18(iS.] 4QQ [Lesley. 



were found ii pile of monstrous hones, enveloped in the tough, 

 tenaceous, bluish marl, from which they were carefully extri- 

 cated with a knife and trowel, drawings and measurements 

 being made of each bone where it lay, to jjrevent embarrassment 

 in the study. Wrapped in coarse cloth and straw, they were 

 despatched to the Museum of the Academy, and are now Avhile I 

 address you, being mounted in the lower hall of the Museum, 

 by the English geologist, Mr. Hawkins, and at his own expense.* 

 The animal specimen thus discovered is unique. iSo other 

 like itf has ever been encountered, either in the New World or 

 the Old, although hundreds of bones have been annually turned 

 out from the marl pits of the Atlantic seaboard. Most of these 

 bones, it is true, have been reburied, or destroyed, through igno- 

 rance of their scientific value ; and there is no knowing how 

 many skeletons of Hadrosaurus might have been secured. But 

 as yet, this is the only one ; and we owe its acquisition to the 

 scientific cultivation of one, who was prevented from running a 

 brilliant career in special science only by the philosophic scope 

 of his whole life, and the obedience which he owed to other 

 duties. The creature was an immense herbivorous saurian, with 

 huge hind legs and very small arms, a veritable crocodilian kan- 

 garoo, as large as an elephant, and as tall as a giraffe. One of 

 the highest living authorities. Professor Huxley, has just pub- 

 lished his opinion that we have in this and other allied Dinosau- 

 rian forms a synthetic type between the reptiles and the birds. 

 The Hadrosaurus may have been amphibious m its habits. Hs 

 long lacertian tail and the structure of its feet suggest aquatic 



* 3Ir. Hawkins is weU known for liis admirable palseontological restora- 

 tions in the gronnds of tlie Sj'denhain Palace. He is at present working ont, 

 in the Museum of the Academy at Pliiladelpliia. similai restorations of Amer- 

 ican extinct monsters, for the Central Park at New York. (Nov. 21, ISijS. At 

 the meeting of the members of the Academy called to-day to examine the fin- 

 ished mounting, and to listen to Mr. Hawkins' description of the parts, Dr. 

 Leidy, in behalf of the Curators of the Academy, accepted the gift, returned 

 thanks to Mr. Hawkins, and described the disco\ery of the bones. He gave 

 great praise to Mr. Foulke for the resolution with which he pushed forward 

 his researches, after having been advised that there was good reason for be- 

 lieving, that any boncis discoverable would prolnibly be those of mammoth, 

 several skeletons of which had been found in marl pits in New Jersey. As tlie 

 bones of Hadrosaurus which were found were those of the left side of the 

 animal, on which it lay, it is probable that the lost bones, found twenty j'ears 

 previously, had been those of the right side, together with the missing A'erte- 

 brae and skull.) 



t Its nearest relative is the Iguanodon of the Weald & L. green sand de- 

 posits of Europe. (Leidy.) 



