354 Beptilian Remains in Old Bed Sandstone of Morayshire. 



block of sandstone, wliicli is broken into three pieces. The cranium 

 is but obscurely seen. Of the rest of the skeleton scarcely an atom 

 of the osseous substance remains. The impression of the spinal 

 column from the occiput to the pelvis, consisting of twenty-four ver- 

 tebrse, each supporting a pair of slender ribs, of the left humerus, 

 radius, and ulna, of the femoral and leg bones, of the pelvis, and of 

 a considerable portion of the caudal series of vertebrae, serve to convey 

 a general idea of the form and structure of the original, The author 

 gave a description of its anatomical characters, so far as they can be 

 ascertained from the imperfect state of the specimen, and the result 

 of a comparison with recent forms. He specifies certain osteological 

 characters which are Lacertian, and others that are Batrachian ; and 

 he concludes that the original was a peculiar type, which, in the 

 present state of our knowledge, it would be rash to pronounce to be- 

 long to either order ; and he distinguishes it by a name simply ex- 

 pressive of its high antiquity — Telerpeton (r^Xs gg-Trerov), with the 

 specific term Elginensey to denote the locality in which it was dis--; 

 covered. The original was an air-breathing, oviparous quadruped, 

 probably resembling in appearance an aquatic salamander, but with 

 longer limbs and a wider dorsal region than our Tritons, and capable 

 of rapid progression on land and in the water. In connection with 

 the above discoveries, the author states that the Devonian shales of 

 Forfarshire abound with clusters of small, round, carbonaceous bodies, 

 which are commonly associated with aquatic plants. These fossils, 

 have been figured and described as being probably ova of gasteropo-. 

 dous molluscs, although neither shells nor casts of shells of any kind 

 have been found in the strata. The discovery of reptiles in the upper, 

 member of the Old Red of Scotland led Dr Mantell to recur to an 

 idea he formerly entertained, that the Forfarshire fossils were the 

 spawn of Batrachians of the family E-anidse ; and upon comparing 

 them w^ith a mass of carbonized recent frogs' eggs, the resemblance 

 was found to be so complete as to induce him to conclude that the 

 fossil eggs are referable to reptiles and not to molluscs. In conclu- 

 sion, the author dwells on the importance of the researches of Cap- 

 tain Brickenden and Mr Duff in a palseontological point of view ; for 

 they establish the existence during the Devonian or Old Bed epoch 

 of several orders of a higher class of vertebrate animals than had pre- 

 viously been discovered ; while the occurrence of Batrachian ova with 

 aquatic plants, associated with remains of ganoid fishes, which, for 

 aught that is known to the contrary, may have been inhabitants of 

 fresh water, like the existing Lepidostei, together with the entire 

 absence of marine organisms, suggests the probability that the De- 

 vonian strata thus characterised, may be of fluviatile origin^ ^aod-io'i 





