550 Researches in Fossil Zoology. 



found in the lower oolite of Caene, department of the Mo- 

 selle ; and the third, from a formation at Boucherons, in the 

 Jura department, respecting which it could not be decided 

 whether it belong to the Jura formation, or to the chalk, or 

 to a creta-jurassic formation. 



From the upper keuper, in the environs of Neuremberg, I 

 have examined a nearly complete set of bones of the extre- 

 mities, and the vertebra, of a new gigantic saurian : I have 

 named it Plateosaurus. These bones are furnished with a 

 marrow-tube, now filled with carbonate of lime, and beauti- 

 ful crystals of hydro -oxide of iron, * * similar to some 

 which Phillips has examined, from the environs of Bristol. — 

 The origin of these small and pretty crystals in the hermeti- 

 cally closed marrow-tubes of the Reteosaurus is very remark- 

 able. 



I made an interesting discovery in the fragment of a tooth 

 of the Mastodonsaurus, taken from the alum slate near Geil- 

 dorf. The substance is not homogeneous, but consists only 

 of strong curved lamellae, from the different substances of the 

 teeth, presenting a curious appearance when examined with 

 a magnifier on the surface of the fracture. I have moreover 

 examined teeth of the Mastodonsaurus from the keuper sand- 

 stone near Wurzburg and Gotha, as well as from the mus- 

 chelkalk. 



The fossil remains of the muschelkalk, considered by Cu- 

 vier to be those of Plesiosaurus and Chelonia gigantea, do 

 not belong to either of these genera. They really belong to 

 the saurians which are partly formed after the type of the 

 Plesiosaurus, from the great number of vertebra of which the 

 neck consists. 



The muschelkalk generally produces a great number of 

 saurians ; descriptions of which, in conjunction with Count 

 Munster, I intend to undertake and publish. The greater 

 part of the material for this heavy task, is chiefly drawn from 

 the extensive collections of the Count, formed during many 

 years, principally from the Nithosaurus and Dracosaurus of 

 the muschelkalk, near Baireuth, as well as from specimens in 

 the collection of the Provincial Institution of that town. In 

 the latter collection are a nearly complete vertebra and a skull 

 of the Nothosaurus, and a lower jaw of the same animal. — 

 But we do not intend to confine ourselves merely to the fos- 

 sil bones of the muschelkalk, of the environs of Baireuth ; we 

 shall, on the contrary, endeavour to include in our examina- 

 tions all the fossil bones which have been found in the mus- 

 chelkalk of other localities, besides the remains of such clay 

 and dolomitic marl of the Thuringian muschelkalk as are re- 



