June, 1S45.] 255 



Nautilus, probably Alabamiensis, (Morton,) vertebrae of Cetacca, Teeth of 

 Crocodiles, and of several species of Squulus ; casts of C. planicosta, and of a 

 Terebralula. Mr. Tuomey, the Geological Surveyor of South Carolina, found 

 also, at this locality, a new Ostrea and a large Lima. Here also was found a 

 singular fossil, of a conical shape, 15 inches long, fluted externally, somewhat 

 resembling # a Belemnite, of which a drawing and description have been for- 

 warded to the Academy of Natural Sciences by Dr. E. Kavenel, of Charleston, 

 South Carolina. 



About two miles from this locality a very compact white limestone is found, 

 with grains of silicate of iron intermingled with portions of it, containing 

 Ostrea selloeformis, 0. panda, Terebralula lacryma, Scutella crustuloides, 

 casts of Turritella Mortoni, Conus gyratus, Anthophyllum atlanticum, F lus- 

 tra? casts of the Chambers of a Nautilus, Crustacea, a Sputangus, Ciduris? 

 &c. &c. Here also Mr. Tuomey has discovered another new Ostrea. This 

 list of fossils is made out from recollection, and without the specimens before 

 me. 



With these teeth I have a part of a lower maxilla, containing portions of 

 teeth, 20 inches in length, hollow, filled with the green sand. It re- 

 sembles much the elongated beak of the Gavial, but is too imperfect to describe 

 more accurately. 



A portion of the anterior part of this jaw contains a cuspidatus, resembling 

 that of the Megalosaurus, a single fang, with the protruding crown and point 

 curved but not serrated ; it is compressed laterally, and placed obliquely in a 

 socket. 



These teeth are all hollow, filled with the green sand which surrounds them. 

 They differ materially from any genus or species described by Cuvier, Owen, 

 Mantele, Bucklasd, Haulan, Morton, or Hays. A strong resemblance 

 exists, in the form of the elongated snout, to the Gavials, while the hollow 

 teeth, characteristic of Saurians, differ from them in being seated in sockets, 

 and having two roots. 



Mantell, treating of the teeth of Reptiles, says : 



" The characteristic type is that of a conical pointed tooth with a simple root 

 or fang ; for in no reptile does the base of the tooth terminate in more than one 

 fang, and this is never branched." 



Owen, in his Odontography, (p. 25.) observes : 



" Any fossil which exhibits a tooth implanted by two fangs in a double 

 socket must be mammiferous, since the socketed teeth of reptiles have but a 

 single fang, and the only fishes' teeth which approach such a tooth are those 

 with a bifurcate base belonging to certain sharks." 



I observe that Professor Owen has classed the Zeuglodon (Basilosaurus of 

 Harlan,) with the Cetacea. I am inclined to think the Dorudon, which I here 

 name, (from 5opi;> a spear,) will, on farther investigation, be found to belong 

 to the same class. 



I visited the locality where it was found, but the marling operations of the 

 planters had ceased for the season, and the pits were filled with water. I have 

 made arrangements for excavations in the fall, when I hope to procure other 

 bones of this remarkable fossil. It may then be possible to decide with more 

 authority as to its position in the great scale of extinct gigantic carnivora. 



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