Royal Academy of Sciences of Paris. 5S 



remains with those of freshwater, as seems to indicate the former 

 existence of a great estuary in the district wherein they have been 

 deposited. 



From the size of the bones of the Iguanodon, described by Mr. 

 Manteli and Mr. Murchison*, it has been ascertained that this her- 

 bivorous reptile was of extraordinary magnitude; but a single bone 

 of its foot has been lately found near Sandown Fort, which shows 

 that its proportions probably exceeded those of the most gigantic 

 quadruped yet discovered. The bone alluded to seems to be the 

 external metacarpal bone of the right foot; it is twice as large as 

 the corresponding bone of a l^rge elephant ; its length is six inches, 

 its breadth at the upper extremity five inches, and its weight six 

 pounds. A gigantic pelvis was also found in the same iron-sand at 

 Sandown Fort. Among the bones discovered in the Isle of Purbeck 

 by the Rev. J. C. Bartlett, the most remarkable are large verte- 

 brae, and toe bones of the Iguanodon, in size and form resembling 

 those engraved by Mr. Manteli from Tilgate Forest ; there are also 

 various bones of other species of reptiles ; a fragment of a femur, 

 resembling that of the Megalosaurus ; bones of large and small 

 Crocodiles, and of more than one species of Plesiosaurus. _ All 

 these animals have been found by Mr. Manteli, similarly associated 

 in the Hastings sandstone of Tilgate Forest. Dr. Fitton has ascer- 

 tained the shells in this iron-sand at Swanwich and Sandown Fort to 

 be identical with those of the same formation in the Wealdf ; and 

 the addition of so many reptiles to the list of their common organic 

 remains, affords still further evidence of the identity of the strata 

 in which they occur. 



ROYAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF PARIS. 

 May Ai\\.— Manuscripts received at this Sitting ■. — A letter from 

 M Ro'ulin On some earthquakes felt in America ;— A memoir by M. 

 Lam6 On the motion of heat in polyhedrons ;— A sealed packet 

 from Dr. Gaillon ;— A memoir by M. Girou de Buzareingues On the 

 number of marriages, and of the births of the sexes in the several 

 months ;— A geological notice On several substances found in some 

 trenches at Marseilles ;— A practical and historical treatise On mental 

 alienation in animals inferior to man, by M. Fierquin ; — A memoir 

 On the equilibrium and motion of fluids, by M. Cauchy. 



M. Frederic Cuvier, in the name of a Commission, gave an account 

 of the work presented by M. Villerme On distribution of conceptions 

 and births of man in the several months. It appears, among other 

 circumstances, from the observations of M. Villerme, that the months 

 in which there are most births are in the following order ; — February, 

 March, January, April, November, and September, which gives the 

 conceptions in the order of May, June, April, July, February, and 

 March. The autumnal equinox is the |)eriod of the fewest concep- 

 tions. Few women conceive during the first week of their marriage. 

 Years of scarcity and Lent produce similar efl'ects upon conceptions. 



• See Manteli, 'l"il;;utc Forest ; and Geol. Trans, vol. ii. 2nd Scries. 



f Sue AnnaKof I'liilobophy, Nov. 1H24. 



M. Cordier 



