BIOLOGY. 327 



ciety, in November, 1866. It is a iiortion of a right femur, twen- 

 ty-five and a half inches long, so that the entire bone may be safely 

 assumed to have exceeded thirty inches in length. The peculiar 

 form of the bone, and the characters and position of the trochanters, 

 leave no doubt of the Dinosaurian aflflnities of the reptile to which 

 it belonged, which must have been compai'able in point of size to 

 its near allies, the Megalosaurus and the Iguanodon. To the 

 former of these it possesses the closest affinity, but differs in the 

 proportional size and form of its trochanters, and in its much 

 heavier iDrojiortions ; and the author proposes for it the name of 

 Euskelosaurus Broionii. 



Anthrakerpeton, a New Fossil Beptile. — Prof. Owen has described 

 a new fossil reptile, under the above name, from the coal beds of 

 Llantrissent, Glamorganshire, Wales, from the lower part of the 

 " middle," if not from the upper of the "lower" coal measures. 

 It is intermediate in size between Baphetes and Dendrerpeton ; 

 the ribs are longer than in any known Labyrinthodont, and with 

 the bones of the limbs indicate that the animal belonged to that 

 low air-breathing type which, with developmental condition of the 

 bones like those in some fishes, and very common in Devonian, 

 showed forms of the skeleton more like those in Saurian reptiles 

 than in the modern air-breathing Batrachians. — Reader, Jan. 7, '65 



New Dinosaurian. — A new dinosaurian has been found in the 

 Wealden Foi-mation, Isle of Wight, by Rev. W. Fox. The ani- 

 mal, for which Prof. Owen has proposed the name of Polyacanihus, 

 was over 6 feet long from the shoulder to the rump, had a massive 

 tail 5 feet long, leg's about 4 feet long:, and a broad short foot. 

 It had a bony armor of plates h an inch to 4 inches broad and k 

 inch thick, excepting along the back, over which there was a 

 great bony shield ; and along the sides of the bodj' and tail there 

 were spine-like bones, some of which are 15 inches long and 

 weigh 7 pounds. 



Archceoptertjx. — On one of the two slabs from Solenhofeu con- 

 taining I'emains of the Archfeopteryx, there is a " crescent shaped 

 protuberance, which is pronounced by Mr. Evans to have been 

 due to the remains of the cranium of the Archceopteryx, and even 

 the form of the brain cavity and position of the brain, — both orni- 

 thic in character, — are supposed to be made out." 



Quadruped Birds. — In a supplementary volume to Prof. Hitch- 

 cock's Work " On the Ichnology of the Connecticut Valley," far- 

 ther considerations are adduced in favor of the l)ird-like and quad- 

 rupedal character of the foot-marks. Reptilian birds and bu'd- 

 like reptiles will probably be discovered, filling out the class 

 Saurornia, lately proposed by Mr. Seely for the Pterodactyles. 

 Evidence is now accumulating of many links between the reptile 

 and the bird, already considered as most closely related. We 

 have a bird with teeth, and a long tail and hooks on its wings in 

 the Arcliceopteryx ; we have a reptile with wings and probably 

 plumage in the Fterodactyle ; and now it appears, from the evi- 

 dence of the Connecticut sandstones, that there existed strange 

 four-footed birds, the wings probably provided with feet-like 

 extremities, also possessing tails, and covered with feathers. 



