186 Natural History in London. 



Rumindntia. In this group we have fragments of the ox and of the deer. 

 Reptilia, Chelonia Cuv. (Testudinata Bell.) There are many fragments 

 of a large species of trionyx, and some of an emys ; but the remains are 

 not sufficiently defined for specific description. 



Sauria, fam. C'rocodilidae. Of this family we have the remains of two 

 genera, viz. a Leptorhynchus, allied to, if not identical with, the great gavial, 

 and a crocodile resembling Crocodilus vulgaris. Of the former there are 

 portions of the lower jaw and several vertebrae; of the latter there is the 

 anterior termination of the lower jaw, which inust have belonged to a very 

 large individual. 



The specimens, in general, do not appear to have undergone any mineral 

 change, with the exception of being abundantly penetrated with iron, and 

 are very brittle. This last circumstance, arising from the loss of their ani- 

 mal gluten, indicates great antiquity, and that they have not been imbedded 

 in any very compact soil ; unlike the teeth of the mastodon of the Ohio, 

 which lie in a strong blue clay, and have almost as much animal matter as 

 is to be found in a recent tooth. 



The bones are almost in every instance broken, and, from the firmness of 

 texture of most of them, the direction and cleanness of the fracture, and 

 the sharpness of its edges, the injury, which must have been the result of an 

 immense power operating with sudden violence, appears to have taken 

 place at the period, or very soon after the period, of the destruction of the 

 animal. 



A paper was next read, " On a collection of vegetable and animal re- 

 mains, and rocks, from the Burmese country, presented to the Geological 

 Society by J. Crawfurd, Esq.,^' by the Rev. W. Buckland, D.D. V.P.G.S. 

 F.R.S. &c. 



Mr. Crawfurd collected these specimens during his voyage up the Irawadi, 

 in a steam-boat, on an embassy to Ava, in the latter part of the year 1826. 

 The author considers them to be of high importance, as affording an answer 

 to the curious and till now undecided question, whether there be, or be 

 not, in the southern regions of Asia, any remains of fossil quadrupeds 

 analogous to those which are found so widely dispersed in the diluvium of 

 northern Asia, and of Europe and America. 



The evidence which Mr. Crawfurd has imported consists of several chests 

 full of fossil wood and fossil bones, and of specimens of the strata that are 

 found along the course of the Irawadi, from Prome up to Ava; being a dis- 

 tance of nearly 500 miles. The greater part of the fossil wood is beautifully 

 silicified; other specimens of it are calcareous: they are mostly portions of 

 large trees, both monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous, and were found 

 along the whole valley of the Irawadi from Ava to Prome. The bones were 

 all collected from a small district near some wells of petroleum, about half 

 way between these towns, and on the left bank of the river. From Mr. 

 Clift's examination, it appears that although we have among them no re- 

 mains of fossil elephants, we have the same fossil Pachydermata that are 

 found associated with elephants in Europe, namely, rhinoceros, hippopo- 

 tamus, mastodon, and hog. We have also two or three species of rumi- 

 nantia resembling the ox, antelope, and deer, with the addition of the gavial 

 and alligator, and two fresh-water tortoises, namely, trionyx and emys. 



The teeth of the mastodon belong to two unknown species of that genus, 

 both of them approaching in size to the largest elephant. Mr. Clift has 

 designated them by the names of Mastodon latidens and M. elephantoides. 

 The teeth are from animals of all ages ; and there are many fragments of 

 ivory, derived probably also from the mastodon. 



The remains of the mastodon are by far the most abundant in this col- 

 lection, and amount to about 1 50 fragments. 



Of the rhinoceros there are about 10 fragments; of a small species of 

 hippopotamus, 2 ; of the hog, 1 ; of the ox, deer, and antelope about 



