sub-genus of Cuvier, which he called gavials, or long muzzled.

A collection of these bones, made at Honfleur, and Havre, in France, are preserved in the museum of Natural History, in Paris. But the most perfect specimen of this fossil is said to have been found near Monheim, in Germany. It is enclosed between two plates, of schistose marly limestone, of a yellowish grey color, mingled with fragments of quartz. It was accompanied with the cast of the tail of a small fish, and the remains of an insect.

The bones of the crocodile are browner than the stone itself. The slab containing this animal is three feet long, and fifteen inches broad, and the form of the head, trunk, and tail, from end to end, is plainly to be seen impressed in the rock, and very little deranged in respect to shape. The upper jaw is armed with twenty-five or twenty-six teeth on each side. The number of vertebræ, or pieces composing the back bone, are sixty-nine; and these are not deranged, except towards the tail.

The remains of the fossil crocodile are found in strata, lying far below those containing any species of quadrupeds, and hence are supposed to be of more ancient date. Some remains of this animal in the Jura mountains, are in limestone so solid as to be susceptible of a high polish.

With respect to these bones, Cuvier remarks, that “the presence of an animal, such as the crocodile, apparently belonging to fresh water, in such beds, is a very remarkable circumstance. It is the more deserving of notice, as it is accompanied with the remains of tortoises, all equally inhabitants of fresh water. This fact, joined to several others, proves that there existed dry lands irrigated by rivers, at an exceedingly remote period, and long before the successions of those tertiary mineral formations, which exist in the neighborhood of Paris.

Megalosaurus. This is one of the saurian, or lizard tribe; the term signifies "great lizard.” It appears to be allied to the lizards and crocodiles, but differs from them both. This was an ante-diluvian monster, far exceeding in size, any of the crocodiles of the present day. A fossil thigh bone of one of these animals, which Cuvier measured, was thirty-two inches long; and supposing that the animal was proportioned like others of the lizard tribe, he must have had a total length of forty-eight feet; and from

the incisor form of its cutting teeth, this must have been an exceedingly fierce and voracious animal.

The bones of this specimen, were found at Stonesfield, in England, among innumerable marine fossils, such as the teeth of sharks, the remains of crabs, sea shells, &c., and therefore there is little doubt but this was a monster of the ocean, though amphibious.

Mr. Mantell, of Lewes, in Sussex, has discovered megalosaurus' bones, of still greater dimensions, one of the thigh bones being twenty-two inches in circumference, whence he concludes that its length must have been fiftyfour inches. This, according to the estimated proportions of the animal, gives him a total length of more than seventy-five feet, a size in the animal kingdom, rarely exceeded, even by the whales of the present day; and yet this monster, in all probability, was capable of crawling, or walking, both on the bottom of the sea, and on the dry land, like the crocodiles of our own times. Its height was probably fourteen or fifteen feet, being equal to that of the largest elephant. Fig. 54.

What sort of engines the antediluvians possessed, which could have withstood or destroyed a fierce reptile, capable of devouring an elephant or a rhinoceros at a meal, we know not. At present, with the exception of our artillery, we possess no weapons capable of preventing the devastations of such a monster.

The teeth of this animal were lodged in distinct sockets. They were curved backwards, undoubtedly for the purpose of the better securing their prey. They were compressed, or flattened laterally, with the edge toothed, or serrated, through the whole length of the posterior, or cutting side, and at the point of the anterior side, or edge. Fig. 54, represents the tooth of a megalosaurus of the natural size. It is thin on the concave, or cutting edge, but thicker on the convex side, so as to give it strength, its shape being similar to

that of a pruning knife. An animal seventy-five feet in length, with a mouth containing perhaps more than sixty such teeth, with a disposition like that of the crocodile, must have presented a spectacle, of which we post-diluvians can have but a faint conception.

The formation of Stonesfield, where these remains occur, consists of a sandy slate, about six feet thick, lying below several strata of limestone, of different kinds, and about forty feet from the surface.

Iguanodon. This animal approached in structure, more nearly to the Iguana, a large species of lizard, found in the West Indies, than to any other species. Its length was between sixty and seventy feet.

Cuvier pronounces this reptile to have been the most singular and extraordinary, of all the ante-diluvian wonders yet discovered. Its great peculiarity consists in the form of its teeth, which shows, that notwithstanding its saurian form, it was a herbivorous animal, in which it differed from all the lizard tribes.

These are two gen

Ichthyosaurus and Plesiosaurus. era of singularly formed sea lizards. Ichthyosaurus, is derived from two Greek words, and signifies marine lizard. Plesiosaurus, means lizard-like.

These, among all the fossil animals that have been discovered, are most calculated to surprise the naturalist by their least resemblance to any individuals now living, and by their singular combinations of structure.

In the Ichthyosaurus we see the muzzle of a dolphin; the teeth of a crocodile; the head and breast of a lizard; the paddles of a turtle, and the backbone of a fish.

In the Plesiosaurus, we have the same turtle-like paddles; a lizard's head, and a long neck, like the body of a serpent.

Fig. 55.

Ichthyosaurus. This fossil skeleton is represented by fig. 55. No entire skeleton of this animal has yet been

found; but fragments having been collected in the limestone formations in various parts of England, and the whole having been joined, and the absent parts supplied with carved wood, a skeleton, such as is here represented, is composed. It appears that England was the principal sepulchre of this animal, few of its remains having been discovered otherwhere.

In length, this animal was about twenty feet, and therefore does not in this respect compare with several of the ante-diluvian reptiles. But its singular combinations of structure, together with the vast number of bones composing its skeleton, have rendered it one of the most curious and interesting objects to naturalists which has been pre

sented.

The vertebræ amount to about ninety in number, and the number of pieces of bone contained in each paddle, is 100. These are flat, and placed in contact with each other, like mosaic work, or a tesselated pavement. It was an amphibious animal, but lived chiefly in the water, as is indicated by the form of its paddles, which hardly could. have permitted it even to crawl upon the shore. It is probable, therefore, that although it was an air-breathing animal, if it had the misfortune to be cast upon the shore, it must have remained motionless, and died, as whales and dolphins do, under like circumstances.

The teeth of this animal were about half an inch in length, sharp pointed, but not curved like those of the megalosaurus; their number was thirty in each jaw.

But the most striking feature in the appearance of this strange animal, was the enormous size of his eyes, and which must have given him a most terrific physiognomy. Fig. 56.

The sclerotic, or outer coat of the eye was beset by a circle of bony pieces, as seen in the adjoining representation of the skeleton of the head, probably in order to give it strength and prominence. These pieces of bone, form

a character common to birds, tortoises, and lizards, to the exclusion of crocodiles and fishes; and hence, one of the marks by which it is proved that this animal belonged to the lizard tribe. The comparative size of the eye socket, when compared with the other parts of the head, will give us some idea of the frightful appearance of this ani-. mal; as will the long rows of curved teeth with which his jaws are studded, of his power to seize, and hold his prey. From the dimensions of the head, we may suppose that these eyes were fully as broad as a tea saucer, being probably at least six inches in diameter.

Plesiosaurus. "This genus," says Dr. Ure, "is entirely English, and solely due to the sagacity of Mr. Conybeare.' Some vertebræ, mixed with those of the crocodile and icthyosaurus, in the lias of the environs of Bristol, appeared to him to differ from those of both animals. From this circumstance, he was led to make further examinations, and these were continued until a sufficient number of bones had been obtained to show the form and size of this strange ante-diluvian.

Fig. 57.

The most singular part of its construction, is the immense length of the neck, and the disproportion of this, to the other parts of the system. This is composed of a greater number of bones than the neck of any known animal; exceeding in this respect, even the swan, which has a greater number than any existing species.

The most entire specimen of the plesiosaurus yet found, is that which came from Lyme Regis. This relic is contained in several blocks of stone, which were once continuous, and which fit each other exactly. The bones have the posture which they would have taken, had the animal been crushed by a heavy weight from above. Its length is nine feet six inches. The number of vertebræ are ninety, of which forty belong to the neck.

The plesiosaurus in the living state, must have present