532 Illustrated Zoological Notices. 



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specimen, by the Rev. Mr. Howman, who, in writing to Her 

 Ladyship, thus notices this interesting fossil remain : — " I have 

 been delighted with the scenery of Scarborough, Whitby, 

 Robin Hood's Bay, &c, and not a little to find myself dwelling 

 amidst Crocodiles, Ichthyosauri, and a hundred other rare 

 remains of the antediluvian world, which that coast teems with. 

 The museum of Whitby has the finest specimen of fossil Croco- 

 dile known, 15jft. long ; from two to three additional feet being 

 wanting to complete its jaws. I found a smaller, but perhaps 

 more perfect, specimen, 8| ft. long, in the possession of a 

 poor man who discovered it, and served me as a guide ; I 

 made a very accurate drawing of it to a scale ; for some of 

 your scientific friends may like to see it." 



I believe Whitby is the only lias locality in which the ske- 

 letons of Crocodiles have been discovered in this country; and, 

 as the number of specimens hitherto found is very small, 

 every additional one is worth recording. A short time since, 

 I examined a specimen about 5 ft. long in the collection of 

 Captain Kaines at Chatham, having what I should imagine 

 to be the most perfect head and jaws extant. This was like~ 

 wise obtained at Whitby. The specimen of which I have 

 figured the head is in the possession of a man named Crosby, 

 and might be purchased at a very reasonable price, a short 

 time since. I should think it well worth the attention of some 

 museum, as fossil Crocodiles are not quite so abundant as 

 Ichthyosauri. 



The extensive cuttings in the beds above the chalk either 

 completed or now in progress, at various localities round 

 London, connected with the projected lines of railway, have 

 been the means of considerably augmenting the list of species 

 known to geologists as occurring in the London basin, besides, 

 in some instances, furnishing entire examples of fossils, of 

 which only fragments or imperfect specimens had previously 

 been obtained. Mr. Whetherell of Highgate, whose un- 

 rivalled series of London clay fossils is well known to all 

 metropolitan collectors, made some most valuable additions 

 to his cabinet whilst the excavations were going forward for 

 the Birmingham line, several of which he has placed in my 

 hands, with a view of having them noticed in the Magazine of 

 Natural History, The suite of tertiary Nautili in the pos- 



