456 Baron Cuvier o« the Osteology oj 'Reptiles. 



these formations, such as it exists in that country, was pre- 

 sented, in 1816, ia the tables of Mr. Buckland, and in 1822 

 in the excellent work of Messrs. Conybeare and Phillips, en- 

 titled Outlines of the Geology of England and Wales. 



It therefore only remains to establish upon a more certain 

 basis the concordance and harmony of the different systems 

 of formations observed by one and by the other ; and it is to 

 this point that the united efforts of observers constantly tend, 

 and to which they will ere long conduct us. 



In the mean time I may refer, during the sequel of the pre- 

 sent researches, to the two principal vi'orks above cited, — that 

 of M. de Humboldt, and that of Messrs. Conybeare and Phil- 

 lips; and it is to these I shall direct the attention of my read- 

 ers for the proofs of the respective positions of the fossils of 

 which I am about to treat. 



As in my history of the bones of the Mammifera, so in the 

 present, the order which I shall observe will be neither en- 

 tirely geological nor entirely zoological. 



I commence with the Crocodiles, because it is their osteology 

 which serves as the point of departure, and because their 

 bones are found in the greatest number of formations, and are 

 recognized therein with the greatest degree of facility. 



The Tortoises next follow, whose size has caused them to 

 be noticed in numerous localities, and who, by the osteology 

 of their head, as well as by many details of organization, ap- 

 proximate at least equally with the Crocodiles to the class of 

 Mammifera. 



The Lizards will be included in the third chapter; and will 

 offer to us extraordinary conformations, worthy of our utmost 

 attention. 



It will be in my power to give but little space to the bones 

 oi Serpents and those of Birds, which are but rarely met with 

 among fossils ; but I shall treat in detail the Batracians, not 

 merely on account of the remarkable species of this family 

 which has long been taken for a fossil human skeleton, but also 

 because it is in their anatomy that the greatest number of 

 errors have been committed, and the greatest number of sup- 

 positions and systems void of foundation entertained. Never- 

 theless, this anatomy is among the most important, since it is 

 what conducts us to the explication of that of Fishes. 



It is after having thus studied the osteology of the still ex- 

 isting families of Reptiles that I pass to the examination of a 

 lost family — one more extraordinary perhaps than any of the 

 whole of those alluded to in my work ; — of those Ichthyosauri 

 recently discovered in England, and in which are united cha- 

 racters so singularly combined, that from the aspect of some 



of 



