408 Mr. Broderip on a fossil Jaw from Stonesfeld, 



animal in the attitude of the Woodpeckers, while building in the 

 cavities of rocks. 



We have but few of this family in St. Vincent : among them is 

 a Swallow which roosts, and I belicTe builds, in the rock of the 

 sea shore. It is curious to observe this bird in calm weather 

 skimming patiently along the sea in search of insects, evidently 

 ignorant of the fact that they are confined to fresh water, and dp 

 not sport on the surface of salt waters. 



, {To be continued. ] 



Art. XLII. Observations on the Jam ofi^a Fossil Mam-» 

 miferous animal^ found in the Stonesfield slate. By W, 

 J. Broderip, Esq.,, Sec. G. S., F.L.S., 8?c. 



Some years have elapsed since an ancient stone-mason, living at 

 Heddington, who used to collect for me, made his appearance in 

 my rooms at Oxford with two specimens of the lower jaws of 

 mammiferous animals, imbedded in Stonesfield slate, fresh from 

 the quarry. At the same time he brought several other very fine 

 Stonesfield fossils, the result of the same trip. One of the jaws 

 was purchased by my friend Professor Buckland, who exclaimed 

 against my retaining both, and the other I lent to him some time 

 ago. Dr. Buckland's specimen, which wants incisor and canine 

 teeth, has been examined by M. Cuvier, and is figured by M. 

 Prevost as an illustration to his " Observations sur les schistes 

 calcaires Oolitiques de Stonesfield en Angleterre," &c. ; * the 

 other was lost, after the Professor had returned it ; and the loss 

 was, most unjustly, as I must now acknowledge, attributed to 

 him. To my no small gratification this specimen has just been 

 found, and forms the subject of the following sketch. 



In the Professor's " Notice on the Megalosaurus, or great fossil 

 Lizard of Stonesfield," + the following passage occurs. *' The 



♦ Ann. des Sciences Nat. Avr. 1825. 



+ Transactions of the Geological Society, vol. I. p. 390. Second series. 



