Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 197 



from the coal-field of Greenside near Glasgow, and had discovered 

 large coprolites in the shale which is associated with the sandstone of 

 Craigleith quarry. 



Some remarks were made upon the remains of saurian animals, 

 which had been more recently obtained for the Royal Society's Mu- 

 seum from the quarry of Burdiehouse, chiefly through the exertions 

 of Mr Robison, and to which new acquisitions are daily adding. 

 Among these, three distinct kinds seem to have been ascertained. 

 The larger animal, the author thinks, rather approaches in cha- 

 racter to the Steneosaurus of M. St Hilaire ; but he suspects, at the 

 same time, that such marks of difference exist, as must eventually 

 authorize the assignment of the Edinburgh <r«ygo5 to an entirely new 

 genus. The other remains v/ere supposed to resemble most those of 

 the two kinds of Pterodactyli described by Cuvier. Bones also which 

 appear to have belonged to a Trionyx have been discovered. 



Lastly, the author adverted to prior notices of the actual discovery 

 of saurian remains in the carboniferous group of rocks. Whitehurst, 

 who wrote in the year 1778, and Pilkington, in his history of Derby- 

 shire 1789, have each spoken of the remains of crocodiles and alligators 

 which had been discovered in the limestone of Ashford in Derbyshire, 

 from wbich locality the author has in his possession a specimen of fresh- 

 water limestone, like that of Burdiehouse, containing plants. Four 

 years afterwards, namely, in the year 1793, saurian remains like those 

 of Burdiehouse, found in a bed above a seam of coal, were actually 

 figured by the Rev. Sir Ure in his History of Rutherglen near Glas- 

 gow, though he was not aware of their real character. And very lately 

 the discovery of a saurian vertebra in the mountain-limestone of Nor- 

 thumberland, by the Rev. Charles Vernon Harcourt, has been record- 

 ed by IMr Lyell in his Principles of Geology. 



The author, in concluding, expressed his reluctance to allude to 

 other occasional notices which had been published, regarding the dis- 

 covery of similar remains, on account of their having been mistaken 

 for those of fish. But, if found necessary, he will complete the 

 history "■■. 



2. Account of the Dissection of a Young Rorqual, or short 

 Whalebone Whale, (the Balsena Rostrata of Fabricius) ; 

 with a few Observations on the Anatomy of the Fcetal 

 Mysticetus. By Dr Knox 



In February 1834, a young Whalebone Whale was taken near the 

 Queensferry, in the Frith of Forth. After being exhibited for a 

 short time by the proprietors, it was dissected by the author as care- 

 fully as time and circumstances would permit. The term Rorqual is 

 employed throughout this memoir in the sense employed by M. Cu- 

 vier, as designating " Whalebone V/hales, with longitudinal folds 



" Professor Jameson's opinion in regard to these fossils, as defended before 

 the Wernerian Society, viz. that they arc remains oi Irue Jishes, not of sauriavs, 

 has now been adopted by Dr Hibbert and Messrs Agassiz, Auckland, Robi- 

 son, &e. 



