Saurccephalus lanci/brmis. 35 



'♦ Saurocephalus," and thus appropriated to himself the la- 

 bours of another without acknowledgment, and dedicates the 

 species to his friend Mr Lea, in the first place in the feminine 

 gender at page 476, " S. Leaa ,•" but is notified of this amphi- 

 bious compliment, whilst the paper is still in press, in time to re- 

 christen the banthng, which finally, at page 477, figures as the S. 

 Leaiius ! On the most critical examination, the animals will be 

 found to agree generically in every point of the least import- 

 ance. The reascming in the following paragraph of Dr Hays' 

 description, we are unable to comprehend. The most import- 

 ant generic character which was supposed to distinguish this 

 animal from the one we describe, [viz. the absence of distinct 

 and separate alveoli,] having no existence, it appears proper, 

 in the present state of our knowledge, to place the two species 

 in the same genus ; and as the genus Saurocephalus is founded 

 an erroneous characters, and will not admit our species, it be- 

 comes necessary to construct a new genus, which we shall ac- 

 cordingly do, and shall retain for it the name " Saurodon !" 



Nothing can be more incorrect than the statements here 

 made, or more preposterous than the deductions drawn from 

 them. In the account of the Saurocephalus lanciformis, in 

 the Journ. of Acad, of Nat. Sciences p. 336, vol. iii., are the 

 following paragraphs in direct opposition to the above gratui- 

 tous assertions : 



" The row of teeth on the inferior, appear to have passed 

 within those of the superior jaw ; this supposition is farther 

 strengthened by the worn appearance of the sides of the teeth. 

 This arrangement of teeth, which would require a peculiar 

 configuration of the jaw, together with the peculiar distribu- 

 tion of the maxillary nerve, appear to entitle this animal to 

 rank as a new genus."" 



The distinct and separate alveoli are not even alluded to in 

 the characters of the genus Saurocephalus, which are thus de- 

 signated in the account published several years ago, 



SAunocEPHAi.trfl lanciformis. 



" Generic characters. — Bodies of the teeth approximated ; 

 those of the inferior and superior jaws closing like incisors. 

 Inferior maxillary nerve passing along a groove on the mesial 

 aspect of the dental bone." If it should be hereafter ascer- 



