95 



assertion was shown, by Prof. Wyman, in a paper read 

 before this Society, to be a mere fabrication, and the condi- 

 tion and character of the various bones were cited as evi- 

 dence that they could not have belonged to one individual, 

 and that their arrangement was entirely factitious. Of this, 

 there could be no doubt among persons competent to form 

 a correct opinion, but, as it was desirable to know how far 

 Prof. Wyman's judgment was confirmed by the history of 

 the discovery of the fossils themselves. Dr. Lister, a gentle- 

 man living near the locality of Dr. Koch's discoveries, was 

 applied to for information. His reply was put into the 

 hands of the President, and Dr. Lister had authorized such 

 use to be made of it as might be useful. 



Dr. Lister's letter is dated Old Court House, Washington 

 county, Alabama, December 7th, 1845. The writer states that 

 there is a tract of fertile woodland prairie, with a black soil, ex- 

 tending from Mississippi, in a southeast direction, through Ala- 

 bama. Its whole length is about one hundred and fifteen miles. 

 It is covered, here and there, in many places, by sharks' teeth, 

 marine shells, and the bones of aquatic animals, all of which are 

 evidences of a deposit, made at the bottom of an estuary or arm 

 of the sea. Such bones as those of the Hydrarchos, and par- 

 ticularly the vertebrae, can be collected in great numbers by any 

 one who will take the trouble, as Dr. Koch did, to hunt out the 

 various parts ; but it is very uncommon, and almost impossible, 

 to discover the bones of one individual, or any considerable part 

 of them, in their natural arrangement. 



It was in this prairie, near the Old Court House, in Washington 

 county, that Dr. Koch found a considerable portion of the bones 

 now constituting the Hydrarchos, lying upon, or near, the surface 

 of the earth. They were not lying in their natural position, so 

 as to constitute an unbroken series, but were scattered here and 

 there. Some days after finding some of the bones of the anterior 

 extremities, and some ribs and vertebra?, he went into the State 

 of Mississippi, hoping to discover a cranium. In this he was un- 

 successful ; but after his return, he found the bone supposed by 

 him to be a cranium, and the lower jaw, in a heap of stones, 



