xii 
led the way (as this Association ought always to do), in drawing 
forth the man of genius and of worth; and the value of our choice has 
been since stamped by the approval of the French Institute. 
If Englishmen* first perceived something of the natural affinities of 
Paleosaurians, it was reserved for Cuvier to complete all such preli- 
minary labour. The publication of his splendid chapters on the os- 
teology of the crocodile and other reptiles, drew new attention and 
more intelligent scrutiny to these remains ; and it ought to be a sub- 
ject of honest pride to us to reflect, that the most interesting fruits of the 
researches of that great anatomist were early gathered by the English 
paleontologists, Clift and Hume. One of our leaders}, whose report on 
geology ornaments the volumes of this Association, formed the genus 
Plesiosaurus, on an enlarged view of the relation subsisting between 
the ancient and modern forms of reptile life; while shortly after Buck- 
land established the genus Megalosaurus, and Mantell, Jguanodon and 
Hyleosaurus, worthy rivals of the Geo-Sauri and Moso-Sauri of Cu- 
vier. The other Englishmen who have best toiled in this field, are 
De la Beche, Hawkins, and Sir Philip Egerton. 
Yet although this report is on British reptiles, we are fully alive to 
the great progress which this department has made, and is making, on 
the Continent, through the labours of Count Minster, Jager, and 
Hermann Von Meyer. The last-mentioned naturalist has been for 
some time preparing a series of exquisite drawings of very many forms 
unknown to us in England, most of which have been detected in the 
** Muschelkalk,” a formation not hitherto discovered in the British isles. 
Yet despite of all that had been accomplished in our own country or 
elsewhere, Professor Owen has thrown a new light of classification on 
this subject, founded on many newly discovered peculiarities of osse- 
ous structure, and has vastly augmented our acquaintance with new 
forms, by describing sixteen species of Plesiosauri, three of which only 
had been recognisably described by other writers; and ten species of 
Ichthyosauri, five of which are new to science. Such results were not 
to be obtained without much labour ; and previous to drawing up his 
report, Professor Owen had visited the principal depositories of Ena- 
hosauri described by foreign writers, as well as most of the public and 
private collections of Britain, This, the first part of Mr. Owen’s re- 
port, concludes with a general review of the geological relations and 
extent of the strata through which he has traced the remains of British 
Enaliosauri. The materials which he has collected for the second and 
concluding portion of his report on the terrestrial and crocodilean 
* Stukeley. + Conybeare. 
