M. Mtiller on Substances inclosed in Mochastones. 415 



have been noticed by my friend Mr. Thompson, President of the 

 Belfast Natural History Society, in a communication to the 4th 

 volume of the ' Annals of Natural History f the head of one is 

 in the museum of the Royal Dublin Society, that of the other is 

 in the museum of the Natural History Society of Dublin ; the 

 skeleton of the third and largest (prepared by Lieut. Raye) has 

 been presented by Sir Alan Bellingham to the Natural History 

 Society. The drawing of a recent animal by Lieut. Raye adds 

 considerably to the value of his communication. 



Lieut. Raye's figure of this specimen resembles much more 

 closely Dale's than Hunter's, particularly in the shape of the body 

 and its proportional thickness, as well as in the manner in which 

 the forehead rises from the snout : it differs from Dale's figure in 

 the snout being much longer in proportion, in the lower jaw being 

 longer and larger than the upper, and in the dorsal fin being 

 placed nearer the posterior extremity of the body. 



The teeth are conical, pointed, and evidently only rudimentary ; 

 and I could not learn that the palate was studded with any of 

 those little horny eminences of tubercles which have been de- 

 scribed, and are considered by Cuvier as rudimentary vestiges of 

 whalebone. 



LVIII. — On Substances inclosed in Mochastones*. By Karl 

 Mueller, Physician at Detmold. Translated and commu- 

 nicated by the Rev. M. J. Berkeley f. 



[With a Plate.] 



§ 1. General Observations. 



Since in the present day the naturalist is busied with constantly 

 increasing zeal in bringing to light the relics of an Antediluvian 

 Flora, even the slightest contribution is welcome which adds a 

 link to the great chain of those plants which are denominated 

 fossil. 



Moreover, although in many of these remains it is scarcely 

 possible from fragments to determine in what part of the fossil 

 flora they should take their place, such notices are at least a con- 

 tribution to the history of those minerals in which they are found, 

 and so far a mite towards the history of the original condition of 

 the world. 



On these grounds I venture to make some remarks on a sub- 

 ject which has at present, alas ! received little attention. 



* This word is evidently used with considerable latitude, and by no means 

 confined to the bodies so named in this country, 

 f From the Regensburg Flora, May 21, 1842. 



