from Brack- 
 lesham, and were collected by the late Mr. Dixon. They 
 comprise specimens of Myliobates (Mul-rays), and JEtobates, 
 (Eagle-rays), &c. 
 
 In the other compartment there are portions of the bony 
 proboscis and teeth of the Pristis or Saw-fish, which are of 
 extreme rarity in a fossil state. There are remains of two 
 extinct species ; Pristis Hastingsice and P. distortus, from 
 Bracklesham, and Hordwell, &c. 
 
 In this Case there is a slab of limestone from Solenhofen, 
 with numerous articulated rays of the dorsal fin of a large 
 fish, presented by the late Marquis of Northampton. 
 
 1 In the late Mr. Dixon's " Fossils from the Cretaceous and Tertiary 
 Formations of Sussex," 1 vol. 4to. with numerous beautiful plates. 
 1851. 
 
ROOM V. SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS. 415 
 
 12. [6.] Unarranged specimens of fossil fishes. 
 
 The Table-cases on the opposite side of the room are de- 
 voted to Fossil Cephalopoda ; as Belemnites, Belemnoteuthis, 
 Loligo, &c. ; and Ammonites, Nautili, &c. 
 
 Table-case 1. This contains a fine suite of Belemnoteuthis, 
 and other Sepiadse, and Belemnites ; chiefly from the Oxford 
 Clay of Wiltshire. Among these fossils are examples of Belem- 
 noteuthis, with the body, ink-bag, eyes, the arms, with the 
 suckers, hooks, and other parts, beautifully displayed ; and 
 and of Belemnites with the phragmocones, and their elongated 
 basal processes ; these are especially worthy of close examina- 
 tion, for they incontrovertibly prove the correctness of the 
 late Mr. Channing Pearce's opinion, that the soft parts of 
 Cephalopoda found in the Oxford Clay, belong to a genus 
 altogether distinct from the Belemnites with which they are 
 associated. 
 
 3. A series of Belemnites ; not yet arranged. 
 
 5. A miscellaneous collection of Ammonites ; many of the 
 specimens are of great beauty. 
 
 7. Ammonites. Many rare, and some unique specimens 
 from the Chalk marl, collected by the author ; as Ammonites 
 Woolgari, A.falcatus, A. navicidaris, A. catinus, A. curvatus, 
 A. cinctus. (Figured in " Geology of Sussex," PL XXI., &c.) 
 
 9. This case likewise contains Ammonites of various genera 
 and species. 
 
 11. It is intended to remove the fossil Insects and Crus- 
 taceans at present deposited in this Table-case, to Room VI. 
 and substitute Ammonites. 
 
 13. This and the next table contain fossil shells of extinct 
 genera of Cephalopodous mollusks. In the east compartment 
 of the table, are Hamiies, Scaphites, Ancyloceras, Ptychoceras, 
 Baculites, and those enigmatical fossil bodies termed Trigo- 
 nellites, or Aptychus. The other division is filled with Nautili. 
 Among these are many Rhyncholites, or fossil beaks of Cepha- 
 lopoda. 
 
 14. Turrilites, Orthoceratites, Conularia, and other allied 
 forms. The Turrilites are remarkably fine ; one of them is 
 the largest discovered in England. 1 
 
 1 See " Medals of Creation," p. 503. 
 
416 
 
 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. V. 
 
 15. Pedestal in the centre of the room. The skeleton of 
 the extinct gigantic Elk of Ireland (Cervus megaceros). This 
 specimen is seven feet high to the top of the forehead, and 
 eight feet long the distance from tip to tip of the antlers is 
 nine feet. 
 
 * # * To facilitate reference I subjoin a list of the families 
 and tribes of Fossil Fishes as they are inscribed on the Wall- 
 cases over the respective numbers. 
 
 LIST OF FAMILIES AND TRIBES OF FOSSIL FISHES IN ROOM V. 
 
 The letters refer to the Plan, ante, p. 410 : the numbers to the divisions 
 in the Cases. 
 
 
 A. 
 
 GANOID ORDER. 
 
 3. 
 
 4. 
 
 Cephalaspidians. 
 Lepidoids : homocercal 
 
 and heterocercal. 
 Lepidoids (Tetragonole- 
 
 pis, Dapedius). 
 f Acanthoidians. 
 \Lepidoids. 
 /Dipterians. 
 ' \Lepidoids. 
 
 B. 
 
 6. Lepidoids. 
 
 7. Sauroids. 
 
 8. 9, 10. Sauroids. 
 11, 12. Caelaeanths. 
 
 13. T Ccelacanths (Holopty- 
 
 14. \ chius Macropoma). 
 
 / fScleroderms. 
 
 CYCLOID ORDER. 
 
 
 I Gymnodons. 
 
 
 
 lo.-\ py cn odons. 
 
 21, 22. Scomberoids. 
 
 
 VSiluroids. 
 
 /Labroids. 
 
 
 16. Pycnodons. 
 
 JBlennoids. 
 
 C < 
 
 CTENOID ORDER. 
 17, 18. Percoids. 
 
 2g / Loplieoids. 
 \Xiphioids. 
 iSphyraenoids. 
 
 
 {Sparoids. 
 
 \Scomberoids. 
 
 
 Mugiloids. 
 Pleuronects. 
 
 
 
 x-Chsetodons. 
 
 
 
 2Q J Goboids. 
 ~\ Aulostomes. 
 \ tCottoids. 
 
 
 
 TEsocids. 
 
 ( Esocids. 
 
 
 24. < Scombero-esocids. 
 
 26. J Halecoids. 
 
 D. 
 
 . 
 
 (Cyprinoids. 
 {Cluperoids. 
 Cyprinoids. 
 Osmeroids. 
 
 27. yScopulines. 
 (^Muroenoids. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 PART II. 
 FOSSIL FISHES OF THE GANOID ORDER. 
 
 ICHTHYOLITES, OR FOSSIL FISHES AGASSIz's CLASSIFICATION FINS OP 
 
 FISHES TEETH OF FISHES TAILS OF FISHES GANOID ORDER CEPHA- 
 
 LASPIDIANS LEPIDOIDS ACANTHODIANS DIPTERIANS SAUROIDS CELA- 
 
 CANTHS SCLERODERMS PYCNODONS. 
 
 ICHTHYOLITES, OR FOSSIL FISHES. The fossil remains of 
 FISHES are of great importance in a geological point of view, 
 for they demonstrate the existence of highly organized beings 
 in the most ancient fossiliferous strata, and the continuance 
 of the same Class of vertebrata, variously modified, through 
 the entire series of subsequent deposits to the present time. 
 Each formation contains certain groups of fishes, distin- 
 guished by well-marked peculiarities of structure. Thus, 
 according to the data at present obtained, all the osseous 
 fishes that lived antecedently to the Chalk, belong to genera 
 which have no representatives in the existing ichthyic faunas, 
 and were covered by enamelled rhomboidal scales. 
 
 The state of preservation in which the fossil remains of 
 fishes occur, has resulted from the relative delicacy or dura- 
 bility of the original structures, and on the chemical nature 
 and mechanical conditions of the deposits in which they were 
 imbedded. Thus the Ichthyolites of the most ancient sedi- 
 mentary strata, the Silurian and Devonian, which are cha- 
 racterized by their dense integument and enamelled scales, 
 often present the entire forms of the originals, and generally 
 retain considerable portions of the scales connected, with the 
 fins, and other appendages; while those of later formations, 
 being chiefly species with delicate scales, more frequently 
 
 E E 
 
418 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. V. 
 
 consist of the mineralized osseous skeleton. Deposits of mud 
 or fine detritus, of whatever age, appear to have been most 
 favourable for the preservation of the dermal integuments ; 
 hence we often find in the pulverulent clays and marls of the 
 Tertiary strata, and in the Chalk of England and Westphalia, 
 and in the fine lithographic stone of Solenhofen, fishes, perfect 
 in form, and not only individuals, but groups, with the scales, 
 fins, head, teeth, and even the capsule of the eye, in their 
 original juxtaposition. In Chalk, some of the fishes occur 
 with the body uncompressed, and as entire, as if the original 
 had been surrounded by soft plaster of Paris while float- 
 ing in the water. But in coarse limestones and conglome- 
 rates in other words, in materials that have been subjected 
 to the action of the waves and torrents detached teeth, 
 scales, bones, &c. constitute the principal vestiges of this class 
 of beings. 1 
 
 The cartilaginous or osseous nature of the skeleton, and the 
 number and position of the fins, were the characters formerly 
 employed in the classification of Fishes ; but M. Agassiz, con- 
 ceiving the structure of the skin to afford a natural index to 
 the essential modifications of organization and functions, with 
 great sagacity adopted an arrangement founded upon the 
 form and structure of the scales, and divided the whole class 
 into four orders, each distinguished by essential differences in 
 the dermal (skin) system. 
 
 To the geologist this method has proved of inestimable 
 value ; for it is simple, easy of application, and, so far as our 
 present knowledge extends, may be relied upon as affording 
 accurate conclusions as to the nature and relations of the 
 originals, to which a few detached fossil scales may have 
 belonged. Another important aid has been derived from the 
 microscopical examination of the structure of the teeth ; a 
 department of palseontological investigation, which is yet but 
 partially explored. 
 
 The living species of Fishes exceed eight thousand, and 
 those found in a fossil state, and determined by M. Agassiz, 
 already amount to upwards of two thousand, while several 
 hundreds are still undescribed, and the rapid progress of 
 geological research is continually adding to the number. The 
 
 1 See " Medals of Creation," chap. xv. 
 
ROOM V. AGASSIZ'S CLASSIFICATION OF FISHES. 419 
 
 British species form a large proportion of the Ichthyolites 
 illustrated and described by M. Agassiz ; and fortunately, in 
 our eminent Ichthyologist, Sir Philip Grey Egerton, Bart. 
 we have an able and zealous cultivator of this branch of 
 Palaeontology. 1 
 
 AGASSIZ'S CLASSIFICATION OF FISHES. The four orders into 
 which the class PISCES is divided by M. Agassiz, are founded 
 on the following characters : 
 
 Order I. PLACOID (from 7rAa|, a broad plate). The skin covered irre- 
 gularly with enamelled plates, sometimes of a large size, but frequently 
 in small points, as the shagreen on the dermal integument of the Sharks, 
 and the tubercles of the Mays. Lign. 82, fig. 4, a dermal spine from the 
 skin of a Ray. 
 
 Order II. GANOID (ydvos, splendour, from the brilliant surface of the 
 enamel). The scales are of an angular form, and composed of plates of 
 horn or bone, covered with a thick layer of enamel, a structure which is 
 identical with that of their teeth. The Sturgeon is a living example of 
 this order. Lign. 82, fig. 3, is a fossil 
 scale of a fish of this division, the 
 Lepidotus. 
 
 Order I II. CTENOID (ICTUS, a comb). 
 The scales are formed of plates, 
 which are toothed or pectinated on 
 their posterior margin or edge, like a 
 comb. As the plates are superim- 
 posed on each other, so that the 
 lowermost always extend beyond the 
 uppermost, their numerous sharp 
 points or teeth render the scales very 
 harsh to the touch. The Perch be- 
 longs to this order. Lign. 82, fig. 1, 
 represents a fossil ctenoid scale. LIGN. 82. 
 
 Order IV. CYCLOID (KVK\OS, ILLUSTRATION OF THE SCALES IN THE 
 circle). The scales are composed of FOUR ORDERS OF FISHES. 
 simple laminae, or plates of bone or i. CTENOID. 2. CYCLOID. 
 horn/without enamel, and have smooth 3. GANOID. 4. PLACOID SPINE. 
 borders ; but their external surface is 
 
 often ornamented with markings. The scales of the lateral line consist 
 of funnels placed one within the other ; the contracted part of which, 
 
 1 The splendid and most important work entitled " Hecherches sur 
 les Poissons Fossiles, par Louis AGASSIZ," stands pre-eminent in this 
 department of science. It consists of five volumes, 4to. of letter-press, 
 and five volnmes folio, of coloured plates. It is the classical work in 
 this branch of natural history, and must be consulted by every one in- 
 terested in the subject. 
 
 I would refer the reader for a condensed view of Fossil Ichthyology 
 to my " Medals of Creation," vol. ii. chap. xv. 
 
4:20 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP, V. 
 
 applied against the disk of the scale, forms the tube through which the 
 mucus flows. To this order belong the Mullet, Salmon, and Carp. Lign. 
 82, fig. 2, is the scale of a fossil Cycloid fish. 
 
 FINS OF FISHES. As the progression of fishes through the 
 water is principally effected by the action of the tail, they 
 have no limbs properly so called. The instruments for 
 balancing the body, and for assisting progression, are the fins, 
 which are composed of numerous rays that support a mem- 
 branous expansion ; and the number and situation of the fins 
 present various modifications in the different orders and 
 genera. 
 
 The spinous rays of the dorsal fins of the cartilaginous 
 fishes, as the Sharks and Rays, generally occur detached 
 from the body in a fossil state ; they are abundant in some 
 of the secondary deposits, and being often the only vestiges 
 of extinct species and genera, possess great geological in- 
 terest ; they are termed Ichthyodorulites (fossil dorsal-rays 
 offish}. 
 
 TEETH OF FISHES. Of the durable parts of animals which 
 occur in the mineral kingdom, the teeth of Fishes present the 
 most numerous, varied, and striking modifications of form, 
 structure, composition, mode of arrangement, and attachment; 
 and yet these dental organs, separately considered, in many 
 instances fail to afford characters by which the natural affini- 
 ties of the original can be satisfactorily ascertained; and 
 without the aid of other parts of the skeleton, it is often im- 
 possible to determine whether an unknown form of tooth 
 belonged to an animal of the class of Fishes, or of Reptiles. 
 Although the modifications of form are almost innumerable, 
 they are referable to four principal types ; namely, the conical, 
 the flattened, the prismatic, and the cylindrical. 1 
 
 STRUCTURE OF THE TAIL. The tail, as we have previously 
 mentioned, is the chief instrument of progressive motion in 
 these animals; it assumes two principal modifications; and 
 these characters the sagacity of M. Agassiz has invested with 
 a high degree of palseontological interest. 
 
 In the greater number of the existing species, the vertebral 
 column terminates in a triangular plate of bone, to which the 
 
 1 See " Medals of Creation," pp. 597601. 
 
ROOM V. 
 
 TAILS OF FISHES. 
 
 421 
 
 caudal fin is attached symmetrically ; and its figure is either 
 rounded, or divided into two equal lobes or branches ; these 
 tails are termed homocercal, i. e. even-tail, as is shown in Lign. 
 83, fig. 2. 
 
 LIGN. 83. ILLUSTRATION OP THE STRUCTURE OP THE TAIL IN FISHES. 
 
 1. Heterocercal tail ; a, b, the vertebral column extending into the 
 
 upper lobe ; of a STURGEON. 
 
 2. Homocercal tail ; of the A.yGVA.s.sET(Mallotusvillotus) of Green- 
 
 land, a, vertebral column. 
 
 In the second modification, the vertebral column, towards 
 its extremity, diverges from a straight line, and rises up, and 
 is prolonged into the upper lobe of the tail ; the caudal fin 
 appearing like a rudder, and the lower lobe being propor- 
 tionably very feeble and small, as in the Shark and Dog-fish ; 
 (Lign. 83, fig. 1 :) this form of tail is called heterocercal, i.e. 
 unequal- tail. But few of the existing fishes have this condition 
 of the caudal fin, while it is found in all the fossils that 
 occur in the ancient secondary strata ; namely, the Magnesiau 
 limestone, and antecedent deposits. The rounded, and equally- 
 bilobed or homocercal tails, are seen in many of the beautiful 
 fishes from the Chalk (Lign. 95); and the rudder-like, or 
 heterocercal tail, is shown in many of the Ichthyolites from 
 the Carboniferous strata (Lign. 85). 
 
 GANOID ORDER. The fishes of this order are distinguished 
 by their brilliant angular scales, composed of osseous or 
 
422 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. V. 
 
 corneous plates covered with a dense coat of enamel, which 
 form a dermal integument of great strength and solidity. 
 In many of the most ancient types, the body is literally enve- 
 loped in an osseous case ; the bones of the cranium coalescing, 
 and the scales of the thoracic, dorsal, and abdominal regions, 
 blending as it were into a cuirass; hence the fishes of this 
 order, which are among the most ancient known types of ver- 
 tebrata, appearing in the Devonian or Old Red formation, afford 
 the only absolute knowledge we possess of the earliest forms and 
 structures of Ichthyic organization ; for of the Placoids, which 
 appear in a still earlier geological epoch, namely, the Silurian, 
 owing to the cartilaginous and perishable nature of their 
 skeletons, a few rays or spines, teeth, scutcheons, and shagreen 
 skins, are the only vestiges that remain in a fossil state. 
 Thus the minutely dentated fin-ray of the ffomocanthus, of 
 the Devonian formation, is the only fossil relic of that placoid; 
 while in its contemporary ganoid fish, the Osteolepis, indica- 
 tions of the structure of the organs of smell, hearing, and vision, 
 are manifest. 
 
 The Ganoid order comprises twelve families, examples of 
 which are arranged in Wall-cases A and B, and are comprised 
 in the subdivisions marked 1 to 1 6 in the compartments of 
 the glass-cases; as enumerated in the list, ante, p. 416. 
 
 CEPHALASPIDIANS. Wall-case A. [1.] The Devonian 
 Formation, (see Geological Table, ante, p. 5,) in which, but 
 twenty-five years ago, a few single scales, discovered in Forfar- 
 shire by Dr. Fleming, were the only known traces of any 
 vertebrated animals, has yielded upwards of sixty species 
 belonging to nearly thirty genera, from British localities 
 alone. 
 
 Of these the most characteristic are the CepJialaspis, Pte- 
 richthys, and Coccosteus, which form a group of extinct genera 
 that has no representative either in the Silurian system below, 
 or in the Carboniferous above ; nor, except by distant and faint 
 analogies with existing fishes, can these anomalous organisms 
 be brought within the pale of zoological arrangement. These 
 ichthyolites agree in one general character, that of being 
 covered by relatively enormous osseous or horny plates, and 
 scutcheons. 1 No vertebrae have been found, and it is supposed 
 
 1 See " Medals of Creation," p. 645 ; "Wonders of Geology," p. 760. 
 
ROOM V. CEPHALASPIS LTELLII. 423 
 
 that the spinal column was cartilaginous, as in the Stur- 
 geon. 
 
 CEPHALASPIS LYELLII. There are some very fine examples 
 of this singular genus of small fishes, in the first division of 
 
 LIGX. 84. CEPHALASPIS LYELLII; FROM GLAMMIS, FORFARSHIRE. 
 ($ not. size.) 
 
 Case A, on the left of the entrance from Room IV., that were 
 presented by the eminent geologist commemorated in the 
 specific name ; they will be easily recognised by the figure, 
 Lign. 84. * The most striking feature in these Ichthy elites is 
 the enormous scutcheon, or buckler, which forms the head, 
 and is prolonged posteriorly into two lateral horns or points ; 
 this part so closely resembles the cephalic shield of certain 
 trilobites, that the first specimens were supposed to be the 
 remains of unknown crustaceans ; the name Cephalaspis 
 (buckler-head^) is derived from this character. This remarkable 
 appearance is occasioned by the intimate anchylosis of all the 
 bones of the cranium. The body of these fishes is relatively 
 smaller than the head, has but one dorsal fin, and terminates 
 in a tail with a long pedicle, supporting a fin. There are two 
 very small eyes placed towards the middle of the head. The 
 body is covered with rhomboidal scales, and the head with 
 
 1 The first fish of this genus was discovered by Mr. Hugh Miller, in 
 whose charming little work, "New Walks in an Old Field," will be 
 found a most graphic description of the Devonian Ichthyolites. I know 
 not a more fascinating volume on any branch of Natural History. 
 
424 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. V. 
 
 discoidal ones, which are highly ornamented with radiated 
 markings. 
 
 Pterichthys. On the uppermost shelves of the compart- 
 ment [2], there are several species of this genus, which, as its 
 name implies, has two wing-like lateral appendages. These 
 processes, like the spines of the Bull-head, (Coitus Gobio,) are 
 weapons of defence ; in some examples they are extended from 
 the sides at right angles. The head and anterior part of the 
 body are protected by large tuberculated scutcheons, and the 
 back and abdomen by angular plates : the tail is long and 
 angular, and supposed to have been the only organ of locomo- 
 tion. There are two eyes in front of the lateral appendages. 
 These Ichthyolites are only from two to ten inches in length. 
 
 Coccosteus (Berry-bone-fish). 1 Wall-case A. [1.] This is 
 another allied genus, characterised by the tuberculated scales, 
 and remarkable dental organs ; neither eyes, nor pectoral fins 
 or spines, have been discovered. There are some good speci- 
 mens of these Ichthyolites on the uppermost shelf; their rich 
 purple and reddish colour arises from an impregnation of 
 phosphate of iron. There are three or four species, varying 
 from a few inches to two feet in length. The remains of this 
 genus are the most abundant of the ichthyic fossils in the 
 Devonian deposits. 
 
 Pamphractus. Wall-case B. [2.] This is another genus 
 of small fishes belonging to this singular family; it is distin- 
 guished by the distinct separation of the cephalic region from 
 the thorax ; it had a pair of long pointed pectoral fins. The 
 specimen is from Dura Den, in Fifeshire. 
 
 LEPIDOIDS. This family of ganoid fishes is extinct, but 
 existed in great force during the secondary epochs. It com- 
 prises sixteen or eighteen genera, which are divided into two 
 tribes according to the structure of the caudal fin; of the 
 homocer'cals (see ante, p. 421), of which there are twelve 
 genera; the most striking specimens in the collection belong 
 to Semionotus, Tetragonolepis, Dapedius, and Lepidotus. 
 The heterocercals amount but to six or seven genera ; among 
 
 1 Mr. Hugh Miller's works should be consulted for details of structure. 
 The cranial bucklers of these Devonian Ichthyolites are admirably eluci- 
 dated in the last work of this powerful writer and able observer. See 
 " Footsteps of the Creator," pp. 5178. 
 
ROOM V. LEPIDOIDS. 425 
 
 these are included the small Amblypterus, Palseoniscus, and 
 Platysomus, of the carboniferous and triassic formations. 
 
 In the Lepidoids the importance of the character of the tail 
 is strikingly manifest; for M. Agassiz has shown that all the 
 heterocercal lepidoids, with but one exception, belong to the 
 strata antecedent to the Lias; while the homocercals first 
 appear in that formation, and continue to the tertiary deposits, 
 in which the entire family disappears. 
 
 The Lepidoids have an osseous skeleton, and are armed with 
 angular rhomboidal scales, parallel with the body. In some 
 species, the dental apparatus consists of rows of broad teeth, 
 in others of obtuse round teeth. The tail is relatively feeble. 
 
 LIGX. 85. AMBLYPTERUS; OF THE COAL. 
 a. The heterocercal tail. ( not. size.) 
 
 Amblypterus. Wall-case A. This small fish, from the 
 carboniferous shale, is an example of a characteristic hetero- 
 cercal lepidoid of that formation, to which six or seven 
 species belong. It is distinguished by the wide and many- 
 rayed fins without marginal rays, and the short and thick 
 tail. 
 
 Palceoniscus. The fishes of this genus have a general 
 resemblance to the Amblypterus, but differ in the relatively 
 moderate size of the scales, and the numerous little rays on 
 their margins. There are upwards of twenty-five species; 
 sixteen of which belong to the Coal formation, and these have 
 smooth scales, with the exception of four species that occur 
 in the strata at Burdie House, in which the scales are 
 striated and punctated, like the seven or eight species of the 
 
426 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. V. 
 
 Triassic formation. Of the latter, P. Freieslebeni is a beau- 
 tiful and common ichthyolite. There are very rarely any 
 remains of the vertebral column. 1 
 
 Semionotus. Wall-case A. [No. 2.] On the middle ledge 
 of this Case there is a slab of lias from Coburg, on which is a 
 group of fourteen specimens of a small, elegant, homocercal 
 lepidoid fish, with a forked tail, (S. Bergeri,} belonging to this 
 genus. 
 
 ' Osteolepis. There are on the upper shelves of this Case 
 (2), many examples of two other heterocercal families ; 1. The 
 Acanthodians, that were inhabitants of the Devonian and 
 Carboniferous seas, and are characterised by their almost 
 microscopic scales; of these the Diplacanthus (double- spine) 
 is a well-known genus of Cromarty and Caithness. 2. The 
 Dipterians have scales like the lepidoids, but differ from that 
 family in having two dorsal and two anal fins ; of this tribe, 
 the Osteolepis (bony-scale) is a genus peculiar to the Old Red ; 
 three species occur at Caithness and Cromarty ; there is a fine 
 series in the collection, of the Osteolepis macrolepidotus, and 
 0. intermedius, from Cromarty. 2 
 
 Tetragonolepis ; Dapedius. Wall-case A. (2, 3.) At Lyme 
 Regis, and other productive localities of the Lias, large masses 
 of angular enamelled scales, and occasionally entire specimens 
 of the fishes to which they belonged, have for many years 
 been collected. Sir H. De la Beche first scientifically investi- 
 gated the structure of these Ichthyolites, and pointed out 
 their characters and relations. The numerous examples sub- 
 sequently brought to light establish, according to M. Agassiz, 
 two genera of homocercal ganoids. The Dapedius (of which a 
 restored figure is given in Lign. 86) is a wide, laterally com- 
 pressed fish, with a rounded head, and fins of moderate size. 
 The body rapidly contracts towards the pedicle of the tail, the 
 fin of which is large, and symmetrically lobed. The mouth is 
 furnished with several rows of small, conical teeth, crenated at 
 their summits, and has brush-teeth on the palatine bones ; 
 the jaws are short. The scales are rhomboidal, highly 
 polished, and united laterally by short processes, as in many 
 other ganoids. 
 
 1 See " Medals of Creation," 2d edit. 
 
 2 See Mr. Miller's "Old lied Sandstone," PI. IV. p. 72, for details. 
 
ROOM V. LEPIDOIDS. 427 
 
 In Tetragonolepis the teeth are pointed, and not crenated 
 at the apex, as in Dapedius. 1 
 
 LIGJJ. 86. DAPEDIUS; OF THE LIAS. (i not. size.) 
 
 These common liassic Ichthyolites must be familiar to the 
 intelligent visitor, as their form and structure are illustrated 
 in Dr. Buckland's "Bridgewater Treatise." I would merely 
 direct attention to the perfect state of some of the specimens 
 in the Case before us. 
 
 Lepidotus. Wall-cases A. B. (4, 5.) This genus of homo- 
 cereal lepidoids comprises nearly thirty species, which were, 
 for the most part, inhabitants of the liassic and oolitic seas. 
 A few species existed during the deposition of the Cretaceous 
 deposits ; and one solitary type, the last of the race, according 
 to our present knowledge, witnessed the dawn of the tertiary 
 system. There are many beautiful specimens in the collection 
 of the common Liassic, Oolitic, and Wealden species. 
 
 The separate scales and teeth of the lepidoti that frequented 
 the estuaries and rivers of the Country of the Iguanodon, are 
 abundant in the limestones of Swanage, and in the clays and 
 calcareous grits and sandstones of Tilgate Forest. 2 In the angle 
 of Cases A and B, there are several examples, more or less per- 
 fect, of Lepidotus Fittoniand L. Mantelli, formerly in my col- 
 
 1 " Poissons Fossiles," tome ii. p. 181. 
 
 2 They were first collected, figured, and described by me, in " Foss. 
 Tilg. Forest," PI. V. & X. See also " Wonders of Geology," p. 407 ; 
 (i Medals of Creation," p. 639, PI. VI. fig. 10. 
 
428 
 
 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 lection ; and on the top of the Case a splendid specimen from 
 Sussex, consisting of the anterior part of an enormous fish. 
 The largest fragments of some of the Wealden Lepidoti 
 indicate the total length of the fish to have been twelve or 
 
 LIGN. 87. SCALES AND FIN-RAY OF LEPIDOTUS MANTELLI. TILGATE FOREST. 
 
 Fig. 1. Scale, with a single process of attachment. 
 2. One of the scales of the dorsal line. 
 
 3. Scale (external surface), with a bifurcating process of attachment. 
 4. Scale (viewed on the inner surface), showing the lateral processes. 
 5. The front RAY of the dorsal fin, covered with two rows of enamelled 
 scales, and two other rays behind it. 
 (nat. size.) 
 
 fourteen feet ; and the width of the body from three to four 
 feet. 
 
 These fishes resembled the Carps in their general outline 
 but have no anatomical relations, to that family. The jaws 
 are short and rounded, and furnished with rows of ob- 
 tuse hemispherical teeth the head, and even face, were 
 encased with osseous enamelled plates, which are often found 
 separately imbedded in the rock; there are several large 
 examples in the collection. The dorsal and pectoral fins are 
 very strong, and consist of several bony rays. There is a 
 double row of acuminated, enamelled scales, arranged ob- 
 

 ROOM V. LEPIDOTUS. 429 
 
 liquely, on the anterior margin of the dorsal and anal fins, 
 and on both margins of the caudal. (Part of the first ray of 
 a dorsal fin, with scales, is represented Lign. 87.) 
 
 Lepidotus minor. The smaller species is often found in 
 the Purbeck limestone almost as entire as if recent, of which 
 the beautiful Ichthyolite in Case B (No. 6), is an example. 
 
 At the bottom of this Case there is a specimen of Lepidotw 
 semiserratm from the Lias of Whitby, remarkable for the per- 
 
 LIGN. 88. LtpiDOTUs; OF THE WEALDEN. (- nat. size.) 
 
 feet state of the head, which is uncompressed, and exhibits 
 its normal form. 
 
 The habits of the Lepidoti, as indicated by the form and 
 structure of the teeth, were those of fishes whose food consisted 
 of crustaceans, shelly mollusca, &c. ; for the dental organs are 
 peculiarly adapted for the crushing and grinding of such sub- 
 stances ; and the teeth of the adult fishes are generally worn 
 down by use. 
 
 Pholidophorus. This is a genus of small fishes allied to 
 the Lepidotus, some species of which abound in the Lias and 
 Oolite; their remains are commonly found associated with the 
 skeletons of the enalosaurians, at Lyme Regis, Barrow-on- 
 Soar, &c. ; they have only brush-teeth. There are many 
 specimens in this Case from Solenhofen. 
 
 SAUROIDS. Wall-case B. . (Nos. 7, 8, 9, 10:) The fishes of 
 the SAUROID (lizard-like) family were thus named by M. 
 Agassiz, in consequence of certain peculiarities of organization 
 which are found in no other animals of their class, but exist 
 in reptiles. 1 
 
 1 " Recherches sur les Poissons Fossiles," par L. Agassiz, tome ii. 
 
430 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. V. 
 
 There are but two living genera, namely, the Lepidosteus, 
 of which several species inhabit the rivers of America ; and 
 the Polypterus, that comprises two species, one inhabiting the 
 Nile, and the other the rivers of Senegal. In these fishes the 
 bones of the skull are closely connected by sutures ; the teeth 
 are large, conical, and longitudinally striated, as in the croco- 
 dile; the spinous processes are united to the bodies of the 
 vertebrae by suture, as in most reptiles; and the ribs are 
 articulated to the extremities of the transverse processes ; the 
 skeleton is osseous; the scales are flat, rhomboidal, and 
 parallel to the body. Even in the soft parts many analogies 
 are presented ; thus the Lepidosteus has a glottis, as in the 
 Siren, and a cellular air-bladder, with a tracheal vessel, re- 
 sembling the lungs of an Ophidian (serpent). These fishes 
 are the only living representatives of those voracious tribes of 
 the ancient marine faunas, whose remains abound in the 
 secondary formations. 
 
 The fossil remains of the fishes of this family have often 
 been mistaken for those of reptiles, particularly the teeth, 
 which from their large size, conical figure, enamelled and 
 striated surface, and internal cavity, were supposed to belong 
 to crocodiles. 1 These teeth consist of two kinds : the outer, 
 or fish-like system, consisting of numerous small brush-teeth ; 
 and an inner row of large, pointed, conical, striated, enamelled 
 teeth, placed at a distance from each other, as seen in the fine 
 jaws of Rhizodus in No. 9, of Case B, (p. 433.) 2 
 
 The sauroids, like the lepidoids, form two groups : 1, the 
 homercercals contain fourteen or fifteen genera, among which 
 are the Leptolepis, Aspidorhynchus, and Belonostomus ; 2, the 
 heterocercal tribe, which includes ten or twelve genera, 
 and among them some of the largest and most remarkable 
 ichthyolites of the Carboniferous system, viz. the Rhizodus, 
 Megalidiihys, and Saurichthys. 
 
 Leptolepis. Wall-case B. (No. 7.) The small fossil fishes, 
 resembling a fry of Herrings, in the white lias of Solen- 
 
 1 An interesting paper, " On the Microscopic Structure of the Teeth 
 of the Lepidostei, and their analogy with those of the Labyrinthodonts, 
 with a Plate," by Dr. Jeffries Wyman, will be found in " Amer. Journ. 
 of Science," October, 1843, p. 359. 
 
 2 See " Medals of Creation," p. 651. 
 
ROOM V. SAUROIDS. 431 
 
 hofen, on the uppermost ledge, and from the Oxford Clay of 
 Chippenham, immediately beneath, belong to this sauroid 
 genus, which comprises sixteen or eighteen species, that are 
 abundant in the upper divisions of the Oolite. The species 
 from Chippenham is the L. macropthalmus ; that from 
 Solenhofen, L. Knorrii. 
 
 Cololites. On the front of the same shelf are placed some 
 small slabs of Solenhofen limestone, on which are convoluted 
 worm-like bodies, formerly termed lumbricarites, from the 
 supposition that they were petrified earth-worms. These 
 curious fossils M. Agassiz has ascertained to be the intestines 
 of fishes, and has, therefore, named them " Cololites." ! 
 
 Aspidorhynchus. Wall-case B. (No. 10.) In the litho- 
 graphic stone of Solenhofen, specimens of sauroid fishes, 
 closely related to Lepidotus, are discovered ; they differ from 
 the latter genus in the extreme shortness of the lower jaw, 
 and the prolongation of the upper one into a long beak, 
 bearing teeth even in that part which projects beyond the 
 lower maxilla. The scales on the sides of the body are very 
 high, and the tail is homocercal. There is a fine specimen 
 (Asp. acutirostris) from Solenhofen in this Case, twenty-two 
 inches in length. Near this specimen there is an ichthyolite 
 of the same genus (Asp. Cumptoni) from South America. 
 
 BELONOSTOMUS (B. cinctus). Wall-case B. (No. 10.) In 
 1820, I discovered the ichthyolites thus labelled, in the chalk, 
 at Lewes; the great extent of the scales on the side of the 
 body, in a vertical direction, was so remarkable, that until 
 portions of the jaws, with teeth and other parts of the body, 
 were obtained, the affinities of the original could not be 
 determined. This fish, M. Agassiz estimated at three 
 feet in length. A fragment, six inches long, of this spe- 
 cies, is figured in Mr. Dixon's work, PI. XXXV. fig. 3. I 
 have recently discovered remains of this genus in the Weal- 
 den of the Isle of Wight, associated with teeth and scales of 
 Lepidoti. 
 
 Pygopterus (P. Humboldtii). Wall-case B. (No. 10,) In 
 this Case there is an ichthyolite from the copper-slate of 
 
 1 Figured in Dr. Buckland's " Bridgewater Essay," PI. XV. See also 
 " Medals of Creation," p. 657. 
 
432 
 
 PETKIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. V. 
 
 Mansfield, belonging to this genus of heterocercal sauroids, 
 which is remarkably fine. It is a large species, with small 
 scales, and the pectoral fin has a strong spine, or ray. Of 
 Acrolepis, a nearly related genus, there is an example from 
 the same locality at the bottom of this Case. 1 
 
 A fine ichthyolite of the heterocercal sauroid genus, Platy- 
 gnathus, from Dura Den, is placed immediately above the last- 
 mentioned fossil. 
 
 Megalichthys; Rhizodus; Saurichtliys. Wall-case B. (No. 
 9.) The specimens thus labelled are remains of three genera 
 of heterocercal sauroid fishes, from the carboniferous deposits 
 of Scotland, remarkable for the form and enormous size 
 of their teeth and jaws, and the strong enamelled plates of 
 the cranium. The conical, striated, gigantic teeth, some of 
 which are five or six inches in length, so closely resemble 
 those of crocodilian saurians, that they were generally 
 ascribed to reptiles, till M. Agassiz pointed out the true 
 characters of the originals. In Saurichthys the crown of 
 the tooth is separated from the fang by a constriction, and 
 the teeth are implanted in a furrow, or groove, as in the 
 Ichthyosaurus. Remains of several species are found in the 
 MuschelkalL 
 
 The Megalichthys, a genus first made known by the elegant 
 Memoir on the carboniferous deposits of Burdie House, near 
 Edinburgh, by Dr. Hibbert, 2 in 183-4, has enormous conical, 
 
 (No. 10.) 
 
 1 WALL-CASE B. 
 
 (No. 11.) 
 
 (No. 12.) 
 
 Caturus. 
 
 Glyptolepis. 
 
 Pbyllolepis : Scales only. 
 
 Saurichthys. 
 
 Macropoma. 
 
 Asterolepis. Russia. 
 
 Belonostomus. Chalk. 
 
 Glyptopomus, from the 
 Devonian Sandstone of 
 Scotland. 
 
 Bothriolepis. 
 
 Rhinellus. 
 
 Aspidorhynchus. Solen- 
 hofen. 
 
 Holoptychius, from Dura 
 Den. 
 
 Macropoma. (Numerous 
 specimens, from Lewes.) 
 
 Platygnathus, from Dura 
 
 Den. 
 
 Acrolepis. Keuper schist. 
 
 Holoptychius: skull of un- Holoptychius Flemingii. 
 described species, from 
 Australia. Holoptychius Andersoni. 
 
 In the " Trans. Eoyal Soc. Edinburgh/' vol. xiii. 
 
ROOM v. CELACAJTTHS. 433 
 
 striated, hollow teeth, very closely resembling those of sau- 
 rians ; the head is encased in thick osseous plates, as in the 
 recent Polypterus; the body is covered by large granulated 
 scales. There are a fine lower jaw, teeth, and scales of 
 M. Hibberti in this Case. 
 
 Rhizodus. This fish, though clearly distinct from the Me- 
 galichthys, is often confounded with it by collectors. The 
 genus was established from some detached teeth and jaws; l 
 the scales are thinner, larger, and smoother than in Mega- 
 lichthys, and their enamelled surface is finely punctated. 
 The great strength of the cephalic plates, and of the jaws and 
 teeth, of this powerful carnivorous fish, are well shown in the 
 fossil remains from Burdie House, and Carluke, in Perthshire, 
 which lie on the middle shelf of this compartment of 
 Case B. 
 
 The conditions under which the remains of these enormous 
 fishes are found imbedded at Burdie House, are highly interest- 
 ing, for the limestone and marls in which they occur are at 
 the bottom of the Coal formation, and abound in the foliage 
 of ferns and other terrestrial plants, freshwater shells and 
 crustaceans, and coprolites. These deposits must, therefore, 
 have been formed in a lake, or estuary, frequented by pre- 
 daceous sauroids ; in like manner, as we have already shown, 
 the bays and streams of the Country of the Iguanodon 
 swarmed with the lepidoid fishes of the Wealden epoch. 
 
 Before proceeding to the next family of Ganoids, I would 
 direct the palaeontologist to the specimens of Eugnathus 
 J(E. sjyeciosus), Wall-case B (9), and Ptycholepis (P. Bollensis), 
 from the Lias of Wirtemberg ; two genera of voracious sau- 
 roids, which are characterised by their unequal-lobed tail, 
 large fins, and furrowed scales. Eleven species of Eugnathus 
 have been discovered in the Has at Lyme Regis; only one 
 species of Ptycholepis is known. 
 
 CELACANTHS (hollow spine). This family of Ganoids is dis- 
 tinguished from the rest of the order by the tubular or hollow 
 structure of the fin-rays and spinous processes ; 2 the prolonga- 
 
 1 See Dr. Buckland's " Bridgewater Essay," PI. XXVII. 
 
 * Mr. Miller observes, " they were cartilaginous within, and covered 
 externally by a thin osseous crust or shell, which alone survives." 
 " The Asterolepis," p. 37. 
 
 F F 
 
434: PETEIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. V. 
 
 tion of the vertebral column between the principal lobes of 
 the tail, and the articulation of the caudal rays by inter- 
 apophyses. The fishes of this family are abundant in the 
 Carboniferous and Devonian formations, and there are a few 
 genera in the Triassic, Oolitic, and Cretaceous deposits : but no 
 ichthyolites of this family have been observed in strata above 
 the chalk. There are many splendid specimens of the prin- 
 cipal types in Case B (Nos. 14, 15) ; especially of the Holo- 
 ptychius from Scotland, and the Macropoma of the Chalk, 
 from Lewes in Sussex. 
 
 HOLOPTYCHIUS. Wall-case B. (No. 14.) In this genus, the 
 scales, which are very large, are deeply corrugated, and the 
 bones of the head sculptured and granulated ; the teeth are 
 large, conical, and of great density ; the ventral fins are nearer 
 the tail than in the other ganoids ; some of the spines are of 
 great size. There are several large fishes of this genus from 
 Scotland, in the lower compartment of this cabinet, so striking 
 in their appearance, that they seldom fail to arrest the atten- 
 tion of the visitors. Of these, the Holoptyctiius nobilissimus, 
 from the Old Red Sandstone at Clashbinnie, near Perth, (pre- 
 sented by the Rev. James Noble,) is the most conspicuous. 
 This magnificent ichthyolite is figured in the splendid work 
 of Sir Roderick Murchison, " The Silurian System," PI. II. ; 
 it consists of the body and head, attached to the stone by the 
 dorsal aspect. The body is depressed, and measures twenty- 
 eight inches in length, and twelve in breadth. The head is 
 short and obtuse ; the lower jaw, the mouth, and the two 
 branchial rays or plates are exposed. The scales are large, and 
 strongly marked with undulating furrows } between the 
 ventral fins and the head there are but fourteen scales. The 
 tail is wanting. 
 
 Holoptychius Flemingii, and If. Andersoni, are two species 
 of this genus which occur in the Devonian of Scotland; 
 and there are two large blocks of fawn-coloured sandstone 
 on which are seen lying in relief ten or twelve of these 
 beautiful ichthyolites, whose jetty black finely contrasts with 
 the hue of the surrounding stone. Many are from Dura 
 Den, near Cupar, Fifeshire, the locality where the Rev. Dr. 
 Fleming discovered the first recognised vestiges of this genus, 
 in 1830. 
 
 Of the Holoptychius Hibberti, of the coal measures, whose 
 
ROOM V. ASTEROLEPIS MACROPOMA. 435 
 
 remains are commonly found associated with those of Mega- 
 licthys and Rhizodus, there are in this Case several specimens 
 from Burdie House. 
 
 Asterolepis, (starry-scale.) (A. Asmusii.) Wall-case B. 
 On the outside of this Case on the top, there is a series of 
 models of the cranial bones of an enormous fish, from the 
 Old Red, near Riga ; presented by Sir Roderick Murchison. 
 This Russian ichthyolite is a species of Asterolepis, a genus 
 that has recently been made the subject of an elaborate 
 examination by Mr. Miller, who has published the results in 
 a charming little volume, which I would earnestly recom- 
 mend the reader to peruse. 1 These fishes attained a large 
 size ; probably from four or five to eighteen or twenty feet 
 in length; for in the Russian model there is a hyoid plate 
 two feet broad, and a maxillary bone twenty-eight inches 
 long. 
 
 MACROPOMA MANTELM.* Wall-case B. (Nos. 13, 14.) The 
 group of beautiful chalk fossils, thus labelled, comprises some 
 of the first-fruits of my geological researches in the strata 
 around my native town ; several of them are unique, and 
 others are the most instructive examples of this extraor- 
 dinary type hitherto discovered. The general appearance 
 of these fishes is well shown in the magnificent ichthyolite 
 on the middle shelf (represented on a small scale in Lign. 
 89) ; in form the Macropoma resembled a large Carp; like 
 the rest of the Celacanths, the rays and processes are hollow, 
 and the cranium is covered with large granulated plates. The 
 head is very large, being nearly equal to one-fourth the entire 
 length of the body. The brush-teeth are very minute, giving 
 a rasp-like surface to the borders of the jaws, and the conical 
 teeth are small and pointed. The scales are enamelled on the 
 exposed surface, which is covered with tubular spines. The 
 opercula are remarkably long. The rays of the fins are large 
 aud rigid, especially those of the anterior dorsal, which are 
 armed on each side with rows of sharp spines. The tail is 
 
 
 1 " Footprints of the Creator, or the Asterolepis of Stronmess." By 
 Hugh Miller ; p. 71. Ibid. p. 80. 
 
 2 Described as Amia ? Lewesiensis. " Fossils of the South Downs,"1822 ; 
 tab. 37, 38. The large specimen figured in PL XVIII. I presented to 
 Baron Cuvier, and it is now in the Museum of the Institute at Paris. 
 " Wonders of Geology," p. 348 ; " Medals of Creation/' p. 655. 
 
436 
 
 PETRIFIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. V. 
 
 M 
 
 -o 
 ft 
 c 
 H 
 u 
 
 * 
 
 8 
 
 
ROOM V. AIR-BLADDER OF MACROPOMA. 437 
 
 large, rounded, and fan-shaped, with strong equal rays, sup- 
 ported by the inferior and superior spinous processes of the 
 caudal vertebra. 
 
 A ir-bladder (or stomach ?) of the Macropoma. In every 
 example of this fossil fish that I have dissected, there lies 
 within the body, generally nearest the upper or dorsal part of 
 the cavity, a long, hollow, cylindrical substance, often seven 
 inches in length, and 1J inch in diameter, covered with a 
 thin, brittle, scaly integument, which readily separates into 
 two or three laminse. The anterior part of this organ, which 
 lies close to the posterior margin of the opercular bone, is 
 always imperfect, appearing as if torn or ruptured ; the caudal 
 extremity terminates in a cul-de-sac. From the situation 
 and structure of this viscus, I supposed it to be an air-bladder, 
 and described it as such in the " Fossils of the South Downs," 
 (in 1822); but on M. Agassiz's visit to my Museum at 
 Brighton, that eminent naturalist pronounced it to be the 
 stomach. Recent microscopic investigations of the investing 
 integument, have, however, tended to establish the correct- 
 ness of my original interpretation of the nature of this 
 remarkable body. 1 
 
 The Macropoma when at maturity, was between two and 
 three feet in length ; its massive skeleton indicates a powerful 
 frame, and its thick scales, strong fins, and sharp teeth, prove 
 that it was a voracious fish, capable of overtaking and seizing 
 live prey. I would especially direct attention to the various 
 states of distension in which the air-bladder appears in the 
 specimens here displayed. 
 
 1 My youngest son, Mr. Eeginald Han tell, first detected the intimate 
 structure of this organ, which has recently been admirably investigated 
 by Prof. Williamson. See an able memoir On the microscopic structure 
 of the scales and dermal teeth of some ganoid and placoid fishes. By 
 W. C. Williamson, Esq. " Philos. Trans." 1849, p. 435. PI. XL1II., figs. 
 27, 28, represent the microscopic structure of the scales of the Macro- 
 poma : and figs. 29, 30, of the air-bladder, described at pp. 462 465. 
 Professor Williamson observes in relation to this fossil viscus" I am 
 disposed to believe it to have been an organ fulfilling the functions of 
 an air-bladder. Its osseous structure would render it capable of resisting 
 a considerable amount of pressure, and if its patulous extremity were 
 closed up by an elastic valvular membranous appendage, the fish might 
 have regulated its buoyancy by increasing or diminishing the compres- 
 sion of the gaseous contents of the bladder, and thus facilitate its 
 movements in either shallow water or at great depths in the sea. 
 
 
438 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. V. 
 
 Ooprolites of Macropoma. (No. 13.) There is a large num- 
 ber of coprolites in this Case, which in all probability are 
 referable to these fishes. They show that the spiral convolu- 
 tions were fewer in the intestines of the Macropoma than in 
 the Sharks. 1 
 
 Lophiostomus Dixoni. The chalk ichthyolite thus named 
 (by Sir Philip Egerton) is from a quarry near Alfriston, in 
 Sussex, and was collected by Captain Beckford, R.N. of Ryde, 
 in whose choice cabinet of fossils I detected it as an unknown 
 ganoid fish, and induced the liberal owner to add it to the 
 National Collection. It will be figured and described in the 
 " Memoirs of the Museum of Practical Geology." It is allied 
 to the Macropoma, but differs in many essential characters : 
 the large mouth garnished with numerous very small, slender, 
 conical, fluted teeth, its granulated cranial plates, the form 
 and structure of the lower jaw, the branchial plates, and the 
 scales, which Professor Williamson informs me are altogether 
 peculiar, render it a valuable addition to the Ichthyolites of 
 the British Museum. The specific name was proposed by me, 
 to commemorate the late F. Dixon, Esq. of Worthing. 
 
 SCLERODERMS. This family of ganoids, to which the Dio- 
 dons and Ostracions belong, besides certain peculiar modifica- 
 tions of the jaws, is distinguished by the dermal integuments, 
 w r hich consist of polygonal or rhomboidal plates, spread over 
 the body like a tesselated cuirass ; the skeleton is fibrous ; 
 the recent types are exclusively the inhabitants of the seas of 
 hot climates. 
 
 Dercetis elongatus. 2 Wall-case 0. (No. 15, 16, Middle 
 shelves.) This is a very remarkable fossil fish from the 
 chalk, near Lewes, which I discovered in 1818. The speci- 
 mens commonly met with consist of fragments of the long 
 subcylindrical body, covered with small scales, from a few- 
 inches to two feet in length, without any traces of the dermal 
 scutcheons, fins, tail, or head: as in many examples in this 
 Case, all of which are from my collection. The Dercetis had 
 on each side of the body three rows of dermal scutcheons, 
 like those of the Sturgeons ; the intervals between them were 
 
 1 See " Medals of Creation," p. 650. 
 
 2 " Murcena ? Levvesiensis." " Fossils of the South Downs/' tab. xxxiv. 
 fig. 10, 11. See " Medals of Creation," p. 658. 
 
ROOM V. GYMXODOXS PYCNODOXS. 439 
 
 covered with small scales. The cranium and elongated jaws, 
 wjth teeth, are seen in an unique specimen in this Case ; it 
 is figured in " The Wonders of Geology," p. 349. 
 
 Blochius longirostris. There is a fine example of this 
 Monte Bolca ichthyolite, nineteen inches long, placed near 
 the specimens of Dercetis. This genus resembles Belonosto- 
 mus in its slender muzzle and general form ; but it has brush- 
 teeth and scutcheon-like scales, as in the Dercetis; the 
 cranium with the beak measures nine inches in length. 
 
 GYMXODOXS; SILUROIDS. Wall-case C. (No. 15, 16.) Of 
 the former family, which closely resembles the Diodons, three 
 species are found in the strata of Monte Bolca, of which there 
 are specimens in the collection. The Siluroids are related to 
 the Silurus, and a specimen from Bracklesham, formerly in 
 Mr. Dixon's collection, is placed in this Case. 
 
 PYCXODOXS. Wall-case C. (No. 15, 16, Lower shelves.) 
 In this family of fishes the jaws are paved with rows of 
 rounded, or elongated teeth; and many of the fossil species 
 are only known by these organs. There are many beautiful 
 fossils of this kind in the Case before us. I can only direct 
 attention to several jaws, and many teeth of the genus Pyc- 
 nodus, from the Wealden and Oolite ; and to one extraordi- 
 narily perfect lower jaw of an allied genus Gyrodus, on the 
 middle Shelf: it is labelled "from Poulshot, near Devizes : " 
 every tooth is as perfect as when recent. 
 
 We now proceed to the examination of the Ichthyolites of 
 the next order; the Ctenoids, occupying the compartments of 
 Nos. 17 to 20 inclusive, in Wall-case C; the Cycloids, Cases 
 C and D, and the Placoids, in the Table-cases Nos. 2, 4, 6, 8, 
 10, and 12 (see ante, p. 410), will also be included in the 
 same division of the present Chapter. 
 
 1 See " Medals of Creation," p. 650. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 PART III. 
 
 FOSSIL FISHES OF THE CTENOID, CYCLOID, AND 
 PLACOID OKDERS. 
 
 CTENOID ORDER; PEROA BERYX SMBRDIS MONTE BOLCA ICHTHYOLITES. 
 CYCLOID ORDER ; ENCHODUS SATJRODON HYPSODON CYPRINOIDS ESO- 
 CIDS HALICOIDS OSMEROIDS ACROGNATHUS - AULOLEPIS - MALLOTUS. 
 PLACOID ORDER ; CHIM^IROIDS SQUALID^E HYBODONS CESTRACIONS 
 PRISTIDES RAYS ICHTHYODORULITES GEOLOGICAL DISTRIBUTION OF FOS- 
 SIL FISHES GENERA OF ICHTHYOLITES DT. THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 
 
 CTENOID ORDER. The fishes of this Order, of which the 
 Perch is the type, have imbricated laminated scales, the pos- 
 terior margins of which are round and finely pectinated j i. e. 
 divided into small teeth like a comb. 
 
 The Otenoidians first appear in the cretaceous formation, those from 
 the slate of Glaris being the most ancient known ; certain species and 
 genera are abundant in the White Chalk of the south-east of England, 
 and of Germany ; and may have been collected from strata of the same 
 age in the Brazils. In the tertiary limestones of Monte Bolca there are 
 numerous Ctenoid Ichthyolites. 
 
 Almost all the fishes of this order in the Cretaceous formation are of 
 extinct genera. One half of those from the eocene of Monte Bolca 
 are also of lost generic types ; whilst all the Ctenoids of the newer ter- 
 tiary deposits belong to existing genera. The fossil Ctenoids in the 
 British Museum comprise nearly thirty genera, belonging to eight fami- 
 lies ; a list of the whole is subjoined. I proceed to point out a few of 
 the most interesting specimens. 
 
 PERCA. Wall-case C. (No. 17.) Of this typical genus of the Ctenoid 
 order, there is a beautiful example of Perca lepidota, from the lacus- 
 trine deposits of (Eningen (ante, p. 184). * 
 
 1 These tables show the position of the principal Ichthyolites in Case C. 
 No. 17, 18. 
 
 _ No. YL _ No. 18. 
 
 Perca ((Eningen). Cyclopoma (from Monte Bolca). 
 
 Beryx. | Gyrodus. Peiatis. | Serranus. 
 
 Rhacolepis (Brazils). | Enoplosus. Myripristis. 
 
 Lates. Labrax. 
 

 ROOM V. FOSSIL FISHES OF THE CTENOID ORDER. 441 
 
 BERYX. Wall-case C. (No. 17, 18.) This fine series of Ichthyolites 
 from the Chalk of Sussex, (formerly in my collection,) contains four 
 species of a genus of the Perch family, named Beryx, of which there are 
 two existing species in the Australian seas. The first that I succeeded 
 in clearing from the chalk of Lewes, was the specimen of Beryx figured 
 in my "Fossils of the South Downs," tab. 34, and which is in the Case 
 before us ; it was the first published representation of an Ichthyolite 
 from the cretaceous formation of England ; the fossil remains of fishes 
 previously collected and described by authors, consisted of the teeth, 
 bones, &c., but no one appears to have suspected that the scaly covering, 
 with the fins, branchial arches, cranial bones, jaws, and teeth, were pre- 
 served, and could be displayed in their original position, by the skilful 
 removal of the surrounding stone. 
 
 
 LIGN 90. BERYX LEWESTEXSIS, FROM THE CHALK, LEWES. 
 (A not. size.) 
 
 The fishes of the genus Beryx are closely allied to the common 
 Perches ; they have one dorsal fin with several spinous rays in front of 
 the soft rays, and the head is very large : the jaws are covered with a 
 broad band of brush-teeth. The orbit is large, and often contains the 
 capsule of the eye ; the scales are relatively very large, the vertebras 
 large and short, with long apophyses, and the ribs short. The Beryx 
 Lewesiensis, (Lign. 90,) is the most common of the Icthyolites of the 
 white chalk ; it is called the " Johnny-Dory" by the quarrymen of Sus- 
 sex. Another and larger species (B. superbus}, sometimes thirteen inches 
 long, with very large and broad scales, occurs in the lower chalk at 
 Lewes. There are two species from the chalk-marl ; B. radians, the 
 scales of which are fringed with minute diverging spines ;' and B. mi- 
 crocephalus, distinguished by its elongated form and small head. There 
 are examples of both in the collection, from near Lewes, 2 
 
 1 See " Medals of Creation," p. 561, and " Wonders of Geology," pp. 
 350, 351. 
 
 2 Of this rare Ichthyolite, I have lately been presented with a fine 
 specimen from Clayton, Sussex, by my friend, Frederick Harford, Esq. 
 
 
442 
 
 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 ,. SMERDIS. (S. minutus.} Wall-case C. Certain strata of the eocene 
 formation near Aix in Provence, abound in fossil shells, plants, insects, 
 and fishes. The elegant little fish named Smerdis, a genus belonging 
 to the tribe of Percoids, with two dorsal fins, and seven branchiostegous 
 
 LiGN.91. SMERDIS MINUTUS; EOCESE STRATA, Aix, IN PROVENCE. 
 
 (nat.size.) 
 
 rays, occurs in shoals, often grouped together in great numbers in the 
 same slab of laminated limestone, and in every variety of position. 
 There are numerous specimens in this Case, which were formerly in my 
 collection. 1 The Smerdis minutus is from one to three inches long, 
 and about the dimensions of a perch a year old. 
 
 MONTE BOLCA ICHTHYOLITES. Wall-case O. The Ichthyolites of 
 Monte Bolca must be familiar to the reader, for in consequence of the 
 abundance and beauty of these fossils, specimens are to be seen in, 
 almost every cabinet of organic remains. They are found in a tertiary 
 cream-coloured fissile limestone, that generally splits in the direction in 
 which the fishes are imbedded; hence the perfect animal, from the 
 muzzle to the tail, with its fins expanded, is often obtained. 2 Keferring 
 to " The Wonders of Geology," p. 265, for an account of these deposits, 
 I can only state, in brief, that there are in the collection under exami- 
 
 1 The Chalk Ichthyolites in the British Museum, amounting to several 
 hundred specimens, were, with but few exceptions, collected by me. 
 The beautiful state of these fossils when in my possession, called forth 
 the following remarks from M. Agassiz : 
 
 " Tout le monde sait que le Muse"e de M. Mantell & Brighton, est tine 
 collection classique pour la Craie et la formation Veldienne. Les soins 
 minutieux que M. Mantell a donnes depuis bien des annees & ces fossiles, 
 les ont rendus plus parfaits que tous ceux des autres muse'es ; car souvent 
 il est parvenu & les detacher entierement de la roche dans laquelle ils se 
 trouvaient, ou du moins & les produire en relief, en d6tachant toutes les 
 matieres solides qui recouvraient les parties les mieux conservees de 
 1'animal." Recherclies sur les Poissons Fossiles, par M. Louis Agassiz. 
 
 2 See " Wonders of Geology," p. 260. 
 
ROOM V. FOSSIL FISHES OF MONTE BOLCA. 443 
 
 nation, examples of the following genera, from this celebrated locality, 
 viz. Lates, Cyclopoma, Enoplosus, Serranus, Pelates, Myripristis, &c. . 
 
 Of this Order, and from the same inexhaustible mine of Ichthyolites, 
 are the fine specimens of Callipteryx recticaudus, and of the Sparoids 
 (Breams), Cottoids (Bullheads), and Goboids ; and that remarkable fish 
 the Semiophorus velifer, in the Case before us. 
 
 Beneath the last-named Ichthyolite, there is a rare specimen of Fistu- 
 laria magnified, from the Engi slate of Glaris. 
 
 A beautiful example of Mugil (M. princeps), from Aix, in Provence, 
 is placed in the upper part of the same case (No. 20) ; it was formerly 
 in my collection ; the muscles of the abdomen, fin-rays, &c. are finely 
 preserved. Near these fishes there is a remarkable ichthyolite, Calomo- 
 pleurus cylindricus, from the north of the Brazils, by Mr. Gardiner, 
 from strata supposed to be of the cretaceous epoch. 
 
 CYCLOID ORDER. The essential character of the fishes of this Order 
 are an osseous skeleton, and scales of a circular or cycloid form, with 
 smooth margins, composed of plates of horn or bone, without enamel. 
 To this Order the greater number of the fresh-water fishes belong ; 
 as the Pike, Carp, Trout, Salmon, &c. The palaeontological history 
 of this Order corresponds with that of the Ctenoids ; in fact, the fishes 
 of these two divisions, appear to constitute but one natural group. 
 
 There are no known cycloid fishes in strata below the Cretaceous 
 formation ; and those which occur in the Chalk belong to extinct 
 genera. In the ancient tertiary the cycloids abound. Monte Bolca has 
 yielded some genera and many species, hitherto unknown elsewhere. 
 The collection contains a great many beautiful examples of the various 
 generic types ; these are enumerated in the general list, and the position 
 in the cabinets of the most important fossils is indicated by the table 
 at the bottom of the page. 1 
 
 ENCHODUS. Wall-case C. (No. 21.) The upper and lower jaws, with 
 long, pointed, conical teeth, of a fish of the scomberoid or mackerel 
 family, in high relief from the blocks of chalk to which they are 
 attached, are placed on the middle shelf of this Case. These teeth are 
 remarkably well developed ; they are rounded on the inner aspect and 
 compressed externally ; the two anterior ones of the lower jaw are very 
 
 Upright Division, 
 No. 20. Ctenoid*. 
 
 1 WALL-CASE C. 
 
 No. 23. Cycloids. 
 
 No. 24. Cycloids. 
 
 Calomopleurus. 
 
 Tetrapturus. 
 
 Sphenolepis. 
 
 Mugil. 
 
 Caelorhyncu". 
 
 Istieus. 
 
 Platax. 
 
 Ciadocycius. 
 
 Hypsodon. 
 (Three specimens belong 
 to the same individual.) 
 
 Ephlppus vr a e Plls 
 Bucklandi. * aseus - 
 
 Sphyraena. 
 
 Sphyraenonus. 
 
 Rhombus. 
 
 Pachyrhizodus. 
 
 Leuciscus of (Eningen. 
 
 Sem iophorus. 
 
 Saurodon. 
 
 Acanthopsis. 
 
 Fistularia. 
 
 Saurocephalus. 
 
 Cobitis 
 
 Gohius | Cottus. 
 
 Ananchelus. 
 
 Rhoueus. 
 
 Callipteryx recticaudus. 
 
 Isurus | Archaeus. 
 
 Lebias. 
 
444 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. V. 
 
 large, and placed close to each other on each side the median line ; the 
 margins of the jaws are fringed with brush-teeth, and the jaws marked 
 with granulated longitudinal ridges. These dental characters resemble 
 those of two living genera of fishes, the Thyrsites and Lepidopus. The 
 specimens are from Lewes, and were collected in 1820. * 
 
 SAURODON. Wall-case C. (No. 23.) There are several detached, 
 lanceolate, laterally compressed teeth, and two or three specimens in 
 which teeth of the same character are affixed to a portion of the jaw, in 
 the front of this division of Case 6'. The latter instructive specimens 
 were in the cabinet of the late Mr. Dixon ; the former are from my col- 
 lection. 2 These fossils belong to an extinct genus of fishes, which 
 resembled the Sphyrcena, or Barracuda Pike, in the form of the teeth 
 and length of the jaws. The teeth on the palatine bones are barbed, and 
 finely serrated. 3 The teeth of these fishes were first discovered in the 
 Cretaceous Greensand of New Jersey, in the United States. 4 
 
 HYPSODON (H. Lewesiensis). Wall-case C. (No. 24.) 5 The ichthyo- 
 lites thus named are also from the Lewes chalk, and were among my 
 earliest discoveries. They consist of the teeth and jaws, vertebrae, and 
 some of the cranial bones, of a very large predaceous fish, whose long, 
 conical, unequal teeth, remind us of the sauroids of the ganoid order. 
 The three pieces of chalk containing portions of jaws with teeth, verte- 
 brse, &c. are fragments of a large block, which was broken up by the 
 quarrymen before the animal remains were observed. I collected the 
 least injured pieces, and removed the chalk so as to expose the bones 
 now apparent 6 This genus is now referred to the family of Scombero- 
 esocids, of Miiller. 
 
 Of the freshwater fishes the Cyprinoids or Carps, there are fossil 
 species of Tinea or Tench (T.furcata, and T.leptosoma) from (Eningen; 
 and of the Leuciscus or Luce, there is a very large fossil species (L. 
 Hartmanni) from the tertiary strata of Steinheim, in Wirtemberg, and a 
 small fish of the same genus (L. papyraceus), from the paper-coal of 
 Bayreuth. 
 
 The fossil Esocids or Pikes, are in Cases Nos. 24 to 27, and com'prise 
 some beautiful examples of Esox lepidotus from (Eningen. Of an extinct 
 fresh-water genus named Sphenolepis, allied to the Pikes, there is a 
 specimen of a very large species with robust vertebrae, and long striated 
 scales, (S. squammoseus,) from Aix ; and the S.Cuvierifrom Montmartre. 
 
 The Ichthyolites of the Halecoids or Herring family, comprising the 
 Clupeae and Salmonidae, are placed in Cases No. 25 and 26. Among 
 the former is the Clupea Scheuchzeri, from the slate of Glaris. 
 
 1 Figured in " Fossils of the South Downs," under the name of Esox 
 Lewesiemis, Tab. XL1. " Geology of the South-East of England," p. 140. 
 
 2 Figured in " Fossils of the South Downs," Tab. XXXIII. 
 
 3 See "Medals of Creation," p. 666, Lign. 136, fig. 3. 
 * See " Medals of Creation," p. 669. 
 
 5 Tab. XLII. "Fossils of the South Downs," represents a vertebra, 
 teeth, and bones of a fish of this genus. 
 
 6 These specimens are figured in M. Agassiz's " Recherches sur les 
 Poissons Fossiles." 
 
ROOM V. 
 
 OSMEROIDES MANTELLI. 
 
 445 
 
 
 "a .2 
 
446 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. V. 
 
 OSMEROIDES. Wall-case D. 1 (No. 26). The fossil fishes of the Salmon 
 family, from the Sussex chalk, deposited in this Case, were the most 
 beautiful ichthyolites in my collection ; and though since the exposure 
 of the specimens to the atmosphere of London they have lost much of 
 their original brightness, and the pure white chalk appears like chalk- 
 marl, yet the uncompressed state of many of these fishes, and the high 
 relief in which they appear, render them objects of interest even to the 
 uninstructed observer. These Ichthyolites are nearly related to the 
 common Smelt (Osmerus) ; whence the name given to the genus, Osme- 
 roides, by M. Agassiz. They were discovered, figured, and described, in 
 my " Fossils of the South Downs," under the name of Salmo Lewesiensis. 
 There are three species, two of which are well marked, viz. 0. Mantelli, 
 and 0. Lewesiensis. The former has a short subcylindrical body, and 
 seldom exceeds nine inches in length ; the latter is of an elongated form, 
 and sometimes attains a length of fourteen inches ; the dorsal fin has 
 more rays than in the former. 
 
 The first species is generally found with the head and body uncom- 
 pressed ; the most remarkable specimen hitherto discovered is on the 
 front ledge of No. 26, and is figured in Lign. 92. This matchless 
 ichthyolite is nine inches long, and the chalk has been cleared away so 
 as to expose the entire body, lying six inches in relief above the block, 
 to which it is attached by the dorsal aspect. The mouth of the fish is 
 open, the opercula or gill-covers, and the branchial arches are expanded ; 
 the pectoral and ventral fins, and the dorsal fin, are in their natural 
 position ; the five rays of the dorsal are erect : there are but few traces 
 of the caudal fin ; in a specimen of Osmeroides Lewesiensis, in the same 
 Case, a little adipose process, as in the recent Salmons, is situated 
 between the dorsal fin and the tail. 2 
 
 ACROGNATHUS (A. boops). W all-case D. (No. 25.) This is a small 
 unique ichthyolite which I discovered in a block of chalk from Souther- 
 ham. It is an abdominal cycloid fish, with a large and flat head, and 
 enormous orbits. The form of the fish, when recent, is shown in 
 Lign. 93. 
 
 AULOLEPIS (A. typus). Near the last described fossil there is placed 
 another unique fish from the same locality, which is characterised by its 
 slender muzzle, and conical teeth. The figure of the original is given in 
 Lign. 94. 
 
 ICHTHTOLITES OP RECENT SPECIES J MALLOTUS. Wall-case D. (No. 27.) 
 
 The eminent naturalist to whose labours the Ichthyologist is so greatly 
 
 1 
 No. 25. 
 
 WALL-CASE D. CYCLOIDS. 
 
 No. 26. 
 
 No. 27. 
 
 
 Esox. 
 
 Esox from OSningen. 
 
 Mallotus villosus ; 
 a recent ichthyolite, 
 from Greenland. 
 
 Clupea. 
 
 Osmeroides 
 
 Acrournathus | Aulolepis. 
 
 Tinea. 
 
 ( rom ewes.; 
 
 Ampheristus toliapicus, 
 (unique); 
 from Sheppey. 
 
 Acanthopsis | Cobitis. 
 
 Small Jaw of Tomo^naUius. 
 
 Khodeus | Lebias. 
 
 Anguilla. 
 
 Medals of Creation," pp. 594, 604. 
 
ROOM V. ACROGXATHUS BOOPS AULOLEPIS TYPUS. 
 
 447 
 
 indebted, affirms that of the many hundred fossil specimens submitted 
 to his examination, only one can be identified with any living fish. The 
 ichthyolites which form this remarkable exception are found in nodules 
 of indurated clay, at the Sukkertop, on the West Coast of Greenland, 
 and are identical with the living MaMotus villosus, or Angmarset, a 
 
 small fish allied to the Smelts, of which there is but one species, an inha- 
 bitant of the northern seas. These fossils are supposed to be of very 
 recent formation; there is a specimen in the last division of Case D. 1 
 
 1 See " Recherches sur les Poissons Fossiles," tome v. PI. LX. for 
 figures of the skeleton of the recent Mallotus, and the fossil remains. 
 
448 
 
 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 PLACOID ORDER. In the placoid fishes the skeleton is cartilaginous, 
 the gills are fixed, the skin is not covered with scales as in the other 
 three orders, but either studded with bony tubercles or scutcheons of 
 enamelled bone, or protected by very small bristly plates, constituting a 
 tesselated integument, called shagreen. In consequence of the perishable 
 nature of the skeleton, the teeth, spines, or fin-rays, tubercles and 
 scutcheons, vertebrae, and in some rare instances the dermal shagreen, are 
 the only parts preserved in a fossil state. The Placoids are the most 
 ancient animals of the vertebrated classes hitherto discovered, for rays 
 of a species of shark (Onchus) have been found in the Lower Silurian 
 deposits ; and they have continued through the entire series of forma- 
 tions, and abound in the present seas. But though the fishes of this 
 order are the most universally distributed in time as well as in space, 
 the relative numerical predominance of the several families varied 
 greatly in different periods. 
 
 In Table-Cases 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, the collection of teeth, vertebrae, fin-rays, 
 or Ichthyodorulites, &c. are arranged under the respective families to 
 which they belong. 
 
 CHIM^EROIDS. Table-Case 4. A good collection of the maxillary 
 
 organs, and the hard in- 
 divisible plates of dentine, 
 composing the dental in- 
 struments of this curious 
 tribe of the Shark family, 
 belonging to four sub- 
 genera, is deposited in 
 Table-Case 4. They are 
 referable to Ischyodus, 
 Edaphodon, Psittaffodon, 
 and Ceratodus. Among 
 them are beautiful ex- 
 amples from the Eocene 
 clay of Bracklesham, in 
 Sussex, from Mr. Dixon's 
 collection, and figured and described in his work by Sir Philip Egerton. 
 There is one pair of mandibles in a block of chalk, remarkable for their 
 prolongated and curved form, which led M. Agassiz to name the genus 
 Psittacodon ; the Edaphodon, of Sir P. Egerton. 1 
 
 SQUALID^:, or SHARKS. The fossil teeth of this universally distributed 
 family of voracious fishes, are abundant in almost every secondary and 
 tertiary deposit. Want of space compels me to refer to " The Medals 
 of Creation," for a popular account of these fossil relics. 2 The collection 
 is very rich in the usual types of the genera and subgenera. The sharp 
 triangular teeth, with or without lateral denticles, and the cutting 
 edges, either smooth or serrated, occur in profusion in many tertiary 
 strata, and species of the same genera abound in the chalk. (Lign. 96.) 
 
 HYBODONS. A family allied to the Sharks, but with conical and un- 
 compressed teeth. These fishes had two dorsal fins, with anterior 
 
 LIGN. 95. MANDIBLE OF A CHIMJEROID FISH 
 
 EDAPHODON MANTELLI, FROM THE CHALK, 
 
 LEWES. ( nat. size.) 
 
 See " Geological Journal," May 1847. 
 
 2 Chap XV. p. 611. 
 
ROOM V. 
 
 FISHES OF THE PLACOID ORDER. 
 
 449 
 
 spines ; the ichthyodorulites of this family are abundant in the Wealden, 
 Oolite, &c. 
 
 Lies. 96. FOSSIL TEETH OF FISHES ; CHIEFLY OF THE SHARK FAMILY. 
 2. Carcharias. 3. Corax. 
 
 1. Otodus. 
 5. Notidanus. 
 
 6. Lamna. 
 
 4. Oxyrhina. 
 7. Acrodus. 
 
 8. Pycnodon tooth of a ganoid fish ; upper surface. 
 
 9. Lateral view. 10. Ptychodus. 
 
 CESTRACIONS. Of this family a few teeth have been found in the 
 Kentish Chalk, that belong to fishes of the existing genus Cestracion, 
 or Port Jackson Shark. A genus of this family, named Ptychodus 
 (rugous-tooth,) must have swarmed in the cretaceous ocean, for its large, 
 quadrate, channelled molars, are found in every quarry of the White- 
 
 LIGN. 97. TEETH OF HYBODCS. 
 
 Chalk (Lign. 96, 10) ; there are groups of from ten to fifty on blocks 
 of chalk in the Table-cases, 
 
 Of the PRISTIDES, or Saw-fishes, there are a few teeth, and portions of 
 the beak, of two species, from the Eocene of Bracklesham. 
 
 FOSSIL EATS. Instead of pointed teeth, the masticatory organs of the 
 fishes of this family are wide, flat, dental plates, composed of distinct 
 
 GG 
 
4:50 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. V. 
 
 pieces in close juxtaposition and united by fine sutures. There are 
 fifteen fossil species of the Myliobatis (Eagle-ray), in some of which the 
 dental plates are of great size, as shown by specimens in the Table-case 
 under review. There are likewise some fine examples of the allied 
 genus, JEtobatis, from Bracklesham. 
 
 ICHTHYODORULITES, or Fossil Dorsol-fin-spines. Table-cases, 2, 4, 6. 
 The fossils thus named are the rays or spines of the dorsal fins of cartila- 
 ginous fishes ; of these, there is an extensive series in the collection, as 
 specified in the List of Genera. I would direct attention to some beau- 
 tiful specimens in the Table-case 2, and especially to the large spine of 
 Ptychodus spectabilis in Chalk, formerly in my collection, and one of 
 the most interesting fossils of this kind hitherto discovered. 
 
 GEOLOGICAL DISTRIBUTION OF FOSSIL FISHES. From the incidental 
 notices of the geological habitats of the Ichthyolites described in the 
 preceding pages, the intelligent reader cannot fail to perceive that 
 the most recent deposits abound in forms allied to the existing genera 
 and species, while the most ancient teem with unknown families, which 
 are either utterly extinct, or of excessive rarity at the present time. 
 M. Agassiz affirms that in a general sense we may conclude that the 
 Ichthyolites of the Tertiary deposits approach in their character to the 
 living genera, but all the species are extinct. That the newer Tertiary, 
 as the Crag, contain genera common to tropical seas, as the large sharks 
 (Carcharias), and eagle-rays (Myliobates), &c. In the Eocene, as the 
 London and Paris basins, Monte Bolca, &c. owe-tliird of the Ichthyolites 
 belong to extinct genera. Of the Chalk fishes, ^wo-thirds are of extinct 
 genera, but related to those of the Tertiary formations. From the 
 Oolite to the Lias, including the Wealden, the fishes constitute a natural 
 group, but few species of which occur in the Chalk, and all the ganoid 
 fishes are homocercal; below the Lias, a prodigious number of unknown 
 genera and species appear, and these are almost all heterocercal. 
 
 Thus of the eight thousand living fishes known to naturalists, three- 
 fourths belong to the Cycloid and Ctenoid orders, and of these no species 
 occur below the Chalk ; the other fourth is referable to the Placoids and 
 Ganoids, of which there are comparatively but few existing species. 
 Yet fishes of these two orders were almost the sole representatives of the 
 Class Pisces, during the ancient secondary formations ; for below the 
 Lias, the predominant recent orders are altogether absent. Beneath the 
 Coal true carnivorous fishe?, with trenchant teeth, are almost unknown ; 
 omnivorous species, with either brush or obtusely conical teeth, and 
 great sauroid fishes, are the prevailing representatives of the class. In 
 fine, the Ichthyolites of the different formations constitute two grand 
 groups, which have their boundary line at the base of the Cretaceous 
 deposits. The first and most ancient comprises the Ganoids and Pla- 
 coids ; the second is more intimately related to existing types, and com- 
 prehends forms more diversified ; these are principally Ctenoids and 
 Cycloids, with a small number of the two preceding orders, which insen- 
 sibly disappear, and their few living analogues are very distinct irona the 
 ancient species. 
 
 Now, although deductions of this nature may require to be modified 
 with the progress of knowledge, yet the generalizations thus obtained 
 are founded on so great an accumulation of facts and observations, as to 
 
ROOM V. LIST OF GENERA OF FOSSIL FISHES. 451 
 
 render it improbable that they will be materially invalidated by future 
 discoveries ; for they accord remarkably with the results derived from 
 the investigation of the fossil remains of the other Classes of animals. 
 The most modern deposits contain the remains of animals allied to species 
 of existing genera ; the most ancient, of forms altogether extinct, or of 
 excessive rarity in the recent faunas. The discovery of existing species, 
 or genera, in the most ancient strata, would modify, but not destroy, the 
 inferences deduced from the facts hitherto obtained ; and every geolo- 
 gist is prepared to find that such may be the case. 
 
 Thus, of the sharks, with serrated triangular teeth, whose relics are so 
 common in the Tertiary formations, and were formerly unknown in the 
 ancient Secondary, one representative has been found in the Carbonife- 
 rous system - l but, if teeth of this character should hereafter be discovered 
 in other Secondary deposits, the great preponderance of this type in the 
 Tertiary strata, and in the existing seas, would not be the less remark- 
 able. 
 
 
 LIST OF THE GENERA OF FOSSIL FISHES, OF WHICH THERE ARE 
 EXAMPLES OF ONE OR MORE SPEIES IN ROOM V. OF THE 
 BRITISH MUSEUM. 
 
 WALL-CASE A.-(l, to 5.) 
 Coccosteus. (C. decipiens, C. cuspidatus, from the Devonian of Cro- 
 
 marty ; C. oblongus, from Lethenbar.) 
 
 Cephalaspis. (C. Lyellii, from the Devonian formation, Forfarshire.) 
 Gyrolepis. (G. Kankinii.) 
 Pholidophorus. (P. taxis.) 
 Amblypterus. (A. macropterus.) 
 Pamphractus. (P. hydro philus.) 
 Diplacanthns. (D. striatus.) 
 Cheiracanthus. (C. microlepidotus.) 
 Pterichthys. (P. oblongus.) 
 Platysomus. 
 
 Cheirolepis. (C. Cummingiae, from Devonian strata, Cromarty.) 
 Acanthodes. (A. Brownii.) 
 
 Osteolepis. (0. intermedius, Devonian, Cromarty.) 
 Dapedius. (D. politus, D. Colei, lias of Dorsetshire.) 
 Tetragonolepis. (T. speciosus, from the lias, Lyme Kegis.) 
 Semionotus. (S. Bergeri, a group of several, in lias, Coburg.) 
 Paleeoniscus. (Several from the Zechstein of Thuringia.) 
 Lepidotus. (L. Fittoni, L. Mantelli, Wealden of Tilgate Forest.) 
 
 WALL-CASE B. (6, to 14.) 
 Dipterus, (D. macrolepidotus.) 
 
 Leptolepis. (Several species from the Oolite, Solenhofen.) 
 Sauropsis. (S. latus.) 
 
 1 Carcharopsis prototypus. 
 
452 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. V. 
 
 Megalichthys. (M. Hibbertii, carboniferous, Burdie House, near Edin- 
 burgh.) 
 
 Rhizodus. (R. Hibbertii.) 
 
 Pygopterus. (P. Humboldtii, copper slate of Mansfeld.) 
 
 Megalurus. (M. lepidotus.) 
 
 Eugnathus. (E. chirotes, lias of Wirtemberg.) 
 
 Thrissops. (T. formosus.) 
 
 Ptycholepis. (P. Bollensis, lias of Wirtemberg.) 
 
 Pachycormus. (P. gracilis.) 
 
 Caturus. (C. dubius, C. macrodus.) 
 
 Saurichthys. (S. apicalis.) 
 
 Acanthopleurus. (A. serratus.) 
 
 Aspidorhyncus. (A. acutirostris, very fine, from Monte Bolca.) 
 
 Plafcygnathus. (P. Jameson! .) 
 
 Belonostomus. (B. cinctus, from the chalk near Lewes.) 
 
 Acrolepis. (A. asper, from the Keuper schist.) 
 
 Diplopterus. (No species labelled.) 
 
 Holoptychius. (H. Flemingii, H. nobilissimus, from Devonian sand- 
 stone, Clashbinnie, near Perth.) 
 
 Glyptolepis. (G. leptopterus.) 
 
 Asterolepis. (A. Asmusii, Devonian of Riga.) 
 
 Bothriolepis. (B. priscus.) 
 
 Rhinellus. (R. furcatus.) 
 
 Macropoma. (M. Mantelli, Chalk formation, Lewes, Sussex.) 
 
 LophiostomusDixoni. A new ganoid from the South Downs, (ante, p. 433.) 
 
 Phyllolepis, (P. tenuissimus.) 
 
 WALL-CASE C. (15, to 23.) 
 
 Dercetis. (D. elongatus, from the chalk at Lewes.) 
 
 Blochius. (B. longirostris, Monte Bolca ; a very fine example.) 
 
 Acanthopleurus. (A. serratus, chalk formation, slate of Glaris.) 
 
 Pimelodus. (From the Sewalik Hills.) 
 
 Gyrodus. (S. angustus.) 
 
 Pycnodus. (P. gigas, from the Upper Oolite ; P. Mantelli, Wealden.) 
 
 Platysomus. (P. gibbosus.) 
 
 Placodus. (P. gigas, from the Muschelkalk of Franconia.) 
 
 Acrotemnus. (A. faba, Sussex chalk.) 
 
 Silurus. (S. Egertoni, eocene clay, Bracklesham, Sussex.) 
 
 Sphserodus. (S. gigas, from the Oolite.) 
 
 Phyllodus. 
 
 Microdon. (M. nuchatis, Lewes chalk ; M. hexagonus, Monte Bolca.) 
 
 Perca. (P. lepidota, from (Eningen ; very fine.) 
 
 Cyclopoma. (C. gigas, Monte Bolca.) 
 
 Pelates. (P. quindecimalis, Monte Bolca.) 
 
 Serranus. (S. occipitalis.) 
 
 Beryx. (B. Lewesiensis, Mantell, B. ornatus, Agassiz, Lewes chalk, dis- 
 covered in 1820.) 
 
 (B. radians, B. microcephalus, and B. superbus, from the 
 
 Lewes chalk.) 
 
 Smerdis. (S. minutus, Eocene, Aix, Provence.) 
 
 Rhacolepis. (R. Brama, R. latus, from the chalk formation of Brazil.) 
 
ROOM V. GENERA OP FOSSIL FISHES IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 453 
 
 Lates. (L. notseus, L. gibbus.) 
 
 Enoplosus. (E. pygopterus, Monte Bolca.) 
 
 Myripristis. (M. leptacanthus, Monte Bolca.) 
 
 Labrax. (L. schizurus, on a small slab there are four perfect fishes. 
 
 Monte Bolca.) 
 
 Homonotus. (H. dorsalis, Chalk.) 
 Stenostomus. (S. pulchellus, Sussex chalk.) 
 
 NOTE. Under the PERCOIDS in this Case there is a Table of the succession of 
 Pisciferous formations : the colours on the margins of each ticket in the Cases refer to 
 this Index-Table. 
 
 Sparnodus. (S. ovalis, and S. macropthalmus, from Monte Bolca.) 
 
 Sciaenurus. (S. Bowerbankii, eocene clay, Isle of Sheppey.) 
 
 Platax. (P. Woodwardii, chiefly teeth from the Crag.) 
 
 Ephippus. (E. Bucklandi, Sheppey.) 
 
 Xaseus. (N. rectifrons, Monte Bolca.) 
 
 Semiophorus. (S. velifer, Monte Bolca.) 
 
 Rhombus. (R. minimus, Monte Bolca.) 
 
 Mogil. (M. princeps, Aix, in Provence.) 
 
 Calamopleurus. (C. cylindricus, chalk of Brazil.) 
 
 Fiatularia. (P. Konigii, from the slate of Glaris.) 
 
 Gobius. (G. macrurus.) 
 
 Callipteryx. (C. recticaudus.) 
 
 Cottus. (C. brevis.) 
 
 Ductor. (D. leptosomus, Monte Bolca.) 
 
 Lichia. (L. prisca, Monte Bolca.) 
 
 Thynnus. (T. propterygius, Monte Bolca.) 
 
 Orcynus. (0. elongatus, Monte Bolca.) 
 
 Carangopsis. (C. dorsalis, Monte Bolca.) 
 
 Gasteronemus. (G. rhombeus, Monte Bolca.) 
 
 Cybium. (From the eocene clay, Isle of Sheppey.) 
 
 Enchodus. (E. halocyon, chalk, Lewes.) 
 
 Anenchelum. (A. Glarisianum, from Engi.) 
 
 Palymphes. (Many very fine specimens in Engi slate.) 
 
 Isurus. (I. macrurus, Glaris.) 
 
 Palaeorhyncum. (P. medium, in Engi slate.) 
 
 WALL-CASE D. (24, to 27.) 
 Tetrapturus. (T. minor, London clay, Sheppey.) 
 Caelorhyncus. (C. rectus.) 
 Cladocyclus. (C. Lewesiensis, chalk of Lewes.) 
 Sphyrsenodus. (S. priscus, Bracklesham.) 
 Pachyrhizodus. 
 
 Saurodon. (S. Leanus, Chalk, Lewes.) 
 Saurocephalus. (S. lanceolatus, from the chalk of Lewes.) 
 Archaeus. (A. Glarisianus.) 
 
 Sphenolepis. (S. squamosseus, from Aix ; S. Cuvieri, from Montmartre.) 
 Istieus. (I. microcephalus.) 
 Hypsodon. (H. Lewesiensis, from the chalk near Lewes, discovered 
 
 in 1821.) 
 
 Esox. ( E. lepidotus, from (Eningen ; a fine series of specimens.) 
 Tinea. (T. furcata, and T. leptosoma, from (Eningen.) 
 
454 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. V. 
 
 Leuciscus. (L. Hartmanni, from Steinheim ; L. papyraceus, from the 
 paper-coal of the Rhine.) 
 
 Clupea. (C. Scheuchzeri, from the slate of Glaris.) 
 
 Cobitis. (C. longiceps.) 
 
 Acrognathus. (A. boops, chalk, Lewes, ante, p. 446.) 
 
 Aulolepis. (A. typus, from the chalk, Lewes, ante, p. 447.) 
 
 Lebias. (L. cephalotes.) 
 
 Osmeroides. (0. Lewesiensis, and 0. Mantelli, from Lewes.) 
 
 Tomognathus. (From the Sussex chalk.) 
 
 Anguilla. (A. brevicula, A. pachyura, from (Eningen.) 
 
 Ampheristus. (A. toliapicus, London clay, Sheppey.) 
 
 Ehodeus. (R. elongatus.) 
 
 Acanthopsis. (A. angustus.) 
 
 Mallotus. (M. villosus. The Angmarset, from the West Coast of Green- 
 land.) 
 
 Remains of Fishes of the PLACOID ORDER, viz. Teeth, Rays, Spines, 
 Scales, &c. of Chimseroids, Squalidse or Sharks, Hybodons, Cestra- 
 cions, Pristides or Saw-fishes, and Rays. These are, for the most 
 part, in the Table-Cases, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, of the Plan of Room Y. 
 ante, p. 410. 
 
 CHIMJBROIDS: Ischyodus, Edaphodon, Ceratodus. 
 
 SQUALID^:: Carcharodon, Lamna, Otodus, Notidanus, Hybodus, Cla- 
 
 dodus. 
 CESTRACIONS : Strophodus, Acrodus, Orodus, Ptychodus, Psammodus, 
 
 Ctenodus, Ctenoptychius, Cochliodus. 
 ICHTHYODORULITES. Rays or spines of fins, dorsal or pectoral, belonging 
 
 to Cestracions, Chimseroids, and other genera of the Shark family : 
 
 Spinacanthus, Oracanthus, Ctenacanthus, Asteracanthus, Nemacan- 
 
 thus, Gyracanthus, Leptacanthus, Ptychacanthus. 
 PRISTIDES, or Saw-fish : Pristis. 
 RATS: JEtobatis, Miliobates. 1 
 
 * ** To MR. DA VIES, the intelligent Assistant, who has charge of this 
 collection, I am much indebted for his obliging attention during my 
 examination of its contents. 
 
 1 A list of the principal British localities of Fossil Fishes is given in " The Medals 
 of Creation," p. 679. 
 
CHAPTER V. PART IV. 
 FOSSIL MAMMALIA. 
 
 RHIKOCEROS IRISH ELK SIVATHERITJM. 
 
 FOSSIL RHINOCEROS. Wall-case E. With the fossil remains of Rumi- 
 nants described in a previous chapter (ante, p. 389), those of the 
 Rhinoceros are very commonly associated. The collection in this Case 
 consists of crania, jaws, many fine series of the teeth, and other parts of 
 the skeleton, of two species of this genus of pachyderms: they are 
 chiefly from the post-tertiary fresh-water deposits in the valley of the 
 Thames. There are also two or three crania of Rhinoceros from the 
 frozen soil of Siberia. 
 
 The fossil remains of one species of this genus (R. tichorinus), are 
 very abundant all over Europe in the ancient alluvial deposits, and in 
 the bone-caves. The most extraordinary fact relating to the fossil 
 Rhinoceros, is the discovery of the entire carcass in frozen sand, on the 
 banks of the Wilaji in Siberia. The head was large, and sustained two 
 very long horns ; there were no incisor teeth ; the skin had the ap- 
 pearance of leather, and was thinly covered with short hairs ; it was 
 not loose and in large folds as in the living species. 1 
 
 The fossils in this collection belong to the Rhinoceros tichorinus? 
 and R. leptorhinus. 3 The former is characterised by the prolongation 
 of the nasal bones in front of the nose, and their union with the in- 
 cisives : the ordinary cartilaginous septum which separates the nostrils 
 being osseous almost to the extremity. The incisor teeth were either 
 rudimentary or altogether absent. 
 
 This animal somewhat resembled the two-horned Rhinoceros of the 
 Cape ; but the structure of the nose, jaws, teeth, and skin, distinguishes it. 
 It is by far the most common fossil species, and must have anciently 
 existed in immense numbers throughout Europe, and been adapted to 
 inhabit more northern latitudes than the recent species. The Siberian 
 fossils belong to this type. 
 
 The other Rhinoceros of which there are remains in the Museum, 
 is the R. leptorhinus, which is separated from that last described, not 
 by the difference in the structure of the nostrils, as the name would seem 
 to import, but by well-marked maxillary and dental characters ; as 
 demonstrated in " Brit. Fossil Mammalia," p. 356. 
 
 FOSSIL ELK OP IRELABD, (Cervus megaceros.) Plan No. 15. The 
 shell-marls of Ireland contain in abundance the bones of an animal 
 which, like the Dodo, and the Moa, was once contemporary with the 
 human species, but has long been extinct ; the last individuals of the 
 race were, in all probability, exterminated by the early Celtic tribes. The 
 remains of this noble creature generally occur in the deposits of marl that 
 
 1 See "Wonders of Geology," pp. 152, 171. 
 
 2 " Rhinoceros fossil e & narines cloisonnees," of Cuvier. 
 
 3 " Rhinoceros, a narines non-cloisonnees et sans incisives," of Cuvier. 
 
456 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. V. 
 
 underlie the peat-bogs, which are apparently, like those of Scotland, the 
 sites of ancient lakes or bays. In Curragh great quantities of these 
 bones were found within a small area ; the skeletons appeared to be 
 entire, the skull was elevated, and the antlers were thrown back on the 
 shoulders, as if a herd of these Elks had sought refuge in the marshes, 
 and been engulfed in the morass. 
 
 This creature far exceeded in magnitude any living Elk or Deer. 
 The skeleton of the largest individual is upwards of ten feet in height 
 to the top of the skull, and the antlers are from nine to fourteen feet 
 from one extremity to the other. The perfect skeleton before us renders 
 a particular description unnecessary. The bones are generally well 
 preserved, of a dark brown colour, with patches of blue phosphate of 
 iron. In some instances they are in so fresh a condition, that the 
 hollows of the long bones contain marrow, having the appearance of 
 fresh suet. 
 
 Bones and antlers occur at Walton, in Essex, associated with skele- 
 tons of Mammoths, or fossil Elephants, 1 and have recently been dis- 
 covered by Mr. Mackie, imbedded with great numbers of the teeth, jaws, 
 and detached bones of Rhinoceros, Hippopotamus, Bos, Hyena, &c., in 
 a diluvial deposit at Folkstone. 
 
 Kemains of this majestic animal have been found collocated with 
 ancient sepulchral urns, stone implements, and rude single-trunk canoes, 
 in such manner as to leave no doubt that this now extinct species was 
 coeval with the aborigines of these Islands. 2 
 
 SIVATHERIUM (S. giganteum). Wall-case F. Among the highly 
 interesting mammalian remains from the Sewalik Hills, of which we 
 shall treat more at large in the next chapter, are those of one of the 
 most extraordinary extinct types of the Order Ruminantia hitherto dis- 
 covered, the Sivatherium ; of which there is a fine cranium, lower jaw 
 and teeth, and bones of the extremities in the Case before us. 3 
 
 The skull of this animal approaches in volume that of the Elephant ; 
 the neck was shorter and stronger than in the Giraffe ; the poste- 
 rior region of the skull extending from the orbits is greatly developed, 
 and apparently formed cellular protuberances as in the Elephant. 
 The face is short, and the nasal bones are remarkable for the man- 
 ner in which they are prolonged into a pointed arch above the ex- 
 ternal nostrils, indicating a trunk or proboscis. The very inclined 
 direction of the front of the face, in relation to the triturating sur- 
 face of the teeth, imparts a physiognomy altogether peculiar. Two 
 horns rise from the brow between the orbits, and diverge from each 
 
 1 "Wonders of Geology," p. 134. 
 
 2 See my " Lecture on the Remains of Man and Works of Art im- 
 bedded with remains of extinct animals." Delivered before the Archae- 
 ological Institute of Great Britain, at the Oxford Meeting, June 1850. 
 Archceological Journal, for January, 1851. 
 
 3 The Sivatherium (so named from Siva, an Indian deity), was dis- 
 covered and described by Dr. Falconer and Major Cautley. See a 
 Memoir on the " Sivatherium giganteum, a new fossil ruminant genus, 
 from the valley of the Markanda." Journal of the Asiatic Society. 
 
ROOM V. 
 
 CEPHALOPODA, 
 
 457 
 
 other ; and it is probable that the posterior protuberances of the fore- 
 head also supported a pair of short massive horns. 
 
 The living Sivatherium must have 
 resembled an immense Gnu or Ante- 
 lope, with a short, thick head, and an 
 elevated cranium crested with two pairs 
 of horns; the front pair small, the 
 hinder large (perhaps palmated), and 
 set behind as in the Aurochs ; it had 
 small lateral eyes, great lips, and a 
 nasal proboscis, an organ unknown 
 in all living ruminants. The model 
 of another species (S. Perimense), is 
 deposited in the same Case. 
 
 CAMELUS (C. Sivalensis). Wall- 
 case E. Crania, jaws and teeth, of a 
 species of Camel, from the tertiary 
 deposits of the Sewalik Hills, are L)GN 98 
 
 deposited on the upper shelves of this SKULL OP THE SIVATHERIUM GIGAN- 
 Case ; they are in a fine State of pre- TEUM; FROM THE SUB-HIMALAYAS. 
 servation. The original was nearly (^ not. size.) 
 
 related to the existing species of Camels, but exceeded them by at least 
 one-seventh in height. 1 
 
 There are likewise remains of a species of Giraffe, from the same 
 locality, but I have not been able to obtain any precise information 
 respecting them. 
 
 CHAPTER V. PART V. 
 FOSSIL CEPHALOPODA. 
 
 FOSSIL CEPHALOPODA. Table-cases on the south side of Room V. The 
 six Table-cases on the right of the entrance from Room IV. are devoted 
 to the fossil Cephalopoda, and contain an extensive collection of Am- 
 monites, Nautili, and other shells of the mollusca of this order. 
 
 The Cephalopoda are composed of a body which is either naked, as in 
 the Sepia or Cuttle-fish, or enclosed in a shell, as in the Nautilus and 
 Argonaut ; with a distinct head, eyes as perfect as in the vertebrata, 
 complicated organs of hearing, and a powerful masticatory apparatus, 
 surrounded by arms or tentacula. Below this head there is a tube, 
 which serves as a locomotive instrument to propel the animal backwards 
 by the ejection of water which has served the purpose of respiration, 
 and can be thrown out with considerable force by the contraction of 
 the body. The fossil remains consist of the external shell, and the 
 internal osselet of the Sepiadse, and rarely of the body and arms, ink- 
 bag, mandibles, &c. as in some splendid examples from the Oxford 
 Clay of Wiltshire, in this collection. 
 
 1 " Note on the fossil Camel of the Sewalik Hills." Journal of the 
 Asiatic Society. 
 
458 
 
 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 ,''' Viv .'' 'I "'t" : ' '''. ' 
 
 The elegance and variety of form of the shells of the numerous fossil 
 Cephalopoda are beautifully exhibited in the series of Nautili, Ammo- 
 nites, &c. deposited in these Cases, which 
 comprises a large number of the British spe- 
 cies, arranged and named, with their respec- 
 tive geological habitats affixed. 
 
 Our limits will not admit of special notice 
 of any of these specimens, with the exception 
 of some remarkable examples of two genera 
 of naked Cephalopoda, Belemnites and Be- 
 lemnoteuthis, in Table-case 3, which display 
 every part of the structure of these extinct 
 forms at present known. 
 
 BELEMNITES. Lign. 99. Table-case 3. 
 The cylindrical or fusiform stones, termi- 
 nating in a point at one end and having 
 at the other a conical cavity, of a dark brown 
 colour, and of a radiated sparry structure in- 
 ternally, must be familiar to most of my 
 readers by the name of Belemnite, (see Lign. 
 99, c.). These stones are the fossil osselets 
 or internal support of an extinct type of 
 cephalopoda allied to the Sepiadge or Cuttle- 
 fish. In the more perfect specimens, a conical 
 chambered shell, called the phragmocone^ 
 composed of a series of shallow concave cells, 
 of a nacreous substance, and pierced by a si- 
 phunculus, occupies the cavity of the belem- 
 nite ; and it has recently been discovered that 
 this phragmocone extended to a considerable 
 length, and terminated at the basal or cephalic 
 end, in two long processes ; and that a horny 
 capsule or integument invested the belem- 
 nite and the phragmocone, so as to form 
 a receptacle in which the viscera of the 
 animal were probably contained. These struc- 
 tures are very rarely found in the same 
 specimen; but the very fine Belemnite in 
 the Case before us, (collected by MR. BUY, 
 of Chippenham, who is well known for his 
 skill and sagacity in discovering and deve- 
 loping fossils of this kind,) displays the 
 several parts very distinctly ; they con- 
 sist of, 
 
 1. An external Capsule, which invested 
 the guard, or osselet (sepiostaire), and ex- 
 tending upwards, constituted the external 
 sheath of the receptacle. 
 
 2. The Osselet, characterised by its fibrous 
 radiated structure, terminates distally in 
 
 a solid rostrum or guard, (c,) which has an alveolus, or conical cavity, to 
 
 LIGN. 99. 
 
 BELEMNITES PUZOSIANUS; 
 OXFORD CLAY, CHRISTIAN 
 MALFORD, WILTS. 
 (i nat. size.) 
 
 a, one of the basal processes of 
 the phragmocone. 
 
 b, the phragmocone. 
 
 c, the rostrum or guard of the 
 osselet, containing the apex 
 of the phragmocone in its 
 upper part. 
 
ROOM V. 
 
 BELEMXITES BELEMNOTEUTHIS. 
 
 459 
 
 ! 
 
 receive the apical portion of the 
 chambered phragmocone, and ex- 
 panding proximally, becomes con- 
 fluent with the capsule. 
 
 3. The Phragmocone, or cham- 
 bered, siphunculated, internal shell, 
 (&,) the apex of which occupies the 
 cavity of the guard, and the upper 
 part constitutes a capacious cham- 
 ber, from the basilar margin of 
 which proceed two long, flat, testa- 
 ceous processes, (a.). 
 
 These structures comprise all that 
 are at present known of the animal 
 to which the fossil commonly called 
 " Bdemnite " belonged. 
 
 In the specimen discovered by 
 my son, Mr. Reginald Seville Man- 
 tell, in the Oxford Clay, near Trow- 
 bridge, (and which first showed the 
 investing capsule of the guard and 
 phragmocone, and the processes of 
 the latter,) there is a thin layer of a 
 carbonaceous substance of a fibrous 
 structure, spread over the interspace 
 between the elongated processes ; 
 and this is the only trace of the 
 soft parts of the animal of the 
 Belemnite, that has come under 
 my observation. 1 
 
 BELEMNOTEUTHIS. Lign. 100. 
 Table-case 3. Associated with 
 the Belemnites in the Oxford Clay 
 of Wiltshire, there are great num- 
 bers of the osselets of a cephalopod 
 allied to the Sepiadae, which the 
 late Channing Pearce, Esq of Bath, LIGN . IOO ._BEL E MXOT E UTHIS AXTIQUUS, 
 described under the name of Belem- FROM OXFORD CLAY, CHRISTIAN MAL- 
 noteuikis antiquus, in a communi- 
 cation to the Geological Society, in 
 1842. Mr. Pearce stated, " that the 
 lower part of this cephalopod is 
 conical, blunt at the apex, and 
 chambered internally, like the al- 
 veolus (phragmocone) of a Belem- 
 nite, with a siphunculus near the 
 edge of the chambers. It has a 
 brown thick shelly covering, which 
 gradually becomes thinner towards the upper part. 
 
 PORD, WILTS. ($ not. size.) 
 (Drawn by S.P. Woodward, Esq.) 
 a. The arms, and tentacula. 
 6. Remains of the head. 
 
 c. The mantle, with indications of lateral 
 
 d. The ink-bag, covered by the pallial 
 
 integument. 
 
 e. The osselet; the transverse lines indi- 
 
 cate the septa of the phragmocone. 
 /. The apex or rostrum of the osselet. 
 
 Above the cham- 
 
 See my " Pictorial Atlas of Organic Remains," p. 171 
 
460 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. V. 
 
 bers there is an ink-bag lying on what appears to be part of a sepi- 
 ostaire, for it is a yellowish substance, finely striated transversely, 
 and composed of laminae of unequal density." 1 The soft body of the 
 animal, of an elongated form, with a pair of lateral fins, two large sessile 
 eyes, eight uncinated arms, a pair of long tentacula, and a sac, or 
 ink-bag, containing the inspissated sepia, are preserved in juxtaposi- 
 tion in several examples discovered by Mr. Pearce, Mr. Buy, my son, 
 and other collectors. A splendid specimen in the Case before us shows 
 these several parts. (Lign. 100.) 
 
 The osselet, or guard of the Belemnoteuthis, like that of the Belem- 
 nite, is of a nbro-radiated structure, and contains a chambered shelly 
 phragmocone ; it is of a horny texture, and is never fossilized by calca- 
 reous spar, as is almost invariably the case with that of the Belemnite. 
 
 Professor 0\ven, in a communication to the Eoyal Society in 1844, 2 
 described the Belemnoteuthis as the soft parts of the Belemnite ; a mis- 
 take the more extraordinary as Mr. Channing Pearce's correct interpre- 
 tation of the true nature of the Belemnoteuthis was published two years 
 previously. Professor Owen, assuming that the osselet of the latter (see 
 Lign. 100, e,f.) was the phragmocone of the former separated from its 
 rostrum or guard, (Lign. 99, c,) blended these two distinct genera 
 into one, and gave a restored figure of the animal, based on this erro- 
 neous idea of the Belemnite (Philos. Trans. 1844, PI. VIII.). 3 The disco- 
 very of some remarkably perfect Belemnites by my son, when constructing 
 a branch of the Great Western Railway, first drew my attention to the 
 subject, and convinced me of the mistake into which Professor Owen 
 had fallen, and of the accuracy of the original interpretation of Mr. 
 Channing Pearce, which that sagacious and acute observer, Mr. Charles- 
 worth, had always declared to be the true one. The result of my inves- 
 tigations was communicated to the Royal Society, and is published in 
 the Phil Trans. 1848, and 1850. 4 
 
 1 " Proceedings of the Geological Society," vol. iii. p. 593. 
 
 2 " A Description of certain Belemnites found with a great proportion 
 of their soft parts, in the Oxford Clay, at Christian Malford in Wilt- 
 shire." Phil. Trans. 1844, p. 65. For this memoir one of the Royal 
 Medals was awarded. 
 
 3 An abstract of this memoir, and a figure of the cephalopodous mer- 
 maid as that of the animal of the Belemnite, are given in my " Medals of 
 Creation," p. 468, for which I beg to apologise to the purchasers of that 
 work ; the error will be corrected in the edition now in preparation. 
 See " Pictorial Atlas of Organic Remains," article Belemnite, p. 170. 
 
 4 In those communications I most studiously endeavoured to avoid 
 giving offence to the eminent anatomist, whose genius and industry I so 
 much admire, and whose scientific labours I have so highly eulogized, and 
 have done everything in my power to promote, by placing at his disposal 
 original drawings of considerable value, and hundreds of specimens col- 
 lected by my son; but, alas ! to doubt Professor Owen's infallibility was 
 a deadly sin, and I have no hope of forgiveness ! hence originated the 
 " unamidble exaggerations" and " misrepresentations" which I have 
 been compelled in self-defence, and to my deep regret, to notice in a 
 previous chapter (ante, p. 192). 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 PART I. 
 
 PLAN OP ROOM VI. SYNOPSIS OP CONTENTS ELEPHANTS AND MASTODONS 
 FROM THE SEWALIK HILLS MAMMALIAN BONES FROM CAVES IN BRAZIL 
 FOSSIL HUMAN SKELETON MAMMALIAN BONES FROM KIRKDALE, TOR- 
 QUAY, AND GAILENREUTH CAVES PAL^OTHERIA AND ANOPLOTHERIA 
 
 MEGATHERIUM ELEPHAS GANESA MASTODON OHIOTICUS TUSKS AND 
 
 BONES OF MAMMOTHS AND MASTODONS FOSSIL ECHINODERMS, CRUSTA- 
 CEANS, AND BRACHIOPODA FOSSIL ZOOPHYTES FOSSIL ALLIGATOR OP 
 
 HORDWELL DINOTHERI0M HIPPURITES AND SPHERULITES. 
 
 WE now enter the last room of this noble Gallery of Organic 
 Remains ; it is in a great measure appropriated to the fossil 
 relics of extinct mammalia, and especially to those of the 
 colossal Proboscidean Pachyderms, and Edentata. The coup 
 d'oeil is very imposing, for the model of the gigantic Mega- 
 therium arrests the attention of the visitor on entering the 
 apartment, and beyond it stands the fine skeleton of the 
 Mastodon of the Ohio ; and between these two grand monu- 
 ments of a former state of the globe, is the skull with its 
 enormous tusks, of an extinct species of Elephant from India ; 
 while the surrounding Cases exhibit a splendid collection of 
 crania, jaws, teeth, tusks, and bones, of various species of the 
 same tribes of mammalia. 
 
 The history of these highly interesting objects must be 
 familiar to the intelligent reader, for almost every one has 
 heard of the Mammoths entombed in ice in Siberia, 1 of the 
 Mastodons swamped in the ancient morasses of North America, 2 
 of the colossal beings of the Sloth tribe, whose skeletons are 
 imbedded in the alluvial plains of the Pampas, 3 and of the 
 fossil remains of similar animals, together with those of other 
 genera of Mammalia and Reptiles, in the tertiary deposits of 
 
 * "Wonders of Geology," p. 152. 2 Ibid. p. 156. 3 Ibid. p. 164. 
 
462 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. VL 
 
 PLAN OF ROOM VI. 
 
 ]0 
 
 Room V. 
 ] II I 
 
 Megatherium 
 
 H 
 
 EDI C 
 
 Prirate 
 
 Room 
 
ROOM VI. SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS. 463 
 
 the Sub-Himalayan mountains. l The petrified Human Ske- 
 leton from the coral-rocks of Guadaloupe must also be well 
 known from the figures and descriptions of this interesting 
 fossil, that have appeared in every elementary work on 
 Geology. 2 
 
 It will, therefore, be unnecessary, in reviewing this grand assemblage 
 of Organic Kemains, to enter so largely on the nature and history of the 
 respective objects, as I felt it necessary to do in attempting to render 
 many of the fossils contained in the rooms we have passed under exami- 
 nation, intelligible and interesting to the unscientific observer; and 
 the limits necessarily prescribed to this volume, render details inadmis- 
 sible. Under the following general heads, the most important specimens 
 will be concisely noticed; I. Synopsis of the Contents of Room VI. 
 II. Fossil Mammalia from the Sewalik Hills. III. Mastodons and Ele- 
 phants of North America. IV. Mammalian remains from the Tertiary 
 formations of Europe. V. The Megatherium and other fossil Edentata 
 of South America. VI. Fossil Mammalia of the Caverns. VII. Petri- 
 fied Human Skeleton of Guadaloupe. 
 
 The fossil Invertebrata in the Table-cases are so well arranged, and 
 so distinctly labelled, as to be readily understood and identified, and 
 require no especial description. 
 
 ROOM VI. 
 
 (70 feet long.) 
 
 SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS. 
 
 "WALL-CASES A and B. The cases on the left or south side of this 
 room contain an extensive and matchless collection of the fossil remains 
 of Elephants and Mastodons ; the suite of crania, jaws and teeth, and 
 tusks, comprises specimens of extraordinary interest, and would alone 
 confer celebrity on any Gallery of Organic Remains. These petrifactions 
 are chiefly from the Tertiary deposits of the Sewalik Hills, in Northern 
 India, and were collected by Major Proby T. Cautley, and Dr. Falconer ; 
 there are likewise some fine examples of similar parts of skeletons of 
 Mammoths and Mastodons from the alluvial beds of North America. 
 
 The skulls and teeth of the Elephantine family commence in Case A, 
 and the specimens are placed serially according to their affinity to the 
 kindred group, the Mastodons. The latter occupy the western end of 
 Case B; and the transitional types are placed in the central division of 
 the cabinet ; thus constituting a most instructive series of the crania, 
 and maxillary and dental organs, of the extinct forms of proboscidean 
 pachyderms. 
 
 The skulls are named and arranged in the following order : 
 
 1 " Wonders of Geology," p. 162. 2 Ibid. p. 88. 
 
464 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. VI. 
 
 ELEPHANTS. MASTODONS. 
 
 1. Elephas Namadicus, from India. 7. Mastodon Andium, South America. 
 
 planifrons, 
 
 3. insignis, 
 
 4. Ganesa, 
 
 5. bombifrons, 
 
 Hysudricus,- 
 
 A magnificent cranium and tusks of 
 this species ; and a rich series of 
 teeth from Buenos Ayres. 
 
 8. Mastodon Ohipticus, North America. 
 
 9. Perimensis, India. 
 
 In Case A, there are likewise teeth 10. Sivalensis, 
 
 and tusks of the European fossil 11. latidens, 
 
 Elephants; viz. angustidens, Europe. 
 
 Elephas priscus. longirostris, . 
 
 meridionalis. Arvernensis, 1 
 
 primigenius. The crown of a molar tooth of this 
 
 These specimens are not labelled. species, from the Crag, figured by 
 
 Dr. Smith in the frontispiece of his 
 " Strata identified by Organic Re- 
 mains," is placed in this Case. 
 
 Watt-case O, is devoted to fossil mammalia from the caves of Minas 
 Geraes in Brazil. The upper division contains some fine bones of the 
 Scelidotherium, an animal allied to the Megatherium, and portions of 
 the dermal cuirass of Glyptodon, and Chlamydotherium ; and bones of a 
 large species of Machairodus. In the lower compartment are similar re- 
 mains, and bones and teeth of existing mammalia from the same caves, 
 belonging to species of Monkey, Opossum, &c.; with these are associated 
 shells incrusted with stalagmite of a large existing terrestrial mollusk 
 (Bulimus). 
 
 Wall-case D. A fossil HUMAN SKELETON, imbedded in modern con- 
 cretionary limestone, from the sea-shore of the island of Guadaloupe ; 
 presented by Admiral the Honourable Sir Alexander Cochrane. The 
 table in front of this Case, is a slab of the rock in which the skeleton 
 was imbedded. 
 
 Wall-case E. A very choice collection of skulls, jaws, teeth, &c. of 
 Bears, Hyenas, and other carnivora, from the caves of Gailenreuth in 
 Germany, Kirkdale in Yorkshire, and Torquay in Devonshire. 
 
 Wall-case F. In this Case, which is on the right of the entrance 
 from Koom Y. (see plan, ante, p. 462), are specimens and models of 
 Palasotheria, Anoplotheria, and allied extinct genera of pachyderms from 
 the eocene deposits of France ; principally from the gypsum quarries at 
 Montmartre, near Paris. Several of the specimens, and the greater 
 part of the models, were formerly in my collection, having been given 
 me by Baron Cuvier. On the uppermost shelf there is a fine example 
 of the upper and lower jaws with teeth, collected and presented to me 
 by M. Constant Prevost: and a beautiful lower jaw imbedded in lime- 
 stone, which I obtained from a quarry at Montmartre, and succeeded in 
 exposing it in its present perfect state. 
 
 1 M. Arvernensis, so named from Auvergne, the district in which 
 this species was first identified. I would here supply an omission in the 
 account of the Fossil Mammalia from the Tertiary deposits of Auvergne, 
 given in a previous Chapter; ante, p. 353. The collection should have 
 been described as having been formed in part by M. Croizet; most of 
 the specimens exhibited were purchased of this eminent observer; many 
 of M. Pomel's are not yet arranged. 
 
ROOM VI. SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS. 465 
 
 . SKELETON OF MEGATHERIUM CUVIEKI vel AMERICANTJM. This was 
 modelled from the original separate bones ; some of which are in this 
 collection, and others in the Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of 
 Surgeons. It is twelve feet long, and eight feet high. The annexed 
 outline (Lign. 112), is the first published representation of this inte- 
 resting skeleton, and has been drawn with great care by the eminent 
 artist, Mr. Joseph Dinkel. 1 
 
 H. Skull and tusks, of ELEPHAS GANESA; a remarkable fossil 
 Elephant, from India; presented by Major Baker, of the Bengal 
 Engineers. 
 
 /. Skeleton of MASTODON OHIOTICUS, or Mastodon of the Ohio, from 
 North America ; it is 9 feet 7 inches high, and 20 feet long. The tusks 
 are 7 feet 2 inches in length, and 9 inches in diameter. On the same 
 platform there are 5 bones of the fore-foot (3 carpals and 2 metacarpals), 
 nearly twice as large in linear dimensions as the corresponding parts in 
 the above skeleton, of the Elephas mei*idionalis, dug up in the brick- 
 field at Grays, in Essex. 
 
 Under the above skeleton, is placed the model of a perfect cranium and 
 lower jaw of a very young Mastodon; the germs of the tusks are just 
 appearing : it measures 2 feet from the front of the jaw to the occiput, 
 and 1^ from the summit of the skull to the inferior margin of the lower 
 jaw. 
 
 ON THE TOP OP THE WALL-CASES. 
 
 A. a. A fine series of tusks of the Mammoth (Elephas primigeuius), 
 from Drift ; some of them are from the Arctic regions, and were brought 
 home by the Officers of the Expedition sent in search of Sir J. Franklin. 
 Among these is an enormous tusk curved upwards in a spiral direction, 
 which is of the extraordinary length of 12| feet : it was dug up in 
 frozen gravel on the banks of Mackenzie River. 
 
 B. b. Bones of Mammoths from the alluvium of North America; 
 and of Elephants and Mastodons from the Sewalik Hills. 
 
 c. Skulls of the existing Indian Elephant of the two varieties, one 
 with short, the other with long tusks. 
 
 d. Bones of Mastodons (Mastodon Ohioticus), and Mammoths (Ele- 
 phas primigenius), chiefly of the extremities, vertebrae, &c. from the 
 alluvial deposits of North America : some of them are from Big-bone 
 Lick, others from the State of Missouri. 
 
 TABLE-CASES and UPRIGHT-CASES ; on the north side of Room VI. 
 1. ECHINITES, or fossil Echinoderms. An extensive suite of species 
 and genera from various formations, (at present in Table-case 1, Room V.) 
 will occupy this cabinet. The specimens are admirably arranged and 
 named, so as to be easily identified and examined. It is a most instruc- 
 tive collection for the palaeontological student, for it comprises a consi- 
 derable number of the fossil genera of this order of Radiata, viz. 
 
 1 Of 17, Upper King Street, Bloomsbury Square. 
 H H 
 
466 PETKIFAOTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. VI 
 
 Ananchytes, Echinocorys, Echinolampas, Holaster, Galerites, Cidaris 
 Diadema, Acrosalenia, Glypticus, Disaster, Pygurus, Clypeaster, Scutella 
 Salmasis, Echinocyanus, &C. 1 There is also a good series of echini ta: 
 spines. The Chalk Cidarites with spines, and those from the Oolite, are 
 very beautiful ; many of my choicest examples of Echinoderms disco 
 vered in the Chalk of Sussex are in this cabinet. 
 
 2. In this Table will be deposited a collection of fossil Insects and 
 Crustaceans. Among the former are beautiful specimens of Neuroptera. 
 Diptera, &c. from the eocene strata of Aix, in Provence. There is a re 
 markable and unique fossil wing of an insect in an ironstone nodule 
 from Coalbrook Dale, discovered by me, and named Gorydalis Brong- 
 niarti. 2 
 
 The fossil crustaceans are chiefly of the extinct family of Trilobites> 
 and comprise many species from the palaeozoic strata. 3 
 
 There are also species of Astacidae allied to the Lobster and Cray- 
 fish, and of Canceridae, from the Chalk, (Astacus Leachii, A. Sussex- 
 siensis, figured in my " Fossils of the South Downs") ; 4 and others ol 
 the same family from Solenhofen. There are likewise a few crustaceans 
 from the tertiary deposits of the Isle of Sheppey, Malta, &c. 
 
 3. A miscellaneous collection of fossil zoophytes, ventriculites, choan- 
 ites, &c. the greater part from the chalk of Sussex, collected by the 
 Author. 5 
 
 Table-case 4. FOSSIL CORALS. A miscellaneous collection of Zoo- 
 phytes. 
 
 5. A very fine series of (Terebratulce) Brachiopodous shells, named 
 and arranged by Mr. "Woodward. A most instructive and beautiful 
 collection, comprising many unique, and rare examples. 
 
 6. Unoccupied. 
 
 7. Another fine series of fossil Brachiopodous shells; comprising 
 many species of the genera Spirifer, Orthis. Leptcena, Productus, 
 Crania, Lingula, &c. 6 
 
 8. Unoccupied. 
 
 9. (Upright-case, 4) This Case contains on the upper shelf the 
 cranium and lower jaw of the Megatherium, from which the cast of the 
 restored skeleton was taken : in the middle compartment there are ribs 
 and vertebrae, and in the lowest a series of the caudal vertebrae, sixteen 
 in number, as perfect as in a recent skeleton. 
 
 10. (Upright-case, 3.) Other remains of the Megatherium : here are 
 the originals of the bones of the feet, and of the humerus, and ulna, of 
 the model. 
 
 11. (Table-case.) A highly interesting collection of jaws, teeth, and 
 
 1 See "Medals of Creation," ch. xi. p. 840. 
 
 2 " Medals of Creation," vol. ii. p. 578. 
 
 3 Ibid. p. 552. 
 
 4 Ibid. p. 536. 
 
 5 For a popular account of Yentriculites and Choanites, see " Thoughts- 
 on a Pebble, or a first Lesson in Geology," 8th edition, with numerous 
 plates. 
 
 e "Medals of Creation," p. 378. 
 
ROOM VI. 
 
 SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS. 
 
 467 
 
 bones, of several species of Crocodile, Alligator, and other reptiles, from 
 the Eocene deposits at Hordwell, Hants : collected and presented to the 
 British Museum by SEARLES WOOD, Esq. F.G.S. 
 
 LIGN. 101. ALLIGATOR HAXTOKIENSIS; FROM HORDWELL. 
 (i not. size.) 
 
 ALLIGATOR HAKTOXIENSIS. This fine lower jaw was figured and 
 described in the " London Palaeontological Journal," PI. I. It closely 
 resembles that of a species of Crocodile (C. Hastingsioe), discovered by 
 the Marchioness of Hastings in the same locality ; but the presence in 
 the upper jaw of the sockets for the reception of the inferior canines 
 when the mouth is closed, establishes its generic character. 
 
 First Caudal Vertebra ofCrocodilusHastingsice. 
 I would direct attention to another fossil in this 
 Case, in illustration of a fact described in a former 
 chapter, (ante, p. 168.) The first vertebra of the 
 tail of a species of Crocodile, showing the double 
 convexity of the centrum. (Lign. 102.) 
 
 12. (Upright-case, 2.) Model of the cranium, 
 and of the lower jaw and tusks, of the Dinotherium 
 giganteum, from the miocene strata at Epplesheim, 
 by Mr. Kaup. This skull, including the lower 
 jaw, is about 2 feet high, and 3 feet long from chin 
 to occiput ; the tusks, including the projecting 
 sockets sent off from the lower jaw, are 3 feet in 
 length; the excluded tusks measuring 15 inches. 
 This Case contains also a fine suite of molar teeth. 
 
 Femur from Epplesheim, supposed to belong 
 
 LIGN. 102. 
 
 FIRST CAUDAL VERTE- 
 BRA OF CROCODILUS 
 HASTINGSI.Z. 
 (i not. size.} 
 
 to the Dinotherium*: * a model in* the recess of" the window; length, 
 feet; circumference of the shaft, 25 inches; of the head of the bone, 
 29 inches. 
 
 13. (Table-case.) A miscellaneous collection of Eeptilian remains from 
 the Wealden of Tilgate Forest, (from the collection of the Author,) are 
 placed here provisionally. There are many highly interesting speci- 
 mens in this Case, that were obtained with much labour and trouble 
 from the strata of Tilgate Forest ; but until they are classified and 
 labelled, any attempt to refer to a particular fossil would be useless. 
 
 14. ( Upright-case, 1.) Model of one ramus of the lower jaw, with tusk, 
 
468 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. VI. 
 
 of Dinotherium. A very fine specimen of part of the cranium, with the 
 maxillary bones and six molars of a Dinotherium from Epplesheim ; 
 purchased of M. Kaup. 
 
 15. (Table-case.) Fossil Brachiopodous shells of the order JRudistes, 
 comprising some beautiful examples of Hippurites, Spherulites, &c. 
 Among these is a fine specimen from Mr. Dixon's collection, of a species 
 discovered by me in the chalk of Sussex, and named Spherulites Mor- 
 toni. 1 There are likewise fossil Balani, Serpula, &c. but their arrange- 
 ment is only provisional. 
 
 Fossil Jaw of a Whale, from the Elephant-bed, Brighton Cliff. 
 There were formerly in this room several portions of the left ramus of 
 the lower jaw of a Whale, discovered in the ancient shingle-bed asso- 
 ciated with bones of Elephants, in the cliff to the East of Brighton. 2 
 
 CHAPTER VI. PART II. 
 FOSSIL MAMMALIA OF THE SEWALIK HILLS. 
 
 PALEONTOLOGY OF THE SEWALIK HILLS. Wall-cases A. and B. 
 The splendid collection of fossil bones in the Cases before us, is almost 
 wholly the result of the researches of Major Proby Cautley and Dr. 
 Falconer, in the tertiary deposits of the Sub-Himalayas or Sewalik 3 
 range, which skirts the southern base of the Himalayas, and attains an 
 altitude of from one to three thousand feet above the level of the sea. 
 The strata in which these remains were found consist of concretionary 
 grit, conglomerate, sandstone, and loam, and are spread over the 
 flanks of the hills, and extend about 200 miles in length, with an 
 average breadth of about 7 miles, and dip to the north at an angle of 
 from 20 to 30. Wherever gullies and fissures, or water-courses, 
 exposed sections of the beds, abundance of fossil bones were met with. 
 Lignite and trunks of dicotyledonous trees, and a few freshwater and 
 land shells, were found mingled with the animal remains ; and some 
 vestiges of a species of fluviatile fish related to the recent Silurus. The 
 bones in the sandstone and conglomerate are very much in the condi- 
 tion of those of the reptiles in the Wealden grit, and are as difficult to 
 clear from the rock, as I had personal experience in a fine collection 
 sent to me in 1836, from Suharunpoor, by Major Cautley ; and I can, there- 
 fore, duly appreciate the labour and skill bestowed on the specimens in 
 the British Museum, by Mr. James Dew, by whom these interesting fos- 
 sils were developed. 
 
 1 " Medals of Creation," p. 430, Lign. 98. 
 
 2 See "Medals of Creation," p. 824. 
 
 3 " Sewalik, a corruption of Siva-wala, a name given to the tract oil 
 mountains between the Jumna and the Ganges." Major Cautley. 
 
BOOM VI. ELEPHANTS AND MASTODONS OF SEWALIK HILLS. 469 
 
 The following extract from the prospectus of a work on these fossils, 
 by Dr. Falconer, will convey some idea of the rich and extraordinary 
 assemblage of mammalian remains which have been collected from the 
 Sewalik deposits. 
 
 " This fossil Fauna is composed of representative types of mammalia 
 of all geological ages, from the oldest of the tertiary periods down to 
 the most modern; and of all the geographical divisions of the Old 
 Continent, grouped together into one comprehensive assemblage. 
 Among the forms contained in it there are of the Pachydermata, 
 several species of Mastodon, Elephant, Hippopotamus, Khinoceros, 
 Anoplotherium, and three species of Equus : of the Ruminantia, the 
 colossal genus Sivatherium (ante, p. 457), which is peculiar to India, 
 with species of Camelus, Bos, Cervus, and Antelope ; of the Carnivora, 
 species of most of the great types, together with several remarkable 
 undescribed genera ; of the Rodentia and Quadrumana, several species ; 
 of the Reptilia, a gigantic Tortoise (Colosso-chelys, ante, pp. 11, 77), with 
 species of Emys and Trionyx, and several forms of Gavials and Croco- 
 diles. To these may be added the remains of Struthious and other 
 Birds: and Fishes, Crustacea, and Mollusca." 1 Thus, in the Sub- 
 Himalayas we have entombed in the same rocky sepulchre, bones of the 
 
 LIGX. 103. CRANIUM AND JAWS LIGK. 104. CRANIUM AND JAWS op 
 
 or ELEPHAS PLANIFRONS. ELEPHAS NAMADICUS. 
 
 (& not. size.) (^ not. size.) 
 
 most ancient tertiary races of mammalia and reptilia,with those of species 
 actually existing in India at the present time. 
 
 ELEPHANTS AND MASTODONS. The Elephants of the Sewalik Hills, of 
 which there are crania and teeth in the collection, comprise six species, 
 as specified in the Synopsis ; and I would direct particular attention to 
 
 1 " Fauna Antiqua Sivalensis, being the Fossil Zoology of the Sewalik 
 Hills in the North of India." By Dr. Falconer and Major Proby T. 
 Cautley. London: 1846. 
 
470 
 
 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. VI. 
 
 the cranial peculiarities and physiognomy of Elephas planifrons, dis- 
 tinguished by the flatness of the forehead (Lign. 103), and the inter- 
 mediate character of its 
 molar teeth ; E. Namadicus, 
 with a great vertical develop- 
 ment of the cranium (Lign. 
 104), and teeth closely al- 
 lied to those of the Indian 
 species; and the enormous 
 turban-like vertex of the skull 
 of E. Hysudricus (Lign. 
 105), the structure of whose 
 teeth approaches that of the 
 African Elephant. 
 
 Elephas Ganesa. In the 
 centre of Koom VI. (H. of the 
 plan, ante, p. 462). Among 
 the Indian fossil elephants 
 there is one species remark- 
 able for the enormous size of 
 the tusks in proportion to 
 LIGN. 105. CRANIUM AND JAWS OF ELEPHAS the skull; of this animal 
 HYSUDRICUS. (& nat. size.) there is a splendid specimen 
 
 deposited in the centre of 
 
 this room. The total length of the cranium and tusks is fourteen feet ; 
 length of the skull, four feet two inches ; width, twenty-nine inches ; 
 
 LIGN. 106. CRANIUM AND TUSKS op ELEPHAS GANESA. 
 (The original is \\feet long.) 
 
 width of the muzzle, two feet ; length of the tusks, ten feet ; circum- 
 ference of the tusk at the base, twenty-six inches. 
 
 MASTODONS. The fossil remains of this extinct tribe of the elephantine 
 family, thus named from the peculiar form of the crowns of the molar 
 teeth, are found in equal abundance with those of the Elephants in the 
 Sewalik tertiary deposits, and four species have been determined by 
 Dr. Falconer, as enumerated in the Synopsis, (ante, p. 464.) 
 
 The Mastodons resembled the Elephants in their general character ; 
 having a convex cellular cranium, large tusks in the upper jaw, and a 
 
ROOM VI. MASTODONS. 471 
 
 long trunk or proboscis. The molars differ from those of the Elephant 
 in their simple crown composed of dentine and enamel, disposed in 
 large transverse tubercles, each of which is subdivided into two obtuse 
 points or mastoid processes, which by use are worn into disks more or 
 less wide, according to age ; these transverse ridges are not filled up 
 with cement. There are a greater number of grinders simultaneously 
 in each jaw, than in the Elephant ; and although the succession of the 
 back grinders is antero-posterior as in the latter, the first and second 
 molars, both in the upper and lower jaw, are replaced in a vertical 
 direction by a tooth of a simpler form than the second molar. 
 
 A still more remarkable peculiarity is the existence in the lower jaw 
 in the young Mastodon, of two small, short, straight tusks, that project 
 from the anterior extremity ; and these disappear as the animal advances 
 to maturity, except in the tusks of some adult male species, in which 
 one or both are retained. 
 
 But there are transitional forms of Mastodons from Ava, described by 
 the late Mr. Clift, in which the characters of the molars are intermediate, 
 as indicated by the name M. elephantoides ; and Dr. Falconer affirms 
 that the presumed distinctive characters are far from being absolute, for 
 premolars are developed in greater number in one typical fossil species 
 of Elephant than in any known Mastodon ; and though the inferior 
 tusks have been detected in three species of Mastodon, there are other 
 forms in which, even in the young state, no traces of such dental organs 
 are perceptible. 
 
 Lower Jaw of Mastodon with Tusk. On the middle shelf of Wall-case 
 B, in the fifth division of the cabinet, reckoning from the west end of 
 the room, there is a remarkably fine and instructive specimen of a 
 lower jaw of Mastodon Ohiolicus, in which a tusk is seen retained in 
 the socket of the right side. This jaw has on each side three molar 
 teeth, the crowns of which are but slightly worn ; and the root of the 
 tusk is distinctly exposed in consequence of the mesial aspect of the 
 socket having been broken away. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. PART III. 
 MASTODONS AND ELEPHANTS OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 SKELETON OF THE MASTODON OP TEE OHIO (Mastodon Ohioticus) 
 Room VI. I. This fine skeleton was purchased by the Trustees, of the 
 British Museum, of Albert Koch, a well-known collector of fossil 
 remains, who had exhibited in the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly, under 
 the name of the " Missourium, or Leviathan of the Missouri," an 
 enormous osteological monster, constructed of the bones of this skeleton, 
 together with many belonging to other individuals, the tusks being 
 fixed in their Rockets so as to curve outwards on each side of the head. 
 From this heterogeneous assemblage of bones, those belonging to 
 the same animal were selected, and are articulated in their natural 
 
472 
 
 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. VI. 
 
ROOM VI. 
 
 MAMMOTHS. 
 
 473 
 
 juxtaposition. Many fine examples of teeth and jaws, and other parts 
 of the skeleton of the American Mastodon, from the same collection, are 
 deposited in the Cases before us. 
 
 According to the narrative of M. Koch, these remains were found " near 
 the banks of the river La Pomme de Terre, a tributary of the Osage 
 Eiver, in Burton County in the State of Missouri, 40 lat. 18 long." 
 The bones were imbedded in a brown sandy deposit full of vegetable 
 matter, with recognisable remains of the cypress, tropical cane, and 
 swamp-moss, stems of the palmetto, &c., and this was covered by 
 beds of blue clay and gravel to a thickness of about fifteen feet. Mr. 
 Koch states (and he personally assured me of the correctness of the 
 statement) that an Indian flint arrow-head was found beneath the leg- 
 bones of this skeleton, and four similar weapons were imbedded in the 
 same stratum : he avers that he raised them out of the bed with his 
 own hands. 1 
 
 The other North American remains of Mastodons in the Museum are 
 chiefly from Big-bone Lick, a celebrated morass or bog, in Kentucky, 
 about twenty-three miles in a south-west direction from Cincinnati. 
 Imbedded in the blue clay of this ancient Creek, the entire skeletons, 
 or separate bones, of not less than 100 Mastodons, 20 Mammoths, 
 (Elephas primigenius,) a few bones of the Megalonyx, and of a species 
 of Stag, Horse and Bison, are said to have been discovered. 2 
 
 The following measurements (for which I am indebted to Mr. "Water- 
 house), will convey an idea of the size and proportions of this skeleton. 
 Extreme length, 20 ft. 2 in. ; height, 
 9 ft. 6f in.; cranium, length, 3 ft. ; 
 vertical dimension, 4 ft. ; width, 2 ft. 
 11 in. ; width of pelvis, 5 ft. 8 in. ; 
 tusks, extreme length, 7 ft. 2 in. ; 
 projection of the same, 5 ft. 2 in. ; 
 circumference at the base, 27 in. 
 
 On the pedestal, and under the 
 above skeleton, is placed a model 
 of the cranium and jaws of a young 
 Mastodon, of the same species. The 
 tusks in the lower jaws are wanting. 
 
 MAMMOTH (Elephas primigenius). 
 Wall-case A . The species of fossil 
 Elephant distributed in the Drift of 
 Europe, and whose bones, ivory tusks, 
 and even the entire carcasses covered 
 
 with skin and bone, occur in the icy CRANIUM AND JAWS OP A YOUNG 
 regions of Siberia, is generally known MASTODON OHIOTICUS : FROM BIG- 
 by the name of Mammoth. The teeth BONE LlcK / 1 B0 ,. ^ze.) 
 and tusks of this species are so com- 
 mon in this country, that scarcely a local museum is destitute of 
 
 1 " Description of the Missourium, by Albert Koch." Louisville, 1841, 
 p. 20. 
 
 2 See "Travels in North America," by Sir Charles Lyell, 1845, vol. 
 ii. chap. xvii. ; or my " Pictorial Atlas of Organic Remains," p. 167. 
 
 LION. 108. 
 
474 
 
 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. VI. 
 
 specimens. I therefore need only refer the reader unacquainted with 
 the highly interesting history of the discovery of the carcass of this 
 species in the frozen soil of the banks of the Lena, to " Wonders of 
 Geology," p. 152; and point out to the visitor the fine teeth and crania 
 in the Wall-case A, and the enormous tusks obtained from the Arctic 
 regions, that are placed above. 
 
 Elephas meridionalis. This species is found in the newer tertiary 
 deposits, and is comparatively rare in this country ; there are teeth and 
 bones from the Norwich Crag, and from Grays, in Essex. From this 
 last named locality was obtained the series of bones of the foot placed 
 on the pedestal /; there are three carpals, and two inetacarpals ; the 
 middle metacarpal is eight inches long, and four inches wide; twice the 
 size of the corresponding bones in the skeleton of the mammoth. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. PAUT IV. 
 FOSSIL MAMMALIA OF THE TERTIAEY FORMATIONS. 
 
 . 1 Wall-cases 12, 14. This extinct mammalian was 
 first known by some large molar teeth, described by Baron Cuvier 
 
 as belonging to a gigantic 
 animal related to the Tapir, 
 and which he designated 
 " Tapir gigantesque." Sub- 
 sequently, the entire skull 
 and lower jaws were disco- 
 vered in Miocene sand, near 
 Epplesheim, by M. Klipstein, 
 and described by M. Kaup. 
 The model in the Museum is 
 from this celebrated speci- 
 men; the original is now, I 
 believe, in the Jardin des 
 Plantes, having been pur- 
 chased by the French Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 The skull is characterised 
 by a very flat occiput, large 
 nasal apertures opening above, 
 large suborbital fossae, which, 
 together with the form of the 
 nose, indicate the existence of 
 a short trunk, or proboscis. 
 The lower jaw has in front two enormous tusks directed downwards, 
 and gently curved inwards ; the molar teeth () resemble those of the 
 Tapirs and Lamantins. The annexed figure will enable the reader to 
 identify the specimen, and distinguish the most essential characters. 
 
 1 The enormous size of the skull, and the powerful tusks, suggested 
 the name Dinotherium. " Medals of Creation," p. 832. 
 
 LIGN. 109. CRANIUM AND JAWS OF DINO- 
 
 IHERIUM GIGAKTEUM, FROM EPPLESHEIM. 
 
 (^s nat - size -) 
 
ROOM VI. DINOTHERIUM CUVIERIAN PACHYDERMS. 
 
 475 
 
 M. Kaup considers the Dinotherium to have belonged to an extinct 
 genus of pachyderms, the form and structure of the molar teeth indi- 
 cating an approach to the Mastodons and Tapirs ; but M. Blainville and 
 M. Pictet regard it as an herbivorous cetacean, which inhabited the 
 embouchures of great rivers ; and they suppose that the large tusks of 
 the lower jaw served for uprooting the marsh and aquatic plants which 
 constituted its food. As the cranium and jaws are the only known parts 
 of the skeleton, these physiological inferences are based on their form 
 and structure ; but until bones of the extremities are discovered, no 
 positive conclusion can be obtained. The restored figure of the Dino- 
 therium, as a terrestrial pachyderm, is given in (see "Wonders of 
 Geology, p. 174) most works on palaeontology. M. Pictet, in his valuable 
 treatise on Palaeontology, has introduced an outline of the animal as an 
 aquatic herbivore, resembling the Lamantin. If the femur in Window- 
 recess, ante, p. 467, really belonged to the Dinotherium, the terrestrial 
 habits of the original would be satisfactorily established ; but at present 
 the reference of that bone to the Dinotherium is only hypothetical. 
 
 CuviEKLiN PACHYDERMS. Wall-case F. In this cabinet are deposited 
 specimens and models of bones and teeth of extinct pachyderms, belong- 
 ing to a group of genera differing from all living forms, and which con- 
 stituted the most striking feature of the mammalian fauna of the ancient 
 tertiary epochs in Europe. They are most nearly allied to the Tapirs, 
 which are natives of warm climates, one species inhabiting India, and 
 two America. In the tertiary ages Tapirs and these allied forms existed 
 in those regions of the globe, and in Europe : their fossil remains occur 
 in the caves of Brazil, in the sandstone conglomerate on the banks of 
 the Irawadi in the Burmese empire, and in the Sewalik Hills ; in the 
 sands of Epplesheim, and in the tertiary deposits of Auvergne. 
 
 The extinct genus nearest allied to the living Tapirs, is the Lophio- 
 don, which has six incisor teeth in each jaw, and the molars with trans- 
 verse ridges : one species found at Argenton, was as large as a rhinoceros ; 
 but the two most abundant and best known genera are those designated 
 by Baron Cuvier, PalcBotJierium, and Anoplotherium, from the gypsum 
 quarries of Montmartre. 
 
 PALJEOTHEBIUM. The 
 animals of this genus re- 
 sembled the Tapirs in 
 the form of the head, 
 and in having a short 
 proboscis, but their molar 
 teeth were more like those 
 of the rhinoceros: their 
 fore - feet had but three 
 toes, instead of four as in 
 the Tapirs. They had for- 
 ty-four teeth ; two pointed 
 canines, longer than the 
 incisors, in each jaw. The 
 form and arrangement of the teeth are shown in Lign. 110. There are 
 eleven known species ; the largest, Palceotherium magnum, was of the 
 size of a horse five feet high, with a massive head, and proboscis, and 
 
 LiGH.llO. JAWS AND TEETH OF PAL^OTHERIUM 
 MAGNUM, (inat.fize.) 
 
476 
 
 PETRIFACTION'S AND THEIR TEACHINGS. 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 short extremities. 1 P, medium was % smaller than the American Tapir, 
 and had longer and slighter legs and feet. P. minus was an elegant 
 creature, as large as the Roebuck, with light and slender limbs. 2 
 
 ANOPLOTHERIUM. This genus is remarkable from its forming a con- 
 necting link between the ruminants and the pachyderms, having the 
 cloven foot of the former, with canine teeth and other osteological cha- 
 racters of the latter; Baron Cuvier states that it combines affinities 
 
 with the Rhinoceros, 
 Horse, Hippopotamus, 
 Hog, and Camel. The 
 Anoplotherium has for- 
 ty-four teeth disposed in 
 a continuous uninter- 
 rupted series (see Lign. 
 Ill) ; a dental character 
 only known in Man and 
 the Quadrumana ; viz. 
 f incisors ; canines, 
 LIGN. 111. JAWS AND TEETH OF THE ANOPLO- which are not larger 
 THERIUM COMMUNE. ( not. size.) than the incisors, and 
 
 resemble them in form ; 
 
 and ff molars, the anterior of which are compressed, and the upper pos- 
 terior square, while those of the lower jaw have two crescents. The feet 
 have but two developed toes, as in the ruminants ; but there are species 
 with small accessory toes, as in some of the animals of that order ; but 
 the metatarsal and metacarpal bones do not coalesce and form canon- 
 bones, as in the other pachyderms, but always remain distinct. The 
 Anoplotheria had a long and thick tail resembling that of the Otter, 
 and it is supposed they were of aquatic habits, like the Hippopotamus. 
 Seven or eight species have been discovered. 
 
 The collection contains specimens of other Eocene mammalia of the 
 genera Dichobune, Anthracotherium, &c. 3 
 
 CHAPTER VI. PART V. 
 
 FOSSIL EDENTATA OF SOUTH AMERICA : THE 
 MEGATHERIUM. 
 
 WE now arrive at the examination of the colossal skeleton which 
 arrested our attention on entering this room the Megatherium ; an 
 animal of an extinct family of Edentata, an Order of Mammalia, so 
 named from the absence of incisor teeth, and of which the diminutive 
 
 1 See " Wonders of Geology," p. 255, fig. 2. 
 
 2 Ibid, p, 255, fig. 4. 
 
 3 See " Recherches sur les Ossemens Fossiles," for the history and 
 anatomical characters of these extinct genera. 
 
ROOM VI. MEGATHERIUM. 477 
 
 Sloths, Ant-eaters, and Armadillos, are existing examples; yet the 
 largest of these does not exceed a dog in bulk, and is scarcely so high, 
 while the fossil types surpass the rhinoceros in magnitude. The Eden- 
 tata link together the Ungviculata and the Ungulata, for their toes are 
 generally encased in thick skin, or scales, and terminate in strong, 
 arched, solid claws. The extinct forms approach nearer the pachyderms 
 than any existing genus of the Order, and they present transitional 
 characters connecting the very dissimilar tribes of the Ant-eaters and 
 the Sloths. The living Edentata are inhabitants of hot climates, and 
 are abundant in South America ; and there are a few species in Africa 
 and Asia. The fossil species are for the most part from South America, 
 but remains of Edentata have been discovered in the tertiary deposits of 
 Central France and Germany, proving, that in the Eocene period ani- 
 mals of this order were inhabitants of Europe. 
 
 The bones of the extinct colossal Edentata are chiefly found in the 
 alluvial loam and sand which compose the subsoil of the Pampas of 
 South America ; those vast plains which, for 900 miles, present a 
 waving sea of grass. The deposits of the Pampas have evidently been 
 formed in a bay or arm of the sea, into which floated the carcasses of the 
 animals which then inhabited the neighbouring dry land. 
 
 Our distinguished traveller, Mr. Darwin, in relating the discovery of 
 the Scelidotherium (pp. 77 and 480), states, "that the beds containing the 
 fossil skeletons consist of stratified gravel and reddish mud, and stand 
 only from fifteen to twenty feet above the level of high water ; a proof 
 that the elevation of the land has been inconsiderable since the great 
 quadrupeds wandered over the surrounding plains, and that the external 
 features of the country were then very nearly the same as now. The 
 number of the remains of these quadrupeds imbedded in the vast 
 estuary deposits which form the Pampas and cover the granitic rocks 
 of Banda Oriental, must be extraordinarily great. I believe, a straight 
 line drawn in any direction through the country would cut through 
 some skeleton or bones. As far as I am aware, not one of these animals 
 perished, as was formerly supposed, in the marshes or muddy river-beds 
 of the present land, but their bones have been exposed by the streams 
 intersecting the subaqueous deposit in which they were originally im- 
 bedded. We may conclude that the whole area of the Pampas is one 
 wide sepulchre of these extinct gigantic quadrupeds." 1 
 
 THE MEGATHERIUM. This stupendous extinct animal of the Sloth 
 tribe was first made known to European naturalists by a skeleton, 
 almost entire, dug up in 1789, on the banks of a river in South 
 America, named the Luxan, about three-miles south-east of Buenos 
 Ayres ; the specimen was sent to Madrid, and fixed up in the Museum, 
 in the form represented in numerous works on natural history. A 
 second skeleton was exhumed at Lima, in 1795 ; and of late years Sir 
 Woodbine Parish, Mr. Darwin, and other naturalists, have sent bones 
 of the Megatherium, and other allied genera, to England. 
 
 The model of the Megatherium, Lign. 112, has been constructed 
 with great care from the original bones, in the Wall-cases 9, 10, and in 
 the Hunterian Museum. The attitude given to the skeleton, with the 
 
 1 " Journal of a Naturalist," by Charles Darwin, Esq. F.K.S. &c. 
 
478 
 
 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 S3 | 
 
 * 
 
ROOM VI. 
 
 MEGATHERIUM. 
 
 479 
 
 right arm clasping a tree, is of course hypothetical ; and the position of the 
 hinder toes and feet does not appear to be natural ; altogether, however, 
 the construction is highly satisfactory, and a better idea of the colossal 
 proportions of the original is conveyed by this model, than could other- 
 wise have been obtained. The skull of this creature is short and trun- 
 cated, and the zygomatic bone sends off a large descending apophysis 
 which is a remarkable peculiarity. The molar teeth, of which there are five 
 on each side the upper jaw, and four in the lower, are hollow prismatic 
 cylinders, straight, and from seven to nine inches long, and implanted 
 the greater part of their length in deep sockets ; there are no other 
 teeth, and the crowns of the molars are so constructed as always to 
 present two cutting, cuneiform, salient angles, in consequence of the 
 mutual adaptation of the corresponding surfaces of the upper and lower 
 series. The feet are nearly equal ; the entire fore-foot is about a yard 
 in length. The outer toes are destitute of nails, the others have unequal 
 phalanges, the median being the longest and largest. The pelvis is of 
 enormous dimensions, and very solid ; the iliac bones are at right angles 
 with the spine, and extremely rugous ; their margins form two projecting 
 branches, measuring 4J feet across, a dimension exceeding that of the 
 same parts in any living terrestrial mammalian. 
 
 The most remarkable character of this portion of the skeleton is that 
 the cotyloid cavity is directed entirely downwards, so that the femur 
 supports the body without any obliquity ; a structure that must have 
 contributed to the solidity and strength of the hinder part of the body. 
 The femur is three times as thick as that of the largest Elephant, and 
 its length scarcely twice that of the breadth. The tail is very thick and 
 strong; there is a fine series of caudal vertebrae in Upright-Case 4. 
 
 LIGX. 113. RESTORED OUTLINE OF THE MEGATHERIUM GIGANTEUH. 
 (The original 12 feet in length.) 
 
 From the osteological characters thus cursorily noticed, it is obvious 
 that the Megatherium was a bulky and powerful creature, presenting in 
 its general form the outline given in Lign. 113. The structure of the 
 teeth is analogous to that of the Sloths, and indicates the food of the 
 
480 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. VT. 
 
 original to have consisted of plants and leaves or the young branches 
 of trees. My friend Sir Woodbine Parish, whose long residence in 
 South America enabled his active and sagacious mind thoroughly to 
 investigate the phenomena connected with the ancient fauna of that 
 country, has solved the problem as to the source whence the Mega- 
 theria and allied herbivorous animals could have derived support, by 
 pointing out the Agave or American Aloe, as yielding an ample supply 
 of food, and of a kind, for the comminution of which the teeth of the 
 colossal edentata appear to have been specially adapted. 
 
 MYLODON. Of this genus, which is closely allied to the Megatherium, 
 there are bones, teeth, and jaws from South America, inEoom II., ante, 
 p. 77. 1 
 
 With the huge animals above described, were associated those not 
 less gigantic in relation to their modern prototypes, the Glyptodon, 
 (ante, p. 359,) and the Chlamydotherium, which were covered by a tesse- 
 lated osseous cuirass, like the existing Armadillos of the present day. 
 
 SCELIDOTHERIUM. The animals of this genus are allied to the 
 Megatherium. Mr. Darwin obtained an almost entire skeleton of the 
 S. leptocephalum ; the original must have been as large as a Rhinoceros. 
 Four species have been discovered ; there are some fine bones of two or 
 three species from the caves of Brazil, in Wall-case C. 
 
 Such were the gigantic mammalia that inhabited the dry land of 
 South America at a comparatively recent period ; and it is worthy of 
 especial consideration, that though these types have been long extinct, 
 Sloths, Ant-eaters, and Armadillos, are still the characteristic mammalia 
 of that country, and these diminutive forms are the only living repre- 
 sentatives of the colossal Edentata of the ancient world. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. PART VI. 
 FOSSIL MAMMALIA OF THE CAVERNS. 
 
 OSSIFEROUS CAVES OF THE BRAZILS. Wall-case C. The fossil remains 
 in this cabinet were obtained by Dr. Lund and M. Claussen, from cer- 
 tain limestone caverns in the Brazils, which, like those of Europe, 
 abound in bones of mammalia, imbedded in a reddish coloured loam, 
 and more or less incrusted with stalagmite. The animals belong 
 for the most part to genera still inhabiting the American Conti- 
 nent, intermingled with the extinct types of some of the Edentata, 
 
 1 See " Wonders of Geology," p. 168. A splendid skeleton of this 
 animal is preserved in the Hunterian Museum, and is described and illus- 
 trated in a " Memoir on the Mylodon robustus, by Professor Owen ;" 
 published by the Royal College of Surgeons. 
 
ROOM VI. OSSIPEROUS CAVES OP THE BRAZILS. 481 
 
 of which we have already spoken ; as, for example, the Scelidothe- 
 rium, Glyptodon, Clamydotherium, &c. ; of these there are many per- 
 fect bones, and portions of the dermal cuirass of the two latter. In 
 this collection there are several bones of a very large species of that 
 extraordinary carnivore described in a former section, (ante, p. 400,) the 
 Machairodus, and of existing genera of mammalia, including Monkeys, 
 Opossums, &c. ; there are also shells of the large bulimus, a common 
 terrestrial mollusk of South America. 
 
 There are likewise remains of a species of Hyena and Horse ; the 
 former genus, which abounded in Europe during the newer tertiary and 
 drift period, is now only known to exist in Asia and Africa ; and the 
 latter was extinct in South America when the Spaniards invaded that 
 country, though numerous relics occur of a species of Equus, that was 
 contemporary with the colossal Edentata, whose skeletons are imbedded 
 in the Pampas. Thus the ancient Brazilian fauna differs as essen- 
 tially from the modern one, as that of the Cave period of Europe 
 from the existing assemblage of terrestrial mammalia. 
 
 An interesting fact relating to the Brazilian caves is worthy of record. 
 M. Claussen, in the course of his researches, discovered a cavern, the 
 stalagmitic floor of which was entire. On penetrating the sparry 
 crust he found the usual ossiferous bed, but pressing engagements 
 compelled him to leave the deposit unexplored. After an interval 
 of some years M. Claussen again visited the cavern, and found the 
 excavation he had made completely filled up with stalagmite, the floor 
 being as entire as on his first entrance. On breaking through this 
 newly formed incrustation, it was found to be distinctly marked with 
 lines of dark-coloured sediment, alternating with the crystalline stalac- 
 tite. Reasoning on the probable cause of this appearance, M. Claussen 
 sagaciously concluded that it arose from the alternation of the wet and 
 dry seasons. During the drought of summer, the sand and dust of the 
 parched land were wafted into the caves and fissures, and this earthy 
 layer was covered during the rainy season by stalagmite, from the water 
 that percolated through the limestone, and deposited calc-spar on the 
 floor. The number of alternate layers of spar and sediment tallied 
 with the years that had elapsed since his first visit; and on breaking 
 up the ancient bed of stalagmite, he found the same natural register of 
 the annual variation of the seasons; every layer dug through presented 
 a uniform alternation of sediment and spar : and as the botanist 
 ascertains the age of an ancient dicotyledonous tree from the annual 
 circles of growth, in like manner the geologist attempted to calculate 
 the period that had elapsed since the commencement of these ossiferous 
 deposits of the cave ; and although the inference, from want of time and 
 means to conduct the inquiry with precision, can only be accepted as 
 a rough calculation, yet it is interesting to learn, that the time indicated 
 by this natural chronometer, since the extinct mammalian forms were 
 interred, amounted to many thousand years. 1 
 
 As in the bone-caves of England, France, and Germany, relics of 
 human skeletons have been found in the upper layers of the detritus 
 
 1 Communicated to me by Mr. Waterhouse. 
 I I 
 
482 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. VI. 
 
 forming the floor of the Brazilian caves. Dr. Lund, from the condition 
 and situation of these remains, concluded that they belonged to an 
 ancient tribe that was coeval with some of the extinct mammalia. Por- 
 tions of human crania from these caverns are placed with the Guada- 
 loupe skeleton in Wall-case D. 
 
 OSSIFEROUS CAVES OP TORQUAY AND KIRKDALE. Wall-case E. The 
 contents of this Case consist of mammalian remains from the caves of 
 Kirkdale in Yorkshire, Kent's Hole, near Torquay in Devonshire, and 
 of Gailenreuth in Franconia. The nature of such accumulations has 
 already been so fully discussed (ante, p. 396), that a brief notice will 
 suffice. The fossils belong for the most part to extinct species and 
 genera of carnivora. In the upper part of the cabinet there are many 
 fine teeth and jaws of the usual cave Hyenas and Bears ; and teeth of 
 the large tiger-like animal, the Machairodus latidens, described in 
 a former chapter (ante, p. 400). There are likewise jaws and teeth of 
 Foxes, Weasels, Rats, Mice, &c., from Kirkdale Cave ; and of a species 
 of Badger, Otter, Polecat, and Stoat, from Kent's Hole, Torquay ; the 
 latter are part of the collection of the late Rev. J. Mac Enery. 
 
 The cave at Torquay is an extensive chasm in the limestone strata, 
 extending 600 feet in length, with many lateral fissures. The lower 
 part of the cave is filled up to a thickness of twenty feet with reddish 
 sandy loam, full of fossil bones of carnivorous animals. 1 This is covered 
 by a layer of stalagmite, a few feet thick, which forms the floor of the 
 cavern. Upon this is a slight covering of earthy matter, in which have 
 been found patches of charcoal, a few human bones, and fragments of 
 coarse ancient pottery. Upon breaking through the sparry floor the 
 ossiferous deposit is exposed; and imbedded with the fossil bones 
 several flint-knives, stone arrow and spear-heads, were discovered. 
 These instruments are of the same kind as those found in the early 
 British tumuli on the adjacent hills, and unquestionably belong to the 
 same period. 
 
 These facts have given rise to much curious speculation as to the con- 
 temporaneity of these remains of man and human art, with the extinct 
 species of animals whose bones are entombed in the cave. Kent's 
 Hole, Banwell Cave, and all the ossiferous fissures and caverns I have 
 examined, appear to me to have been mere rents in limestone rocks, 
 which were filled with drift while submerged in shallow water ; and 
 into which the mutilated carcasses of land animals may have been car- 
 ried by subaqueous currents. As the bones, though broken, are rarely 
 waterworn, and the fragments even retain their sharp edges, they must 
 have been more or less protected by the muscles and skin ; and the 
 extreme freshness of the surface of many of the specimens supports this 
 opinion. Upon the elevation of the land, these caves were raised above 
 the water, and gradually drained, during which the formation of stalag- 
 mite commenced from the percolation of solutions of calcite through 
 the superincumbent beds of limestone. As soon as Kent's Cave was 
 accessible from the land, and before the formation of the stalagmitic 
 
 1 See Dr. Buckland's " Reliquiae Diluvianae," for details ; and " Won- 
 ders of Geology," 6th. Edit. p. 181, for a concise view of the phenomena. 
 
ROOM VI. FOSSIL HUMAN SKELETON. 483 
 
 floor, some of the wandering tribes of the early Britons may have prowled 
 into the recess, or occasionally sought shelter there ; and stone imple- 
 ments, bones, or any hard substances left on the ground, would soon 
 sink a few feet into the soft ossiferous mud, and become hermetically 
 sealed up, as it were, by the stalagmitic deposit. 
 
 From the phenomena thus rapidly surveyed, we learn that the hills, 
 plains, and forests, of Europe, were once inhabited by unknown species 
 of herbivora, and carnivora, belonging to genera, some of which are 
 annihilated, and others are almost entirely restricted to southern 
 climates ; that some of the caves were tenanted by successive genera- 
 tions of Bears, Hyenas, Wolves, &c. ; and that all these races have 
 become extinct, except the few allied species which still inhabit the 
 European Continent, and Islands. In England, the only living repre- 
 sentatives of the three families of carnivora which swarmed in these 
 latitudes during the Mammoth period, are the FOJC, of the dog tribe, 
 the Wild-cat, of the feline order, and the Badger, of the bear family. 
 
 CHAPTER VL PART VII. 
 FOSSIL HUMAN SKELETON. 
 
 Wall- case D. About forty years since, great interest was excited by 
 the discovery of several human skeletons, male and female, imbedded in 
 limestone on the north-east coast of the Isle of Guadaloupe ; and the 
 specimen now before us, found on board a French vessel captured by one 
 of our cruisers, and presented to the British Museum by Admiral Sir 
 T. Cochrane, afforded English naturalists an opportunity of investi- 
 gating the nature and age of these first known examples of the bones 
 of Man in a fossil state. An excellent memoir by the eminent minera- 
 logist and geologist Mr. Konig, was published in the "Philosophical 
 Transactions" for 1814, in which the nature of these petrifactions was 
 fully elucidated. 
 
 In this specimen the skull is wanting, but the spinal column, many 
 of the ribs, the bones of the left arm and hand, of the pelvis, and 
 of the thighs and legs, though somewhat mutilated, are distinctly 
 seen. The bones still contain some animal matter, and the whole of 
 their phosphate of lime. 1 An entire skeleton was dug up in the usual 
 position of burial adopted by the Peruvians, and is now in the Jardin 
 des Plantes. 2 
 
 1 The skull of this very skeleton is said to be in a museum in South 
 Carolina, having been purchased of a French naturalist, who brought 
 it from Guadaloupe. 
 
 2 See " Wonders of Geology," p. 87. 
 
484 
 
 PETKIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 These fossil human skeletons were extracted from the sloping bank 
 of limestone that extends from the base of the high cliffs of the island 
 to the sea-shore, and is almost wholly submerged at high tides, as shown 
 in the annexed diagram (Lign. 115). This limestone is composed of 
 consolidated sand, and the detritus of shells and corals of species 
 that inhabit the neighbouring sea. Land-shells, fragments of pottery, 
 stone arrow-heads, carved wooden ornaments, and detached human 
 bones, are occasionally found imbedded in it. A polished slab of 
 this limestone forms the top of the table in front of Wall-case D, This 
 
 rock is a modern concretionary lime- 
 stone, consisting of the detritus of 
 shells and corals cemented together 
 by infiltration of carbonate of lime 
 from the percolation of water ; a com- 
 mon formation along the sea-shore of 
 tropical countries ; as, for example, in 
 the Bermudas, where limestone, com- 
 pact enough for building, is rapidly 
 formed by a similar process. 1 
 
 The human skeletons of Guadaloupe 
 are the relics of a tribe of Gallibis, 
 that were slaughtered by the Caribs in 
 a conflict that took place near the spot 
 about 150 years ago; the slain were 
 buried in the sand on the shore, which 
 subsequently became indurated by the 
 process above described. 
 
 Fossil human skeletons have also 
 been found in solid calcareous tufa 
 near the river Santa in Peru. Bones 
 belonging to some scores of individuals 
 were discovered in travertine, con- 
 taining some fragments of marine 
 shells which retain their original 
 colour ; yet this bed of stone is covered 
 by a deep vegetable soil, and forms 
 the face of a hill crowned with brush- 
 wood and large trees. 
 
 From the facts thus briefly noticed, 2 
 the reader will perceive that the occurrence of remains of Man with 
 those of extinct animals, in a deposit overlaid by a thick mass of 
 solid rock, must not be regarded as affording a certain proof that the 
 human bones are as ancient as those of the quadrupeds with which they 
 are associated. 
 
 In Europe, the first appearance of MAN, as indicated by the remains 
 
 LIGN. 114. 
 
 FOSSIL HUMAN SKELETON; FROM 
 GUADALOUPE. 
 
 ( The original 4 feet 2 inches long, by 
 2 feet wide.) 
 
 " Wonders of Geology," p. 84. 
 2 For a fuller consideration of this problem, I would beg to refer the 
 
 reader to my " DISCOURSE ON THE CONNEXION BETWEEN RCH^oLOGr AND 
 GEOLOGY," previously cited. Archaeological Journal, January 1851. 
 
ROOM VI. FOSSIL HUMAN SKELETONS. 485 
 
 of human skeletons and works of art, was immediately after the great 
 inundation which spread the rolled boulders and detritus of the Drift 
 or Diluvium over the valleys and plains, and into the caverns and 
 fissures, in which the bones of the mammalia that inhabited the land are 
 found entombed. What species, now extinct, were existing at the 
 period of the first advent of the human race into Europe, it is scarcely 
 possible to determine. The Irish Elk, two or three species of Bos, and 
 probably a species of Horse, Beaver, and Bear, are apparently the only 
 lost forms which the facts at present known point out as contemporaries 
 of the aboriginal tribes of the British Islands and the neighbouring 
 Continent. In the ancient tertiary strata, though the bones of many 
 species of quadrupeds of existing genera, and even some species believed 
 to be identical, abound, yet no vestiges of Man or of his works have 
 been detected. While, therefore, we may reasonably expect to find fossil 
 human remains in strata of higher antiquity than any in which they 
 
 LIGH. 115. PLAN OF THJB CLIFF AT GUADA LOUPE. 
 
 a. Ancient rocks. 
 
 b. Modem limestone, in which the human skeleton was imbedded. 
 
 have hitherto been observed, it does not seem probable that traces of 
 Man's existence will be met with in the Eocene, or ancient tertiary 
 formations ; for, notwithstanding the occurrence of existing genera and 
 species of mammalia, even of that race which approaches nearest to Man 
 in its physical organisation, the quadrumana or Monkey- tribes, there 
 are no just grounds for assuming that physical evidence will be obtained 
 by which the existence of Man, and, consequently, of the present order 
 of things, may be traced back to that remote era. 
 
 In reference to this problem, I entirely concur in the opinion ex- 
 pressed by Professor Whewell, 1 " that the gradation in form between man 
 and other animals is but a slight and unimportant feature in con- 
 templating the great subject of the origin of the human race. Even if 
 we had not Revelation to guide us, it would be most unphilosophical to 
 attempt to trace back the history of man, without taking into account the 
 
 1 Anniversary Address of the Geological Society of London. 
 
486 
 
 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 most remarkable facts in his nature; the facts of civilization, arts, 
 government, speech ; his traditions his internal wants his intel- 
 lectual, moral, and religious constitution. If we will attempt a re- 
 trospect, we must look at all these things as evidence of the origin 
 and end of man's being ; and when we do thus comprehend in one view 
 the whole of the argument, it is impossible for us to arrive at an origin 
 homogeneous with the present order of things. On this subject the 
 geologist may therefore be well content to close the volume of the 
 earth's physical history, and open that divine record which has for its 
 subject the moral and religious nature of Man." 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 A . page 94. " An A ccount of some enormous Fossil Bones of an un- 
 known species of the Class Aves, lately discovered in New Zealand ; " by 
 the REV. W. COLENSO, was published in the " Tasmanian Journal/' 1842 ; 
 and republished in the " Annals of Natural History." The length to 
 which the text has extended, forbids, the insertion of an abstract of this 
 able commentary on the nature and relations of the Moa and its kindred. 
 
 B. page 96. Mr. Walter ManteWs Collection of Fossil Remains of 
 the extinct Birds of New Zealand, in the British Museum, Room II. 
 The first collection sent to England by my son, in 1847, consisted of 
 nearly 900 specimens ; such an assemblage of the fossil bones of Birds 
 was, I may venture to affirm, never before seen in Europe ; every palae- 
 ontologist who saw it expressed astonishment at its extent and variety, 
 and no one more than Professor Owen, to whom I gave the exclusive 
 privilege of describing the specimens. 1 It was catalogued by my son 
 as follows : 
 
 BIRDS' BONES. Crania and mandibles, 19; vertebras, 250; sterni, 7; 
 pelves, 30 ; femora, 37 ; tibiae, 42 ; fibulae, 35 ; tarso-metatarsals, 40 ; 
 phalangeals, 200 ; unguals or claw-bones, 30 ; ribs, 30 ; egg-shells, 36 
 portions. 
 
 SEALS. Jawa and teeth, portions of crania, vertebrae, ribs, scapulae, 
 bones of the extremities. 
 
 TERRESTRIAL MAMMALIA. One femur of a species of Dog. 
 
 C. page 111. Professor Owen's Memoirs on the Dinomis, <tc. are 
 published in the " Transactions of the Zoological Society of London : " 
 they consist of five parts : I. " Notice of a Fragment of the Femur of a 
 
 1 The following is an extract from a letter now before me from Pro- 
 fessor Owen, dated " Royal College of Surgeons, Christmas Day, 1847." 
 " I feel very sensibly the mark of kindness and confidence which you 
 have given me in placing your son's unique rarities in my hands for 
 description ; the more so as this liberal and generous conduct contrasts 
 with that of others from whom I had expected better things." 
 
488 APPENDIX. 
 
 Gigantic Bird of New Zealand," vol. iii. November, 1839. II. "On 
 Dinornis, an extinct Genus of Struthious Birds," &c. with 15 plates, 
 1844. III. " On Dinornis, Part II." &c. with eleven plates, 1846. IV. 
 " On Dinornis, Part III." &c. with five plates, illustrative of the crania. 
 &c. collected by Mr. Walter Mantell, and now in the British Museum, 
 1848. V. "On Dinornis, Part IV." &c. with four plates, 1850. 
 
 D. page 117. FEET OP DINORNIS ROBTJSTUS. As the specimens de- 
 scribed in the text are the only perfect series of the bones of the 
 feet hitherto found in juxtaposition, the dimensions of the principal 
 parts will interest the Ornithologist ; but I must refer for details to my 
 Memoir on the Geology of New Zealand, " Journal of the Geological 
 Society of London," vol. vi. p. 338 ; or to " Pictorial Atlas of Organic 
 Remains," p. 10. 
 
 Tarso-metatarsal : length, 17 inches; circumference of proximal end, 
 Hi; of the distal end, 15J. 
 
 Toes: length of the inner toe, 9 inches; middle toe, 11 3; outer 
 toe, 9. 
 
 Middle toe : length of first phalanx, 4| inches ; second, 2 \ ; third, 
 If; fourth or ungual bone, 3 inches. 
 
 E. page 229. The following is another extract from the eloquent 
 Address of Sir Charles Lyell on that occasion, (Feb. 20, 1835.) "The 
 Wollaston Medal has been awarded to Mr. Mantell for his discoveries 
 in ' Fossil Comparative Anatomy, particularly of the genera Iguanodon 
 and Hylseosaurus.' There are few of you, gentlemen, I believe, entirely 
 unacquainted with the results of Mr. Mantell's investigations in this 
 department of science, few who have not either read of them in his 
 works, or seen them in his splendid Museum. That collection, now at 
 Brighton, which has already been visited by thousands of persons, is of 
 itself a monument of original research and talent, well deserving, even 
 if he had never written on the subject, as high a mark of distinction as 
 the Society has conferred upon Mr. Mantell this day. It is an assem- 
 blage of treasures which the mere industry of a collector could never 
 have brought together, and which wealth alone, even had Mr. Mantell 
 possessed it, could not have purchased. It required his zeal, inspired 
 by genius and directed by science, to bring to light, and, as it were, call 
 into existence, so many monuments of the former state of the animate 
 creation. Gentlemen, you will, I am sure, allow me to dwell somewhat 
 at length on this topic, as one which is to me of no ordinary interest, 
 for it is now nearly twenty years since I first had the good fortune to 
 become acquainted with Mr. Mantell ; before I had the honour of 
 knowing any one of the leading members of this Society ; before, indeed, 
 I had heard of the existence of the Society itself. At that time the 
 collection at Lewes was in its infancy, yet contained osteological remains 
 of that class, for the illustration of which it has since become so cele- 
 brated ; even at that time my friend had indulged sanguine anticipa- 
 tions, from seeing only a few bones and teeth, of the splendid discoveries 
 he should make in regard to these gigantic saurians ; even then he fore- 
 saw some of the results which have since been realized. I had after- 
 wards many opportunities of revisiting Lewes, more than once in 
 
APPENDIX. 489 
 
 company with Dr. Buckland, and after each interval found Mr. Mantell's 
 Museum enriched with new discoveries, some of his former theories 
 and conjectures confirmed, and new views opening upon his mind. Mr. 
 Greenough has pointed out to you how strikingly a recent discovery of 
 an assemblage of the bones of the Iguanodon grouped and imbedded in 
 one mass of rock, has shown the sagacity with which Mr. Mantell had 
 put together the disconnected remains when first discovered. All the 
 bones in that specimen are such as he had previously considered as 
 belonging to the Iguanodon, with no intermixture of those which he had 
 rejected as probably referable to other saurians." ' 
 
 F. page 232. Baron Cuvier on the Iguanodon. For the reasons 
 stated in the text, I would beg the palaeontologist who may feel any 
 interest on this subject to peruse M. Cuvier's remarks on the teeth of 
 the Iguanodon, in " Ossemens Fossiles," tome v. pp. 351, 352. The only 
 other notice of the Iguanodon by this illustrious philosopher, is in the 
 edition of his " Discours sur les Revolutions de la Surface du Globe" 
 published in 1826. "Les sables ferrugineux places en Angleterre au- 
 dessous de la craie, contiennent en abondance des crocodiles, des tortues, 
 des me"galosaurus, et surtout un reptile qui offrait encore un caractere 
 tout particulier, celui d'user ces dents comme nos mammiferes herbivores. 
 C'est & M. Mantell, de Lewes en Sussex, que Ton doit la decouverte de 
 ce dernier animal, ainsi que des autres grands reptiles de ces sables 
 inferieurs & la craie : il 1'a nomme'e Iguanodon" In August 1830, I 
 submitted to Baron Cuvier, then in London, many teeth and bones from 
 Tilgate Forest, and was confirmed in my opinion as to the probable den- 
 tition, and structure of the maxillary organs, of the Iguanodon, by his 
 unqualified approval; and so much was his interest excited, that he 
 made arrangements to visit me at Lewes the following week ; but unfor- 
 tunately the revolution broke out at Paris, and M. Cuvier was sum- 
 moned from England : we never met again. 
 
 G. page 280. Drawings of Wealden Reptiles presented to Professor 
 Owen. The Wollaston fund, awarded me with the medal by the Geo- 
 logical Society in 1835, amounting to between 201. and 30Z., was expended 
 on drawings (by Mr. Dinkel, now of 17, Upper King Street, Bloomsbury,) 
 of the principal bones of the Iguanodon, Hylaeosaurus, &c. in my collec- 
 tion, with a view to publication : the Maidstone Iguanodon, the large 
 specimen of Hylaeosaurus, and figures of both slabs of the Goniopholis, 
 (in Eoom III. Case A,) were of imperial 4to size; the remainder were 
 in 4to, and comprised more than one hundred [figures. In 1841, the 
 state of my health rendering it improbable that I should ever be able 
 to resume my scientific researches, I presented the whole of these 
 beautiful drawings to Professor Owen, who then contemplated a work 
 on British Fossil Reptiles. A plate of reptilian teeth in Professor Owen's 
 " Odontography," and the two lithographs of the Maidstone Iguanodon 
 
 1 These remarks refer to the Maidstone Iguanodon, then recently 
 discovered. The Members of the " Palceontographical Society'" are 
 requested to compare the above statement with that given in the last 
 " Monograph on Cretaceous Reptiles." 
 
490 APPENDIX. 
 
 in the " Palseontographical Monograph" of the present year, are the 
 only drawings of that series hitherto published. 
 
 H. page 332. Memoirs on Wealden Reptiles, &c. by the Author in 
 the " Philosophical Transactions." I. " Notice on the Iguanodon, a newly 
 discovered Fossil Reptile," &c. Philos. Trans. 1825. II. "Memoir on 
 the Iguanodon, Hylaeosaurus," &c. 1841. III. " On the Maxillary and 
 Dental Organs of the Iguanodon," 1848. IY. " Observations on the 
 Osteology of the Iguanodon and Hylseosaurus," 1849. V. " On the 
 Pelorosaurus," &c. 1850. VI. " On the Dermal Spines of the Hylseo- 
 saurus," 1850. VII. " On the Fossil Remains of Turtles from the Chalk 
 of the S.E. of England," Philos. Trans. 1841. VIII. " On the Fossil 
 Remains of the soft Parts of Foraminifera in Chalk and Flint." Philos. 
 Trans. 1846. 
 
 /. page 335. The Author s Collection of Fossils from the Chalk and 
 Wealden Deposits of the South-East of England, &c. " When the first 
 edition of this work (' The Wonders of Geology') appeared, my collec- 
 tion, consisting of upwards of 20,000 specimens, was exhibited at 
 Brighton by the Sussex Scientific Institution as the Mantellian Museum, 
 with a view to its permanent establishment as the basis of a County 
 Museum, That expectation was, however, defeated ; for though I would 
 willingly have made any pecuniary sacrifice to accomplish what appeared 
 to me so desirable an object, yet after the decease of my noble and 
 lamented friends the late Earl of Egremont, and the Earl of Munster, 
 who ardently and liberally supported the measure, the plan was aban- 
 doned. I therefore, in compliance with the suggestion of my scientific 
 friends, disposed of the entire collection to the Trustees of the British 
 Museum." Extract from the Preface to the Second Edition of the 
 " Wonders of Geology." The sum given for this collection, on which 
 I had expended at least 7,000?. during a period of 25 years, was 4,000?. ; 
 the expenses and risk of removal from Brighton to London, were in- 
 curred by the Trustees. 
 
 K. page 367. Mr. Hawkins's Collection. The specimens figured in 
 the first edition of Mr. Hawkins's " Memoirs of Ichthyosauri," &c. were 
 valued by Dr. Buckland and myself, at the request of the Trustees of 
 the British Museum. The collection consisted of several hundred spe- 
 cimens, and the total amount paid for the same was 1,250?. Among the 
 items were; The large Ichthyosaurus, (ante, p. 381), 210?. Cranium 
 with orbital plates, (PI. V.) 25?. Ichthyosaurus, (PI. VII.) 100?. Ple- 
 siosaurus ; the matchless specimen in Case D. (ante, p. 340), 200?. See 
 "Notes on the Prices of Fossils" in Mr. Charlesworth's " London Palae- 
 ontological Journal," No. I. p. 13. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 A. 
 
 ACROGNATHUS, 446. 
 
 Aerolites, 17. Afi** 
 JEtobatis, 450. 
 " Age of Keptiles," 147. 
 Albatross, fossil, 129. 
 Algae, 25. 
 
 Alligator Hantoniensis, 467. 
 Amber, 23. 
 Amblypterus, 425. 
 Ammonites, 415. 
 Angmarset, 446. 
 Annularia, 26. 
 Anomopteris, 32. 
 Anoplotherium, 464, 476. 
 Apiocrinites, 78, 86. 
 Apteryx, 101, 106, 129. 
 Aptornis, 122. 
 Artesia, 43. 
 Asphodelese, 45. 
 Aspidorhynchus, 431. 
 Asterolepis, 435. 
 Asterophyllites, 26. 
 Aulolepis, 446. 
 Australian fossil wood, 58. 
 Auvergne, geology of, 353. 
 
 'ia of, 356. 
 
 Batrachians, 183. 
 Bears, 398. 
 Beaver, fossil, 357. 
 Belemnites, 415, 458. 
 Belemnoteuthis, 415, 458. 
 Belonostomus, 431. 
 Beryx, 441. 
 
 Biconvex vertebra, 166. 
 Birds, fossil, 79, 90. 
 
 New Zealand, 90. 
 
 Bison priscus, 389. 
 
 Blochius, 439. 
 
 Bones of reptiles, 149. 
 
 ,_ Moa, 130. 
 
 Iguanodon, 226. 
 
 Bos longifrons, 392. 
 
 primigenius, 390, 413. 
 
 priscus, 389. 
 
 Bothrodendron, 42. 
 Brachiopoda, 466, 468. 
 Bracklesham shells, 409. 
 Bradford encrinite, 78. 
 Brazilian caves, 480, 484. 
 
 C. 
 
 Calamites, 28, 40. 
 Calamopleurus, 443. 
 Callipteryx, 443. 
 Camelus, 457. 
 Carboniferous flora, 43. 
 Carnivora of the caves, 394. 
 Caves of Australia, 133. 
 
 Brazils, 464, 480. 
 
 Gailenreuth, 394, 397, 464. 
 
 Kirkdale, 482. 
 
 New Zealand, 103. 
 
 Torquay, 482. 
 
 Caulopteris, 32. 
 Celacanths, 433. 
 Cephalaspis, 422. 
 Cephalopoda, 415, 457. 
 Cestracions, 414, 449. 
 Chalk formation, 211. 
 
 fishes, 441, 444. 
 
 reptiles, 193, 198, 306. 
 
 Chelonians, 152. 
 Chelonia Harvicensis, 153. 
 
 breviceps, 154. 
 
 Bellii, 155. 
 
 Chevron bones, 275. 
 Chimseroids, 414, 448. 
 
492 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Chirotherium, 14, 63. 
 Chlamydotherium, 480. 
 Choanites, 466. 
 Clathraria, 45. 
 Clupea, 444. 
 Coal, 22. 
 Coccosteus, 424. 
 Cololites, 431. 
 Colossochelys, 11, 77, 152. 
 Conifera, 53. 
 Coprolites, 375, 438. 
 Corals, 408, 466. 
 Corydalis, 466. 
 Country of Iguanodon, 335. 
 Crinoidea, 83. 
 Crocodilians, 174, 467. 
 Crocodilus toliapicus, 176. 
 
 Spenceri, 176. 
 
 Hastingsise, 467.. 
 
 Crustaceans, 466. 
 Cryptobranchus, 184. 
 Ctenoids, 419, 440. 
 Cuvierian pachyderms, 464, 475. 
 Cycadese, 54. 
 Cycloids, 419, 443. 
 Cyclopoma, 443. 
 
 D. 
 
 Dapedius, 426. 
 Dercetis, 438. 
 Dermal bones, 173, 298. 
 Diamond, 24. 
 Dinornis, 108. 
 
 eggs of, 121. 
 
 feet of, 116, 488. 
 
 Dinosaurians, 244. 
 Dinotherium, 467, 474. 
 Dog, fossil femur, 130. 
 Dracaena, 49. 
 
 E. 
 
 Echinoderms, 465. 
 Edaphodon, 448. 
 Edentata, fossil, 476. 
 Eggs, fossil, of Auvergne, 357. 
 
 Madagascar, 122. 
 
 New Zealand, 122. 
 
 Elephants, 463, 465, 469, 471, 474. 
 Elephas Ganesa, 465, 470. 
 Elk, Irish, 409, 445. 
 Emydians, 156. 
 
 Enaliosaurians, 339, 369. 
 
 Enchodus, 443. 
 
 Encrinites, 78, 87. 
 
 Endogenites, 48. 
 
 England, South-East, Geology of, 
 
 203. 
 
 Enoplosus, 443. 
 Equisetacese, 27. 
 Equisetites, 28. 
 Esocids, 444. 
 Esox, 444. 
 Eugnathus, 433. 
 
 F. 
 
 Fauna of New Zealand, 104. 
 - the Wealden, 218. 
 Ferns, 30. 
 Filicites, 30. 
 Fishes, fossil, 409, 418, 420. 
 
 chimaeroids, 414, 448. 
 ctenoids, 419, 440. 
 
 cycloids, 419, 443. 
 families of, 416. .,. 
 
 ganoids, 419, 421. 
 
 genera of, 451. 
 
 lepidoids, 424. 
 
 placoids, 413, 419, 448,454. 
 
 sauroids, 429. 
 
 scales of, 419. 
 
 tails of, 421. 
 
 teeth of, 420, 449. 
 Fistularia, 443. 
 
 Flora of the coal, 43. 
 
 New Zealand, 104. 
 
 the Wealden, 218. 
 
 Footprints, 61, 64, 69. 
 Formations, Table of, 4. 
 Fossils, 2. 
 Fossil birds, 90. 
 ferns, 30. 
 
 fishes, 409. 
 
 mammalia, 352, 388,401,468. 
 
 reptiles, 149. 
 
 vegetables, 11, 21. 
 
 Fox, fossil, 186. 
 Fucoides, 25, 26. 
 
 G. 
 
 Gailenreuth Caves, 394, 464. 
 
 Ganoids, 419, 421. 
 
 Genera of fossil fishes, 450. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 493 
 
 Geological formations, 4. 
 
 inferences, 386, 405, 450. 
 Geology of Auvergne, 353. 
 
 - S. Er of England, 203. 
 Isle of Wight, 112. 
 
 Maidstone, 301. 
 
 New Zealand, 96. 
 
 the Pampas, 477. 
 
 Stonesfield, 401. 
 
 Sewalik Hills, 468. 
 
 Vale of Thames, 388. 
 
 Wealden, 209. 
 
 Geosaurus, 175. 
 
 Gloria, fishes, 443. 
 Glyptodon, tails of, 359. 
 Goniaster, 82. 
 Goniopholis, 168. 
 Grays, fossil mammalia of, 388. 
 Guadaloupe skeletons, 464, 483. 
 Gymnodons, 439. 
 Gyrodus, 439. 
 
 H. 
 
 Halonia, 42. 
 Hawkins, Mr., Collection, 341, 381, 
 
 490. 
 
 Holoptychius, 434. 
 Hom'o diluvii testis, 137, 184. 
 Horn of Iguanodon, 298. 
 Human skeleton, fossil, 464, 483. 
 Humerus of Hylseosaurus, 322. 
 
 Iguanodon, 285. 
 
 Hybodus, 448. 
 Hybodons, 448. 
 Hylaeosaurus, 139, 314, 322. 
 
 dermal spines, 320. 
 
 humerus, 322. 
 
 scapula, 322. 
 
 sacrum, 334. 
 
 teeth? 326. 
 
 vertebrae, 323. 
 
 Hypsodon, 444. 
 
 I. 
 
 Ichthyodorulites, 413, 450. 
 Ichthyolites, 409, 417, 442, 446. 
 Ichthyosaurus, 366, 371, 376. 
 communis, 378. 
 
 - intermedius, 377. 
 
 latifrons, 385. 
 
 lonchiodon, 384. 
 
 - longipennis, 378. 
 
 Ichthyosaurus, longirostris, 385. 
 paddles of, 374. 
 
 platyodon, 380. 
 
 tenuirostris, 376. 
 
 Iguana, 232. 
 
 Iguanodon, 224, 228, 307. 
 
 bones of, 228, 235. 
 
 coracoid, 282. 
 
 Country of, 335. 
 
 'clavicle, 279. 
 
 dermal spines, 298. 
 
 extremities, 291. 
 
 femur, 292. 
 
 fibula, 293. 
 
 habits of, 307, 312. 
 
 humerus of, 286. 
 
 iliac bones, 271. 
 
 1 jaws, 241, 249. 
 
 : - magnitude of, 299. 
 
 metacarpals, 288. 
 metatarsals, 295. 
 
 of Maidstone, 302, 306. 
 
 pectoral arch, 279. 
 
 pelvis, 270. 
 
 phalangeals, 296. 
 
 pubis, 271. 
 
 : sacrum, 268. 
 
 scapula, 282. 
 
 tibia, 293. 
 
 unguals, 297. 
 
 vertebrae, 256. 
 
 Incrustations, 2. 
 Insects, fossil, 466. 
 Irish Elk, 409, 455. 
 Iron, meteoric, 17. 
 
 native, 15. 
 
 Isle of Portland, 56. 
 
 Sheppey, fruits of, 50. 
 
 Wight, 112. 
 
 J. 
 
 Jaw bones of Iguanodon, 241. 
 
 upper, of Iguanodon, 250. 
 
 Jet, 24. 
 
 K. 
 
 Kaurehe of New Zealand, 105. 
 Kirkdale Cave, 482. 
 
 L. 
 
 Lates, 443. 
 Lepidodendron, 41. 
 
494 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Lepidoids, 424. 
 Lepidosteus, 430. 
 Lepidostrobus, 42. 
 Lepidotus, 427. 
 Leptolepis, 430. 
 Leuciscus, 444. 
 Lias formation, 368. 
 Lily Encrinite, 78, 87. 
 Lonchopteris, 31. 
 Lophiostomus, 438. 
 Lycopodiacese, 41. 
 
 M. 
 
 Machairodus, 363, 399, 400. 
 Macrauchenia, 77. 
 Macropoma, 435. 
 Macrospondylus, 175. 
 Maestricht, Geology of, 193. 
 Maidstone Iguanodon, 150, 301, 
 
 306. 
 
 Mallotus, 446. 
 Mammalia, 455, 461. 
 
 of Auvergne, 356, 371, 
 
 376. 
 
 Sewalik Hills, 468. 
 Stonesfield, 401. 
 
 Mammoths, 465, 473. 
 Man, fossil, 464, 483. 
 Mantell, Walter, Researches of, 95, 
 
 99, 100, 126, 487. 
 Mantellia, 57. 
 Marsupites, 85. 
 Mastodons, 463, 465, 470. 
 
 Ohioticus, 465, 472. 
 
 Medullosse, 49. 
 Megalichthys, 432. 
 Megalonyx, 76. 
 Megalosaurus, 328. 
 Megaphyton, 42. 
 Megatherium, 465, 476. 
 Menaccanite sand, 101. 
 Meteorites, 15, 17. 
 Miliobates, 454. 
 Minerals in Room I., 14. 
 
 II., 78. 
 
 III., 144. 
 
 IV., 363. 
 
 Moa, 93, 108, 116, 121, 488. 
 
 discovery of, 94. 
 
 Monte Bolca, 442. 
 Mosasaurus, 139, 193, 197. 
 
 Mugil, 443. 
 Mylodon, 480. 
 Myripristis, 443. 
 Mystriosaurus, 183. 
 
 N. 
 
 New Zealand, 76. 
 
 Apteryx, 106. 
 
 birds of, 79. 
 
 fauna of, 104. 
 
 flora, 104. 
 
 Kaurehe of, 105. 
 
 - Middle Island, 97. 
 
 Moa of, 93, 108. 
 
 - North Island, 101. 
 
 Notornis, 124. 
 Nipatites, 50, 51. 
 Notornis fossil, 124. 
 
 recent, 126. 
 
 Nummulites, 408. 
 
 (Eningen fossils, 184. 
 Onekakara, 98. 
 Ornithichnites, 13, 64, 69. 
 Osmeroides, 446. 
 Ossiferous caves of Brazil, 484. 
 Gailenreuth, 
 
 394, 397, 464. 
 
 Kirkdale, 482. 
 New Zealand, 103. 
 Torquay, 482. 
 
 Osteolepis, 426. 
 
 P. 
 
 Palapteryx, 17, 121. 
 
 Palseoniscus, 425. 
 
 Palseotherium, 464, 475. 
 
 Palmacites, 51. 
 
 Palms, 50, 52. 
 
 Pampas, Geology of, 477. 
 
 Pamphractus, 424. 
 
 Parrot, fossil, 128. 
 
 Pectoral arch of Iguanodon, 279. 
 
 Pelates, 443. 
 
 Pelorosaurus, 142, 330. 
 
 Penguin, fossil, 130. 
 
 Pentacrinites, 77, 87. 
 
 Pentremites, 89. 
 
 Perca, 440. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 495 
 
 Petrifactions, 2. 
 Petrified forest, 56. 
 Phascolotherium, 403. 
 Pholidophorus, 429. 
 Placoids, 413, 448, 454. 
 Plan of Room I., 10. 
 
 II., 74. 
 
 III., 138. 
 
 IV., 360. 
 
 V., 410. 
 
 VI., 462. 
 
 Platemys, 153, 156. 
 Plesiosaurus, 143, 341. 
 
 arcuatus, 349. 
 
 dolichodeirus, 343. 
 
 Hawkinsii, 347. 
 
 macrocephalus, 350. 
 
 - of the Wealden, 351. 
 rugosus, 351. 
 
 Polypterus, 430. 
 Polyptychodon, 200. 
 Portland, Isle of, 56. 
 Pristis, 449. 
 Psarolites, 44. 
 Pterichthys, 424. 
 Pterodactyles, 139, 187. 
 
 - macronyx,139,189. 
 
 of the chalk, 192. 
 
 - Wealden, 190. 
 Ptychodus, 449. 
 Ptycholepis, 433. 
 Pycnodon, 439. 
 Pygopterus, 430. 
 
 Q- 
 
 Quarry in Tilgate Forest, 203. 
 near Maidstone, 304. 
 
 R. 
 
 Railway Section, 213. 
 Rays, fossil, 449. 
 Regnosaurus, 141, 388. 
 Reptiles, fossil, 149. 
 
 - teeth of, 181. 
 
 vertebrae, 162. 
 
 Rhinoceros, 412, 455. 
 Rhizodus, 433. 
 Ripple marks on stone, 61. 
 Room I. plan of, 10. 
 
 synopsis, 11. 
 
 minerals in, 14. 
 
 Room II. plan of, 74. 
 
 synopsis, 75. 
 
 minerals, 78. 
 
 III. plan of, 138. 
 
 synopsis, 137. 
 
 - minerals, 144. 
 IV. plan of, 360. 
 
 synopsis, 362. 
 
 minerals, 363. 
 
 - V. plan of, 410. 
 
 synopsis, 411. 
 
 VI. plan of, 462. 
 
 synopsis, 463. 
 
 Rudistes, 468. 
 Ruminants, 388. 
 
 S. 
 Sacrum of Dinosaurians, 141. 
 
 Hylaeosaurus, 141. 
 
 Iguanodon, 268. 
 
 - Megalosaurus, 141. 
 
 reptiles, 166. 
 
 Saurichthys, 432. 
 Saurodon, 444. 
 Sauroids, 429. 
 
 Scapula of Hylaeosaurus, 322. 
 
 Iguanodon, 282. 
 
 reptile unknown, 283. 
 
 Scelidotherium, 77, 477. 
 Scheuchzer's Homo, 184. 
 Scleroderms, 438. 
 
 Seals, fossil, 130. 
 Semionotus, 426. 
 Semiophorus, 443. 
 Serranus, 443. 
 Sewalik fossils, 413, 463, 468. 
 
 Hills, 468. 
 
 Sharks, fossil, 448. 
 Shells, fossil, 146, 406, 408. 
 Sigillaria, 35, 37, 39. 
 Siluroids, 439. 
 Sivatherium, 413, 456. 
 Smerdis, 442. 
 Solenhofen fishes, 431. 
 Sphenolepis, 444. 
 Sphenopteris, 32. 
 Squalidse, 414, 418. 
 Staarstein, 45. 
 Starfishes, 81. 
 Stelleridae, 77, 81. 
 Sternbergia, 43. 
 
496 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Stigmaria, 35, 37, 39. 
 Stonesfield Mammalia, 401. 
 Swanage Crocodile, 137, 168, 173. 
 
 - Geology of, 168. 
 Synopsis of Room I., 11. 
 
 II, 75. 
 
 Ill, 137. 
 
 IV., 362. 
 
 V, 411. 
 
 VI, 463. 
 
 T. 
 
 Table of formations, 4. 
 Teeth of Bears, 398. 
 
 Elephants, 469. 
 Fishes, 420. 
 
 Goniopholis, 171. 
 
 Hylseosaurus, 326. 
 
 Iguanodon, 228, 235. 
 
 Machairodus, 399. 
 Mastodons, 470. 
 
 Megalosaurus, 329. 
 Mosasaurus, 196. 
 
 Reptiles, 161. 
 
 Teleosaurus, 177' 
 
 Cadomensis, 182. 
 
 Chapmanni, 180. 
 
 priscus, 178. 
 Terebratulse, 466. 
 Tetragonolepis, 426. 
 Thames diluvium, 388. 
 Tilgate Forest, 203. 
 Tinea, 444. 
 
 Torquay Cave, 482. 
 Tretosternum, 157. 
 Trilobites, 466. 
 Trionyx, 157. 
 Trogontherium, 357. 
 Turtles, fossil, 151. 
 
 U. 
 
 Ulodendron, 42. 
 Ursus cultridens, 399. 
 - priscus, 398. 
 
 spelsous, 398. 
 
 V. 
 
 Vegetables, carbonized, 22. 
 
 fossil, 21. 
 
 petrified, 21. 
 Ventriculites, 466. 
 Vertebrae, biconcave, 166. 
 
 biconvex, 168, 467. 
 
 caudal, 166, 272. 
 
 convexo-concave, 260. 
 
 of Hylaeosaurus, 325. 
 
 of Iguanodon, 256, 265, 
 
 272. 
 
 275. 
 
 of Pelorosaurus, 331. 
 reptilian, 162. 
 : undetermined, 
 
 Voltzia, 54. 
 
 structure of, 164. 
 
 W. 
 
 Waikouaiti, fossils of, 99. 
 Waingongoro, 101. 
 Wealden fishes, 427. 
 
 formation, 206, 209, 218. 
 
 reptiles, 314. 
 -- vegetables, 31, 46. 
 
 Websterite, 14. 
 
 Wood, fossil, of Australia, 58. 
 
 -- Portland, 57. 
 
 Zamia, 55. 
 Zoophytes, 466. 
 
 z. 
 
 ERRATA. 
 Page 27, line 9 from bottom, for head, read bud. 
 
 93, 9 
 
 115, 24 
 
 129, 5 
 
 187, 13 
 
 288, 24 
 
 23 
 
 16 
 
 for 1851, read 1850. 
 
 for fibula, read fibulae. 
 
 for Diamodea, read Diomedea. 
 
 for more, read less. 
 
 for thighbone, read humerus. 
 
 for specimen, read thighbone. 
 
 for caudyloid, read condyloid. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 
 E. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD STREET HILL. 
 
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