408 E. S. GOODRICH. 



Mr. Parker of Oxford;^ the two remaining jaws and the limb 

 bones are in the British Museum. 



Through the kindness of Professor Green and of Professor 

 Lankester^ who placed the Oxford fossils in my hands for the 

 purpose of displaying them in a museum case in a manner 

 more worth)' of their interest and value, I have had the oppor- 

 tunity of examining and handling our six specimens. I am 

 much indebted to Dr. Henry Woodward for allowing me to 

 examine the two British Museum fossils, and to Mr. Parker 

 for lending me his. To the authorities of the Museum at 

 York I must express my thanks for lending me the excellent 

 specimen in their keeping; but more especially to Professor 

 Lankester, who spared himself no trouble in obtaining for me 

 this privilege, and. who has further given me much help during 

 my researches. 



It may here be mentioned that I have been able, by care- 

 fully working away the matrix with sharp needles under Zeiss's 

 dissecting microscope, to expose new cusps, and in some cases 

 new teeth, in five of the jaws described. My figures, which I 

 have endeavoured to make as faithful as possible, differ, there- 

 fore, considerably from those previously published. 



The formation from which these fossils were obtained be- 

 longs to the Lower Jurassic period ; whence the great interest 

 attached to them, for at the time of their discovery they were 

 by far the earliest known remains of warm-blooded Vertebrates, 

 — being, in fact, the first Mesozoic Mammalia obtained. Since 

 then, as is well known, remains of a few fossil Mammalia have 

 been found both in England and elsewhere in strata belonging 

 to the Triassic age; as, for instance, Microlestes in England, 

 Dromatherium in America, and Tritylodon in South Africa. 



The two fossil limb bones mentioned above have been 

 figured and described by Professor H. G. Seeley (29). As, 

 unfortunately, they afi'ord no clue to the relationship of the 

 animals whose jaws are described below, there being no proof 



^ Mr. Parker also has in his possession a toothless fragment of a jaw 

 which may perhaps be MaQimalian. 



