THE 



PHILOSOPHICAL MAGAZINE 



AND 



ANNALS OF PHILOSOPHY. 



[NEW SERIES.] 



MAY 1830. 



XLV. Letter from the Rev. Dr.W. Buckland, F.R.S. S,-c. Pro- 

 fessor of Mineralogy a7id Geology i7i the Univejsity of Oxford^ 

 on the Discovery of Coprolites i?i North America. 



Dear Sir, 

 T HASTEN to announce a discovery of the occurrence of 

 ■■■ Coprolites in the State of New Jersey, which has just been 

 communicated to me by Mr. J. E. Dekay of New York; and 

 as this is the first recognition of these substances in the trans- 

 atlantic world, I think it due to Mr. Dekay to publish his dis- 

 covery in his own words, extracted from his letter to me on 

 this subject 



** Sir, — Among the various organic remains of our country 

 which have attracted my attention, there is one specimen that 

 has puzzled me exceedingly. Being aware of the strange and 

 anomalous forms exhibited among the extinct saurians, I was 

 disposed at one time to consider it as a tooth, and should most 

 probably have published it as such; when a 

 notice of your interesting coprological re- 

 searches met my eye. The notice (Loudon's 

 Magazine) was short, but sufficiently satis- 

 factory; and I now am enabled to state that 

 faecal matter resembling your Sauro-copros 

 has been found in the unconsolidated se- 

 condary strata of the United States. There 

 is but a solitary specimen in our cabinet, or 

 I would send it to you with much pleasure. 

 I have procured casts of it in wax, which I shall forward to 

 you. The adjoining sketch will give you an idea of this co- 

 prolite. I shall ask permission of the Lyceum to allow it to 

 be analysed. Mv imagination may possibly be too vivid, but 



N. S. Vol. 7. No. 4.1. May 1830. 2 T in 



