Hermann v. Meyer's Palceontological Notes. 249 



collection there are also some species of vertebrata not 

 hitherto known to occur in that place, and the first specimen 

 which I saw in the rich collection of Professor van Breda, 

 was a new rodent from Oningen^ to which I have given the 

 name of Scuirus Bredal In Tayler's museum I saw also 

 the Anguisaurus from the lithographic slates of Solenhofen, 

 assuredly a most remarkable creature, and well deserving a 

 thorough description, which, however, would require more 

 time than I can command. It seems related to the Pleuro- 

 saurus, of which I have the middle portion of the skeleton 

 before me, and perhaps the two genera may come to be 

 united. 



Whilst residing on the coast of the North Sea in Holland 

 and Belgium, I thought myself transported to the very work- 

 shop where the marine molasse and the shell sandstone of 

 the molasse were forming before my eyes. The dunes are 

 an analogous formation ; the sand of the dunes is the mo- 

 lasse sand of historical times ; the similarity is so remark- 

 able that it only requires consolidation, in order to represent 

 the molasse sandstone with its contents, which would con- 

 sist of living instead of extinct species. The sand of the 

 dunes rarely envelopes molluscs in a living state ; it is chiefly 

 the shells of dead animals, and these for the most part frac- 

 tured, broken into fragments, or rubbed by the incessant 

 beating of the waves. The beach seen during the ebb may 

 be compared to a great extent of exposed strata, on which 

 remains of organisms appear in various places. Even the 

 flame-like distribution of colours and other markings, on the 

 divisional surfaces of rocks, may be partly explained by the 

 deposit of foam from the waves. The manner in which the 

 waves during the ebb of the retiring sea sport with the fine 

 sand on the beach is very interesting. They give it a wave- 

 like, variously-furrowed arrangement, resembling the sculp- 

 tured markings on the skull of the crocodile. Similar appear- 

 ances, and no less regular, occur on tlie surface of many rocks 

 containing petrifactions. The sea-shore may also convince 

 us that many phenomena in the fossiliferous rocks have their 

 cause in the alternation of the seasons, a phenomenon which 

 must be carried further back in the history of the earth than 



