PEEFACE. 



At the date of the last (posthumous) edition of Cuvier's ' Rechcrches sur les 

 Ossemens Fossiles,'^ descriptions and figures were given of a few fossil Crocodiles, 

 to two Oolitic species of which Geoffroy St. Hilaire had given the generic names 

 of Teleosaunis and Steneosaurus. To these follow descriptions of certain Tertiary 

 Fossils of the order Chelonia, referable to the genera Testudo, Emys, Trlonyx, and, 

 by a Cretaceous form, to the genus Ghelone. 



To the order Lacertilia Cuvier refers the gigantic extinct Reptile from the 

 Maestricht Chalk, since termed Mosasaurus, and the genus from secondary marls 

 near Monheim to which he assigns the name Geosaurus, not intimating thereby 

 that the species was exclusively terrestrial, but " par allusion a la terre mere des 

 geans" (p. 184, t. x.). 



Cuvier then gives a summary of Buckland's discovery and description of the 

 remains from the Oxford Oolite, referred to the genus Megalosmirus, "quiparait tenir 

 des Sauriens et des Crocodiles " (p. 185) ; also of Mantell's discovery of fossils from 

 the Weald of Sussex which, after Cuvier's opinion on the dental character, were 

 referred to the genus Iguanodon. Cuvier then proceeds to the description of 

 Collins's and Soemmering's fossils of a volant animal which was determined by 

 Cuvier to be those of a Reptile, and for which he proposes the name Pterodactylus. 

 At that date no evidences of this genus had been recognised in secondary or other 

 formations of Britain. The descriptions and inferences occupying pp. 215, 261, 

 of the concluding volume of the ' Ossemens Fossiles ' are models of palfBonto- 

 graphical work. Cuvier finally translates, with original remarks, the descriptions 

 by Home and de la Beche of the Ichthyosaurus, and those by Conybeare of the 

 Plesiosaurus ; the letterpress figures being limited to a single species of each of 

 these Liassic genera. 



In conclusion, the immortal Founder of Palseontological Science, writes : — 

 " J'avais aussi le projet de donner des chapitres sur les os d'oiseaux et de serpens ; 

 mais — j'ai du renoncer a cette partie de mon plan " (tome dixieme, p. 475). 



1 8vo, 10 volumes, edited by M. Feedebic Cuvieb, 1834 — 1836. 



