The President's Address. By Dr. H. Woodward. 145 



is a small aquatic animal of snake-like shape, named Doliclio- 

 saurus, from the English Chalk. One extinct order must, however, 

 be mentioned — the Pythonomokpha. They were truly aquatic 

 reptiles with remarkable elongated snake-like bodies ; the skull 

 resembled certain Lizards, such as Varanus ; the teeth are large 

 and conical and fixed by tumid bases to the supporting bones ; the 

 pterygoid bones also bear teeth like those on the jaw. 



We are familiar with the remains of the Great Mosasaurus from 

 the Upper Chalk of Maestricht, Holland, and the more complete 

 remains of Platecarpus from the Chalk of Kansas. 



Clidastcs is also found in the Chalk of America. 



Snakes occur in the Eocene of Sheppey, and of Bracklesham ; 

 they have also been obtained of large size by Dr. Andrews, in beds 

 of similar age in Egypt. Large lizards occur in early Tertiary 

 times in Europe and in Queensland, Australia, related to Varanus. 



The Dinosauria form a singular group of very large terrestrial 

 reptiles now entirely extinct. They all possessed limbs suited to 

 progression on the land, and capable of sustaining the body in 

 either a quadrupedal position or erect, supported on the hind-limbs 

 and tail, like the kangaroo. The tail was of large size, and they 

 were probably good swimmers. Some were no doubt amphibious 

 in habit, the caudal appendage being expanded vertically and well 

 adapted to assist in aquatic progression. The hind-quarters in a 

 large number of forms are disproportionately massive as if to 

 support the body in an erect position, whilst the fore-limbs were 

 often exceedingly small. Some of the Dinosaurs had very massive 

 and others very light, strong, and hollow bones ; the teeth in the 

 latter were adapted to a carnivorous diet, while the worn surfaces 

 of the former show that they were herbivorous in habit ; two or 

 more of the sacral vertebra? are fused together to support the 

 pelvis. 



The earliest Dinosaurs appear in the Triassic deposits ; a small, 

 nearly complete, carnivorous Dinosaur was obtained in 1884 from 

 the Trias of Connecticut Kiver Series — the Anchisaurus colurus ; 

 these Connecticut Sandstones have long been famous for the re- 

 markable foot-prints preserved upon' their slabs formerly ascribed 

 to birds ; Marsh has now shown them to have been made by 

 this small Dinosaur Anchisaurus. Another little reptile of car- 

 nivorous habit, about the size of a rabbit, with greatly elongated 

 hind limbs suggesting the generic name of Hallopus or " Leaping- 

 foot," from its probable mode of progression, occurs in the Jurassic 

 strata of Colorado. A third minute carnivorous form (Compsogna- 

 thus) occurs in the Lithographic stone of Solenhofen ; these are 

 among the smallest of the class. 



One of the largest predaceous forms was Ceratosaurus (0. nasi- 

 ■comis Marsh), measuring some 18 ft. in length and standing 

 nearly 15 ft. from the ground. It had a horn-core on the nasal 



