CHAPTER XVIII.

[696]Saurians, like birds, have a single occipital condyle.[697]See Dr. Roget’sBridgewater Essay, p. 395.[698]The variations in the dental system of these animals are given inOdontography, chap. ii. p. 187.

[696]Saurians, like birds, have a single occipital condyle.

[697]See Dr. Roget’sBridgewater Essay, p. 395.

[698]The variations in the dental system of these animals are given inOdontography, chap. ii. p. 187.

FOSSIL BATRACHIANS.

Batracholites; or fossil remains of Batrachians.—The skeletons, vestiges of the soft parts, and imprints of the feet of several genera of Batrachians occur in a fossil state in tertiary deposits, all of which, like the existing races, appear to belong to fresh-water or terrestrial species. In the pliocene or newer tertiary strata, on the banks of the Rhine, atŒningen, and in thepapierkohleof the Eifel, several species of Frog, Toad, and Newt, have been discovered. Fossil frogs of a small species, very similar to the recent, occur in numbers in a dark shale, overlaid by basalt, in the vicinity of Bombay.[699]

[699]Quart. Geol. Journ. vol. iii. p. 221.

A celebrated fossil of this class is the gigantic Salamander (Cryptobranchus), three feet in length (Lign.243), found at Œningen (seeWond.pp. 263, 580), which a German physician of some note (Scheuchzer) supposed to be a fossil man![700]and he described it in an essay, entitled "Homo diluvii testis et Theoscopos," as being the moiety, or nearly so, of a human skeleton, with the bones and flesh incorporated in the stone.[701]A fine example of this fossil Salamander is preserved in the British Museum (Petrif.p. 186).

[700]Phil. Trans, for 1726, vol. xxxiv.[701]Ample description and figures of this highly interesting fossil are given by Cuvier,Oss. Foss.tom. v. part ii. p. 431, pl. xxv. xxvi.

[700]Phil. Trans, for 1726, vol. xxxiv.

[701]Ample description and figures of this highly interesting fossil are given by Cuvier,Oss. Foss.tom. v. part ii. p. 431, pl. xxv. xxvi.

Lign. 243. Cryptobranchus Scheuchzeri:1/11nat. size.Tertiary.Œningen.

LABYRINTHODON.

Labyrinthodon.Ly.p. 290-293;Wond.p. 550. By far the most interesting evidence of the existence of Batrachian reptiles in the earlier ages of our planet has been afforded by Professor Jäger’s discovery of the skull, teeth, and other remains of gigantic extinct animals, allied to theSalamander, in the Upper New Red Sandstone (Keuper) of Wirtemberg.[702]

[702]Über die Fossile Reptilien welche in Würtemberg aufgefunden worden sind, von Dr. Geo. Friedr. Jäger. 4to. Stuttgart, 1828. See also Hermann von Meyer’s Notice of the Saurians of the Muschelkalk, Banter Sandstein, and Keuper,Quart. Geol. Journ.vol. iv. pt. ii. p. 40.

These remains were referred by this eminent physician and naturalist to saurian genera, although the double condyle of the occipital bone indicated Batrachian affinities. It was reserved, however, for our distinguished countryman, Professor Owen, to correct the error into which the Germansavanthad fallen,—remove the obscurity in which the subject was involved,—determine the natural relations of the original,—and develope a modification of dental organization of the most unexpected and interesting character.

Dr. Lloyd, of Leamington, having discovered some fossil teeth and bones in the light-coloured sandstone of the New Red, at Warwick and Leamington, submitted them to Professor Owen, who, struck with their general resemblance to the teeth of the giganticSalamandroïdesof Wirtemberg, instituted a microscopic examination of the British and German specimens. The result proved that the teeth from both localities possessed a remarkable and complicated structure, produced by the convergence of numerous inflected folds of the external layer of cement towards the pulp-cavity; to which, as we have already seen (p. 666), a very slight approach was made in the tooth of the Ichthyosaurus, and a still closer approximation by the teeth of certain fishes (Lepidosteus,p. 616). From the intricate meanderings or labyrinthine inflections observable in the sections of these teeth, Professor Owen has given the name ofLabyrinthodonto these extinct Batrachian reptiles, and has determined five British species; one of which (L. Jægeri) he conceives to be identical with a species described by my friend, Dr. Jäger.

The remains of the skeletons of these reptiles, hitherto found in Warwickshire, consist of portions of the cranium, and of the upper and lower jaws, with teeth, vertebræ, a sternum, and some of the bones of the pelvis and the extremities. From a specimen (ofL. scutulatus) consisting of an aggregated group of bones, imbedded in sandstone, comprising four vertebræ, portions of ribs, a humerus, a thigh-bone, and two leg-bones, with several small osseous scutes, it appears that one species, at least, resembled the Crocodiles in its dermal structure. But Professor Owen remarks, that this modification of the dermal system does not affect the claims of the Labyrinthodonts to be considered as Batrachians, although all the known living species of this order are covered with a soft, lubricous, naked integument; for the skin is the seat of the most variable characters in all animals; and the double occipital condyle, the simple lower jaw, the palatal vomerine bones, and the teeth of these fossil reptiles must be deemed decisive of their essentially Batrachian nature.

From the specimens of the cranium the important fact has been ascertained, that the Labyrinthodonts had subterminal nostrils leading to a wide and shallow nasal cavity, which is separated by a broad and almost continuous palatal flooring from the cavity of the mouth; indicating, by its horizontal position, that the posterior apertures were placed far behind the external nostrils; whereas in the recent air-breathing Batrachians the nasal canal is short and vertical, and the inner apertures pierce the anterior part of the palate. The nasal cavities in the Frog are vertical; for this reptile swallows air. The Labyrinthodonts must, therefore, have breathed air like the Crocodiles, and were probably provided with well-developed ribs, and not mere rudimentary styles, as in most living Batrachians.

Tooth of the Labyrinthodon.Pl. VI. fig. 3.—The tooth of the Labyrinthodon is of a conical figure, veryslightly recurved, and marked externally with shallow, fine, longitudinal strife.Pl. VI. fig. 3a, represents (1/2nat. size) a specimen presented to me by Dr. Jäger. The tooth is implanted, by a single fang, in an alveolar groove to which it is anchylosed. It consists of a simple central pulp-cavity, surrounded by a body of dentine, which has an external thin coat of cement; and a vertical duplication or fold of this cement penetrates the substance of the tooth at each of the striæ, which are arranged at intervals of about one line around the entire circumference of the tooth. The inflected folds of cement extend inwards towards the centre, in a straight direction for about half a line, then become undulated, and finally terminate in a dilatation or loop, close to the pulp-cavity, from which it is separated by a thin layer of dentine. Within these inflections of the cement, the dentine, or tooth-bone, is similarly disposed; a layer of dentine lining the folds of cement, and having corresponding interspaces, which are filled up by the processes from the pulp-cavity. It is this blending of the cement and dentine in labyrinthine folds, that gives the peculiar character observable in transverse sections of the teeth.Pl. VI. fig. 3a, represents a transverse section of half the diameter of the tooth; the vacancy in the middle of the line at the bottom is a section of half the pulp-cavity.Fig. 3bis a vertical section of a fragment near the summit of the tooth; andfig. 3c, a highly-magnified view of one of the anfractuosities, showing a fold of cement, surrounding a fold of dentine, and in the centre of the latter the termination of a process of the pulp. The section of the tooth of the Ichthyosaurus,Pl. VI. fig. 9, shows the most simple modification of this structure; the apparent complication of that of the Labyrinthodon arises from the inflections of the three elements of dental organization being more numerous and diversified. But the beautiful plates and the graphic description of the original discoverer must be seen and perused to obtain anadequate idea of the exquisite structure of the fossil teeth; for the distribution of the extremely minute calcigerous tubes of the dentine is as diversified as that of the constituent substances. And even after viewing thesechefs-d’œuvresof structural delineations, should the reader have an opportunity of examining a transverse section of a tooth under the microscope, he will feel how feebly any engraving can represent the characters of the original.[703]

[703]Professor Owen’s Memoir on the Labyrinthodonts, inGeol. Trans.2d ser. vol. vi. pp. 503-543, with five admirable lithographs by that excellent artist, Mr. Scharf, and the description of the structure of the teeth,Odontography, p. 195, pl. lxiii. lxiv. should be consulted. See alsoCyclop. Anat.Art.Teeth.

ARCHEGOSAURUS.

Archegosaurus.Lign.244,Ly.p. 336,figs.384,[704]385.—The occurrence of reptilian remains in deposits of higher antiquity than the Triassic was first established in 1844, by the discovery of the skull and other portions of the skeleton of an air-breathing reptile, theApateon pedestris, related to the Salamanders, and about three feet in length, in the coal of Münster-Appel in Rhenish Bavaria. In 1847 Professor Von Dechen obtained, in nodules of argillaceous ironstone, from the coal-field of Lebach, in the district of Saarbrück, three species of the same type of reptiles; these have been described by Goldfuss, under the name ofArchegosaurus.[705]One of them was well known to collectors, but had previously been regarded as a fish (thePygopterus luciusof M. Agassiz).

[704]The original of this figure ofArchegosaurus minoris now in the British Museum.[705]See a notice of the researches of Goldfuss, Von Dechen, and Von Meyer in the geological and zoological history of this interesting group of batrachoid reptiles,Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.vol. iv. part ii. (Miscell.) p. 513,et seq.

[704]The original of this figure ofArchegosaurus minoris now in the British Museum.

[705]See a notice of the researches of Goldfuss, Von Dechen, and Von Meyer in the geological and zoological history of this interesting group of batrachoid reptiles,Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.vol. iv. part ii. (Miscell.) p. 513,et seq.

The skull and portions of the trunk of this species (A. Dechenii), seeLign.244, indicate an animal three and a half feet in length. Seventeen dorsal vertebræ, imprints of the ribs, and remains of the extremities, have been collected.The jaws to beyond the orbit have small fine conical teeth, longitudinally striated. The eye was furnished with an osseous ring. The skin, of which a considerable part was detached, was covered by long, narrow, wedge-shaped, horny scales, arranged in rows (Lign.244). The cranial bones are characterized by reticulating grooves and pittings, similar in character to the reticulate markings on the cranial bones of the Labyrinthodon, but of a more delicate sculpturing. The original reptiles were quadruped; the fore and hind feet had distinct toes; but the limbs were feeble, and only capable of swimming, or, when on land, of a slow creeping movement.

The Archegosaurus is closely allied to the Labyrinthodonts;[706]and, in the words of Professor Owen,[707]it is "essentially Batrachian, and most nearly allied to the perennibranchiate, or lowest or most fish-like of that Order of Reptiles."

[706]We may remark that in the opinion of Dr. Goldfuss and Von Meyer (loc. cit.) the Labyrinthodon and the Archegosaurus are saurian forms connecting the Crocodiles and the Lizards, and representing in the ancient fauna an arrested or "permanent larva-condition of the loricated reptiles, as the sirens do among the recent batrachians." Professor Owen’s estimation of the affinities of these genera is stated above, and in thenoteat p. 55, Geol. Journ. vol. iv. part ii.[707]Quart. Geol. Journ. vol. ix. p. 69.

[707]Quart. Geol. Journ. vol. ix. p. 69.

Parabatrachus Colei.—Under this appellation Professor Owen has lately described (Quart. Geol. Journ.vol. ix. p. 67, pl. ii.fig.1,) a batrachoid fossil, consisting of cranial and maxillary bones with teeth, probably from the shale of the Glasgow coal-field, at Carluke, Lanarkshire. The slab of coal-shale in which the specimen is imbedded contains also a large scale of theHoloptychius(seep. 618).

DENDRERPETON ACADIANUM.

Dendrerpeton Acadianum.[708](Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.1853, pp. 58-67, plates ii. and iii.)—The remains of a reptile and a land-shell, resembling aPupa, were discovered in 1852, by Sir C. Lyell and Mr. J. W. Dawson, in the interior of an erect stamp of a fossil tree (Sigillaria), in the coal-measures at the South Joggins cliffs, Nova Scotia. These remains were fully described by Professor Jeffries Wyman, of Harvard University, U. S., and Professor Owen in the Appendix to the Memoir by Sir C. Lyell and Mr. Dawson, in the Journal of the Geological Society, vol. ix. Some of the bones were recognised as having a near resemblance to those of the recentMenobranchusandMenopoma(Perennibranchiate Batrachians, inhabiting North American fresh-waters); the sculptured cranial bones are analogous to those of theLabyrinthodonandArchegosaurus; and the teeth have a Labyrinthodontoid structure: numerous, small, concentrically striated scutes, of an irregular oval shape, accompany the bones and teeth.

[708]TheTree-reptile of Acadia(Acadia being the ancient Indian name for Nova Scotia).

Lign. 244. Archegosaurus Dechenii.1/2nat. size.Coal Formation.Saarbrück.Fig.1.—The cranium and part of the lower jaw.2.—A portion of the skin, or dermal scutes, magnified.3 and4.—Magnified figures of two teeth.

The conclusions arrived at by the eminent comparative anatomists to whose examination the remains in question were submitted, show that the character of the fossils are those of Perennibranchiate Batrachians; that, with regard to the long bones, it is not improbable that the corresponding bones in theArchegosaurus(p. 745) andLabyrinthodon(p. 741) would present similar correspondences with those of the existing perennibranchiates; and that, although theDendrerpetoncannot be referred to any known form of the two genera just mentioned, yet there exists strong evidence of its close affinity with these extinct Batrachians.

TheDendrerpeton Acadianumwas probably between two and three feet in length. A series of minute biconcave vertebræ were found with the other remains in the erect tree, these, however, from their relatively small size, and from other characteristics, are regarded by Professor Wyman as having probably belonged to some other associated reptile.

The Labyrinthodont reptiles have been regarded as characteristic of the Permian and Triassic epochs, their remains being found in Germany and England in rocks of that age. The commencement of the existence of this family of sauroid-batrachians, however, is of greater antiquity, since their relics also occur in the formations of the Carboniferous epoch. TheArchegosaurus(p. 745), a batrachian but slightly removed from the true Labyrinthodont type, has left its well-characterized remains in the Coal of Germany; theParabatrachus, in that of Scotland; and the alliedDendrerpeton, in the Nova Scotian coal-field. This last-mentioned great carboniferous formation has, however, afforded fossil evidence of the existence of the true Labyrinthodonts in the Coal-period, for some cranial bones, imbedded in a mass of Pictou coal, lately sent to England by Mr. J. W. Dawson, and the subject of a Paper by Professor Owen, read before the Geological Society, weredemonstrated by that distinguished palæontologist to have close affinity with the corresponding parts of the skull of the Triassic generaCapitosaurusandMetopias.

ICHNOLITES.

Ichnolites(Foot-prints on stone).Lign.245.—The sandstones and mud-stones of many localities retain the track-prints of animals that have passed along on the surface of the beds when in a soft state. These foot-prints, orichnolites, either occur as impressions on the surface originally marked lay the animal in the act of progression, or as the reverse of such impressions, being castsin reliefon the under side of the layer covering the surface originally impressed. Such indications of footsteps and trails have been noticed especially in the forest marble, a member of the Lower Oolite series, where Crustacea and Mollusks have left their markings, and in the New Red Sandstone, where the indications of reptilian quadrupeds and of bird-like bipeds[709]have been here and there preserved in great distinctness. Tracks referable to Crustaceans have been found by Mr. W. E. Logan, on the very ancient and rippled surfaces of the Potsdam Sandstone of North America (seep. 543,note); and very lately Mr. J. W. Salter has communicated to the Geological Society the discovery of markings, referred by him to the little entomostracous Hymenocaris (see p. 526), on the Lower Lingula Flags of North Wales,—deposits of as great an age, if not older. The most ancient reptilian ichnolites are those discovered by Capt. L. Brickenden[710]in the Old Red, at Cummingston, near Elgin, which have some resemblance to the track of a club-footed Chelonian (Ly.fig.521); and those of the Devonian sandstone of Sharp Mountain, Pennsylvania, discovered by Mr. I. Lea,[711]whichexhibit distinct toes, and are probably allied to the Cheirotherian ichnolites, about to be mentioned, as are also other ancient fossil foot-tracks in the Carboniferous deposits[712]of Pennsylvania, which are figured and described inLy.pp. 337-340.

[709]SeeOrnithoidichnites, in chap, xviii.[710]Quart. Geol. Journ. vol. viii. p. 97, pl. iii.[711]Across the ridges of the ripples on this slab is a narrow groove, passing along between the two rows of foot-prints; this might have been made by the body or the tail of the animal.Rep. Brit. Assoc.1849, Sect. pp. 56 and 134; andTrans. Americ. Phil. Soc.new series, vol. x. part ii. plates xxxi. and xxxii.[712]With regard to the distribution of reptilian life during the carboniferous and succeeding epochs, see above, page 748.

[709]SeeOrnithoidichnites, in chap, xviii.

[710]Quart. Geol. Journ. vol. viii. p. 97, pl. iii.

[711]Across the ridges of the ripples on this slab is a narrow groove, passing along between the two rows of foot-prints; this might have been made by the body or the tail of the animal.Rep. Brit. Assoc.1849, Sect. pp. 56 and 134; andTrans. Americ. Phil. Soc.new series, vol. x. part ii. plates xxxi. and xxxii.

[712]With regard to the distribution of reptilian life during the carboniferous and succeeding epochs, see above, page 748.

The sandstones of the New Red or Triassic series frequently retain the track-prints of animals, and numerous notices of such occurrences have been published.[713]In addition to the account of these invaluable evidences of the existence of bygone creatures that is here given, the attention of students is especially directed to Dr. Buckland’s most interesting description and illustrations of such as were known when his Treatise was published (Bd.i. p. 259, &c.; and ii. p. 36, pl. xxvi. &c.).

[713]The following are the principal notices of ichnolites by English authors which are not referred to in the text:—Cunningham, Yates, and Egerton on Cheirotherian traces in Cheshire,Geol. Proc.vol. iii. pp. 12-15; Dr. Black on foot-prints at Runcorn,Quart. Geol. Journ.vol. ii. p. 65, pl. ii.; Mr. Cunningham.Liverpool Lit. and Phil. Proc.1848, p. 129, plates iii.-v.; Mr. Hawkshaw on the New Red with foot-prints at Lymm,Rep. Brit. Assoc.1842, Sect. p. 56; Mr. Rawlinson on the same,Quart. Geol. Journ.vol. ix. p. 37; Prof. Harkness on the track-bearing beds of Dumfriesshire,Rep. Brit. Assoc.1850, Sect. p. 83;Quart. Geol. Journ.vol. vi. pp. 389 and 393; andAnnals Nat. Hist.1850, vol. vi. p. 203; Sir W. Jardine,Annals Nat. Hist.loc. cit.Foreign authorities may be found by reference to Pictet’sTraité de Paléontologie, a new and enlarged edition, vol. i. 1853, p. 567,et seq.

The imprints of the feet of some large quadrupeds, having the fore-paws much smaller than the hinder, have been found in Saxony (seeWond.p. 555,Bd.p. xxvi.); and also in strata of the same age in Warwickshire and Cheshire.The quarries at Storeton Hill, near Liverpool, are celebrated for the abundance and variety of these imprints.[714]Some of the strata of sandstone in this locality are divided by thin beds of clay; a lithological structure which admits of the ready separation of the stone in the direction of the sedimentary planes.

[714]The Museums at Warwick, Warrington, and Liverpool are rich in impressed slabs from the Triassic districts. Numerous fine specimens may be also seen in the Museum of the Geological Society, Somerset House, the Museum of Practical Geology, in Jermyn Street, and in the British Museum (seePetrif.pp. 14 and 63).

RAIN-PRINTS ON STONE.

Imprints are found on the face of each successive stratum; and on some of the layers, not only the tracks of animals that have walked over the clay when soft are distinctly observable, but the surface is often traversed with casts of the cracks caused by the desiccation of one layer of clay previously to the deposition of the succeeding layer of sand or mud; and it often presents a blistered or warty appearance, being covered with either little hemispherical eminences or depressions, which an accurate investigation of the phenomenon has proved to have been produced by showers of rain (Ly.figs. 526-528). On the slabs of sandstone, the forms of the sun-cracks, rain-drops, and foot-prints appear in relief, being casts moulded in the soft clayey mud upon which the original impressions were made; while on the clay or shale, corresponding depressions are apparent.[715]

[715]The impressions of rain-drops on stone were first noticed, and their origin explained, by Mr. Cunningham.Geol. Proc.vol. iii. p. 99. See also an interesting Paper by Sir C. Lyell,Quart. Geol. Journ.vol. vii. p. 240.

The foot-prints on these strata are of several kinds; some appear to have been produced by small reptiles and crustaceans; but the principal imprints are identical with those which have been observed in Saxony, and are referable to some large quadruped, in which the fore-feet were of a muchsmaller size than the hind-feet (Lign.245). From a supposed resemblance of the imprints to those of a human hand, Professor Kaup proposed the name ofCheirotherium, to designate the unknown animal which had left these "footsteps on the sands of Time." But since Professor Owen’s discovery, that the bones and teeth of reptiles found in similar strata in Warwickshire belong to gigantic Batrachians, and since the fore and hind-feet of the frog-tribe are often as dissimilar in size as the impressions of theCheirotherium, it has been suggested, with much probability, that the foot-prints in question may be those of Labyrinthodonts; but until the form of the feet of these extinct Batrachians can be ascertained, this inference must be regarded as conjectural (Ly.fig.331).

CHEIROTHERIUM.

Lign. 245. Cheirotherium Kaupii.1/8nat. size.Casts of the foot-marks of a gigantic extinct Batrachian, probably a Labyrinthodon; with casts also of the cracks of the opposed surface.Trias.Hessburg, near Hildburghausen, Saxony.Fig.1.—Casts of the imprints of a hind and a fore-foot of the same animal.2.—Similar tracks of another individual on the same stone.

Allusion has already been made to foot-prints, supposed to be those of tortoises (see p. 729), on slabs of Triassicsandstone in Scotland. Of these there are five species at Corncockle Muir, in Dumfriesshire: they are termedChelichnusby Sir W. Jardine, who has lately described them in hisIchnology of Annandale, a splendid folio work, illustrated with full-sized lithographs, coloured after nature. They are accompanied with three other forms of footstep (Herpetichnus,Batrachnis, andActibatis), one of which Sir W. Jardine regards as indicative of an animal probably of a saurian form.

At Grinsill quarry, from which the remains of theRhynchosaurus(p. 712) were obtained, some small foot-prints have been observed, which, with some probability, have been referred to that animal (Rep. Brit. Assoc.1841, p. 146).

A beautifully distinct series of foot-prints, with the mark of a trailing tail, on a rippled slab from the New Red of Shrewley Common, Warwickshire, are figured and described by Strickland and Murchison (Geol. Trans.2d ser. vol. v. pl. xvviii.). This ichnolite has been provisionally assigned by Professor Owen toLabyrinthodon leptognathus.[716]Similar impressions occur in company with other Cheirotherian imprints at Storeton Hill and at Grinshill.

[716]Geol. Trans. 2d ser. vol. vi. p. 525. The probable relations ofCheirotherium HerculestoLabyrinthodon Jægeri, and ofCh. KaupiitoL. pachygnathus, are pointed out by the same high authority,ibid.pp. 537, 538.

ON COLLECTING FOSSIL REPTILES.

On Collecting the Fossil Remains of Reptiles.—The length to which this article has extended, compels me to omit a retrospect of the geological distribution of fossil reptiles; and I must refer the reader to the brief review of the Age of Reptiles inWond.p. 568,et seq., andPetrif.p. 147, &c., and close this chapter with some directions for collecting reptilian remains, and a list of a few British localities.[717]

[717]An able Summary on British Fossil Reptiles is appended to Prof. Owen’s Report,Rep. Brit. Assoc.1841, p. 191.

The fossilTeeth of Reptilesare commonly found in as perfect a state of preservation as those of fishes; and require but the usual care for their preservation. But the collector should assiduously search for vestiges of the jaw and cranium; and it is desirable to place in the same drawer any undetermined bones found associated with the teeth; as they may ultimately afford some clue to the nature of the original animal. The microscopical examination of the teeth is to be conducted in the manner previously directed (p. 639); but for valuable specimens the lapidary should be employed, and transverse sections made from near the apex, the middle, and base of the tooth; if due care be taken, several slices may be obtained from one specimen. I have ten slices from one tooth of the Labyrinthodon. The bones imbedded in limestone generally partake of the chemical character of the rock, and are often permeated with calcareous spar; mere fragments, when polished, frequently display the internal structure.

The suggestions for repairing fossil bones (p. 46) render further instructions on that head unnecessary; and the description of the development of the specimen of Hylæosaurus (p. 689) affords a practical lesson to the young collector.

When a vertebra is found in an imperfect state, it should be closely examined on the spot, and, if it present proofs of recent fracture, the detached processes should be sought for; even if the body of a vertebra be imbedded in stone, and the processes appear to have been broken off before it was enveloped in the rock, the corresponding parts will often be found in the same mass of stone. There is in the British Museum a very fine Saurian vertebra imbedded in a large slab of Tilgate stone, in which the spinous process is seen lying in the same block, several inches distant from the centrum or body; when observed in the quarry the latter only was exposed, and I was about to detach it from theslab, for the convenience of carriage, when I perceived indications of the spinous process. The vertebra was therefore allowed to remain, and the stone chiselled away, so as to expose the spine; and the specimen then displayed its present interesting character.

It may frequently happen that a fragment of a large bone,—as, for example, the thigh-bone of the Iguanodon,—may be obtained from a quarry; and after an interval of some weeks the corresponding portions be discovered. This was remarkably exemplified in the first specimen which revealed to me the peculiar characters of the femur of the Iguanodon. The lower part, or condyloid extremity, of a gigantic bone, firmly impacted in a block of Tilgate-grit, was found in a quarry near Cuckfield; it was evidently but a fragment of the fossil, for the fracture was recent; I therefore requested the quarry-men to make diligent search for the corresponding portion, but without success. Several months afterwards, upon a fresh explosion in the quarry, 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 were distributed in the Wealden deposits. Teeth, fragments of bones, and other fossils were from time to time obtained from the same quarry; and among these a huge quadrangular fragment of bone, similar to the enormous mass that had so long been in my possession, and had defied all attempts to ascertain its character.[718]It was some time before it occurred to me, that the three portions of unknown colossal bone might belong to the same specimen; but eventually they were found to correspond, and upon cementing them together, the femur of the Iguanodon was, for the first time, developed.

[718]The fragment alluded to is figured,Foss. Til. For.pl. xviii.

The figures inLign.206will assist the collector inrecognising the different vertebral processes, even when occurring as detached fragments. When specimens are evidently rolled or water-worn, there is, of course, no probability that the corresponding portions will be met with. Every fragment of a bone the nature of which is not obvious should be carefully preserved; for sooner or later its characters may be ascertained. It is scarcely necessary again to remind the collector, that search should be made for indications of the soft parts around the bones; the specimen of the paddle of the Ichthyosaurus (Lign.215, p. 669), with its integument, must have impressed this fact too strongly on the mind to be soon forgotten. If the impression of the extremities of a bone, of which a fragment only remains, be observed, the block of stone should be preserved, as a cast may be taken, and the entire form of the original be ascertained.

BRITISH LOCALITIES OF FOSSIL REPTILES.

Aust Cliff, near Bristol.Lias.Plesiosaurus.

Barrow-on-Soar.Lias.Ichthyosaurus, Plesiosaurus.

Bath.Lias.Plesiosaurus.

Battle, Sussex.Wealden.Iguanodon, Cetiosaurus, Goniopholis, Chelonians.

Binstead, Isle of Wight.Upper Eocene.Fresh-water Tortoises. Bognor. Lower Eocene. Chelone.

Bolney, Sussex.Wealden.Hylæosaurus, Iguanodon, Chelonia, Goniopholis.

Bracklesham Bay.Middle Eocene.Crocodiles, Serpents, Chelonians. Brighton. Chalk. Vertebra of Mosasaurus or Leiodon.

Bristol.Lias.Ichthyosaurus.

Brook-Point, Isle of Wight.Wealden.Iguanodon, Cetiosaurus, &c.

Burham, near Maidstone.Chalk.Chelone, Dolichosaurus, Pterodactylus.

Bur wash, Sussex.Wealden; quarries in the neighbourhood. Goniopholis, Turtles.

Cambridge.Lower Chalk.Raphiosaurus, Polyptychodon. Charmouth. Lias. Ichthyosaurus.

Charmouth.Lias.Ichthyosaurus.

Cheltenham.Lias.Ichthyosaurus.

Chipping Norton.Oolite.Streptospondylus.

Clayton.Chalk.Coniosaurus.

Corncockle Muir, Dumfries.New Red.Imprints of feet of Reptiles.

Coton-End, Warwickshire.New Red.Labyrinthodon, &c.

Cubbington, Warwickshire.New Red.Labyrinthodon.

Cuckfield.Wealden; quarries in the vicinity. Iguanodon, Pelorosaurus, Hylæosaurus, Trionyx, &c.

Culver Cliff, Isle of Wight.Wealden.Streptospondylus.

Dover.Chalk.Ichthyosaurus, Plesiosaurus.

Garsington, Oxfordshire.Oolite.Cetiosaurus.

Glastonbury.Lias.Ichthyosaurus.

Grinsill, Warwickshire.New Red.Rhynchosaurus.

Guy’s Cliff, Warwick.New Red.Labyrinthodon.

Harwich.London Clay.Chelonia.

Hastings.Wealden.Iguanodon, Pelorosaurus, Goniopholis, Turtles.

Heddington, Oxfordshire.Kimmeridge Clay.Pliosaurus.

Hordwell.Middle Eocene.Crocodiles, Chelonians, Serpents.

Horsham, Sussex.Wealden; quarries in the vicinity. Hylæosaurus, Iguanodon, Goniopholis, Turtles, &c.

Ilminster.Upper Lias.Ichthyosaurus, Teleosaurus.

Kyson, Suffolk.Eocene.Serpent, Lizard.

Leamington.New Red.Labyrinthodon.

Lewes.Chalk.Vertebra; of Mosasaurus or Leiodon.

Lyme Regis.Lias.Pterodactyles, Ichthyosauri, and Plesiosauri in abundance.

Maidstone.Lower Green Sand; quarries near the town; particularly Mr. Bensted’s "Iguanodon quarry." Iguanodon, Plesiosaurus, Polyptychodon, Fresh-water Tortoise.

Malton.Oolite.Megalosaurus.

Market Rasen.Kimmeridge Clay.Pliosaurus.

Norfolk?Chalk.Leiodon: very rare.

Portland, Isle of.Oolite.Turtles.

Purbeck, Isle of.Purbeck.Goniopholis, Chelonians.Kim. Clay.Pliosaurus.

Redland, near Bristol.Magnesian Conglomerate.Palæosaurus, Thecodontosaurus.

Saltwick.Lias.Teleosaurus.

Sheppey, Isle of.London Clay.Turtles, Serpents, Crocodiles.

Shotover, near Oxford.Kimmeridge Clay.Pliosaurus, Teleosaurus.

Southerham.Chalk.Mosasaurus, Plesiosaurus.

Stonesfield.Oolite.Megalosaurus, Teleosaurus, Pterodactyles.

Stourton, Cheshire.New Red.Foot-prints of reptiles (Cheirotherium), &c.

Street, Somersetshire.Lias.Ichthyosauri and Plesiosauri.

Swanage, Isle of Purbeck. Goniopholis, Chelonians.

Tilgate Forest.Wealden; quarries in various localities. Iguanodon, Megalosaurus, Hylæosaurus, Suchosaurus, Turtles, and Tortoises.

Watchett, Somersetshire.Lias.Plesiosauri, Ichthyosauri.

Warwick, Guy’s Cliff, near.New Red.Labyrinthodon.

Westbrook, Wilts.Kimmeridge Clay.Ichthyosaurus.

Weston, near Bath.Lias.Plesiosaurus.

Whitby, Yorkshire.Lias.Ichthyosauri, Plesiosauri, Teleosaurus.

Wight, Isle of; along the southern shore, near Brook-Point.Wealden.Iguanodon, Cetiosaurus, &c., washed up on the sea-shore.

ORNITHOLITES; OR FOSSIL BIRDS.

Excepting in strata of comparatively modern origin, the remains of Birds are of extreme rarity in a fossil state. In the caverns that contain the skeletons of carnivorous animals, and which in many cases were once their dens, the bones of several species of existing genera of Birds have been discovered, in England, on the Continent, in America, and in Australia; and recently there have been obtained from alluvial deposits in New Zealand the skeletons of Birds, some of enormous magnitude, and under conditions which leave some doubt whether, like theDodo, the species may not have been extirpated by man during the last few centuries; or even if some stray individuals of the race may not, according to the belief of the aborigines, be still, in existence in the interior of the country.

From the gypsum quarries at Montmartre, near Paris, Baron Cuvier obtained several species of Ornitholites; and Prof. Owen has described the relics of three or four species from the London Clay: these fossil birds of the eocene tertiary deposits are the most ancient relics of this class known to the geologist, with the exception of the foot-prints on theNew Redsandstone of North America, that have been referred to animals of this class.

The rarity of the remains of Birds may probably in some measure be attributable, as Sir C. Lyell has suggested, to the peculiar organization of these animals; for their powerof flight necessarily renders them less liable to be engulphed and imbedded in the deltas of rivers or in the bed of the ocean, than quadrupeds; and the lightness of their structure, occasioned by their tubular bones and feathery dermal integument, generally prevents the sinking of the bodies of such as die on, or fall into, the water; so that their carcases are devoured or decomposed.

In illustration of this subject, I purpose, in thefirstplace, to explain such peculiarities in the osteology of the animals of this class, as may assist the collector in the identification of their fossil remains;secondly, to take a cursory survey of the geological distribution of fossil Birds, and examine a few of the most interesting examples; andlastly, consider the striking phenomena presented by the foot-prints of supposed Birds on the strata of those ancient deposits which are comprised in theTriasor New Red formation.

Back to Index Next