PALAEONTOLOGY OF THE LIAS. 65 



" saurus, but I have never obtained any traces of it in 

 the Middle or Upper Lias, although it is found occasionally 

 in the beds above. 



Not tbe least interesting, because more rare, amoogst the 

 Saurians, is the Teleosaurus, which first appears in the beds 

 I am speaking of. Unlike its relatives, the Ichthyosaur 

 and Plesiosaur, which had soft skins, the Teleosaurus is 

 covered with bony scutes or scales, and bears a close resem- 

 blance to the gavial of the present day. One specimen in my 

 possession died with its head almost erect. The bony scales 

 in this have been just enough displaced, to enable me to 

 develope the vertebral column, and other parts of the 

 skeleton, a work requiring no little care and labour. The 

 vertebrae are much more elongate than those of the 

 Ichthyosaurus. Another specimen, a head only, has its 

 jaws well armed with sharp teeth, nearly one hundred 

 and fifty in number, and it is as perfect as the first 

 moment it was covered up. A third is a baby Saurian, 

 and although but thirteen inches in length, is nevei-the- 

 less in most perfect preservation. Its bony scales are 

 undisturbed, except where covering its stomach. Their 

 loss in the latter case was a fortunate circumstance. 

 I have before mentioned that animals of this class are 

 voracious. This one has not eaten one of its own young, 

 but there is now in its stomach the last meal it was 

 destined to devour — a small fish of the genus Leptolepis. 

 The Teleosaurus in some instances attained considerable 

 size. By way of comparison with my little specimen, I 

 would notice one belonging to the Museum of the 

 Literary Institution of Bath, found in the Oxford Clay 

 of Wiltshire. It is a head, and looks at first sight as 

 much like the trunk of a tree as the head of an extinct 



1853, PART II. I 



