374 Geological Society : — 



sacrum, and of the humerus of the new species of Dicynodon (D. 

 Murrayi^ from near Colesherg, which was characterized at a previous 

 meeting of the Society (February 23). Particular attention was 

 directed to the unusually complete ossification of the cranio-facial 

 axis, and to the striking resemblance in the structure of the bony 

 walls of the olfactory apparatus to that which obtains in Birds. 

 Prof. Huxley, in conclusion, gave a sketch of the general proportions 

 of the Dicynodon, so far as the evidence as yet obtained allows a 

 judgment to be formed, and particularly alluded to the existence of 

 a long series of caudal vertebrae. Specimens of the fossil wood 

 found with the remains of D. Murrayi had been submitted to Dr. 

 Hooker, and declared by him to be coniferous. 



2. " On RhamphorAynchus Bucklandi, a Pterosaurian from the 

 Stonesfield Slate." By Thomas H. Huxley, F.R.S., Sec.G.S., Prof, 

 of Natural History, Government School of Mines, 



The author based his account of this Pterosaurian upon a fine 

 fragment of a lower jaw, discovered by the Earl of Ducie in the 

 quarries of Sarsden, near Chipping Norton, — on a coracoid bone 

 from the Stonesfield slate, in the collection of the Museum of Prac- 

 tical Geology, — on a large fragment of a lower jaw in the Mu- 

 seum of the Society, and a very fine specimen of a lower jaw in the 

 Museum of the College of Surgeons. The ascription of the cora- 

 coid to the same species as that to which the jaws belong was ad- 

 mitted to be hypothetical ; but their proportions agree sufficiently 

 well to give probability to the supposition. Furthermore, the author 

 did not suppose it to be absolutely demonstrable that the jaws and 

 coracoid in question, supposing them to be of one species, were of 

 the same species as those Pterosaurian remains discovered by Dr. 

 Buckland in the Stonesfield slate many years ago, and (though never 

 described) named after him Pterodactylus Bucklandi ; but, as a spe- 

 cific name unaccompanied by a description is of no authority, and as 

 there is no evidence of the existence of more than one species of 

 Pterosaurian in the Stonesfield slate, it seemed that the adoption of 

 the specific name Bucklandi would have the least tendency to create 

 confusion. 



These remains prove that the Stonesfield Pterosaurian belonged 

 to the genus Rhamphorhynchus of Von Meyer, and that it had nearly 

 twice the size of the liassic Dimorphodon macronyx. The mandible 

 of R. Bucklandi is remarkable for its stoutness and the depth of its 

 rami towards the symphysis, which is short and produced into a 

 stout, curved, median, edentulous rostrum. The teeth are similar 

 in form, flattened and sharp-pointed, distinct, and not more than 

 seven in number on each side : the last tooth is situated rather 

 behind the junction of the middle with the posterior third of the 

 jaw. The author took occasion to refer incidentally to some unde- 

 scribed peculiarities in the structure of the coracoid of Dimorphodon 

 macronyx. 



