Mr. T. P. Barkas on a Carhoniferous Reptilian Malar. 419 



hicmsfiord, Siiiuliiir)]-, and Manger by Professors Boeck, Rascli, 

 and Sars. 



C. lobata, Mull., and 



C. septetifrionali.t, Kr., are frequent along- tlie wliole coast. 



C. hijstrixy Kr., was found Ijy Krujer at Cliristiansund. 



LI. — On the Discover jf of a Malar of a larrje Reptile in the 

 Northumberland Coal-measures. Bj" T. P. Bahkas. 



To the Editors of the Aniuds and Magazine of Natural Jlistortf. 



Gentlemen, 



I desire briefly to direct the attention of your readers to the 

 discovery of a complete nudar of a large Carljouiferous reptile. 

 It Avas found by me in shale from Newsham Colliery, North- 

 umberland, and is probably the malar of the Labyrinthodont 

 Pteroplax cornuta (which was described in your pages in 

 April 1868) or of some analogous reptile. 



The surface-markings on the malar exactly resemble those 

 of ordinary rejjtilian head-bones, and closely correspond with 

 the descri})tion of the markings of reptile bones in the paper 

 referred to. The length of the bone is 8 j inches, its width at 

 the anterior extremity is 3 inches, at the posterior extremity 

 2^ inches ; and a space at the upper part of the bone exhibits 

 one-third of the eye-orbit. The specimen is in an excellent state 

 of preservation. In form the fossil malar very nearly corre- 

 sponds Avitli the representation of that of a crocodile given in 

 Prof. Owen's ' Comi)arative Anatomy and Physiology of Ver- 

 tebrates,' vol. i. p. 145. no. 26 ; and when compared with tlie 

 malar of a crocodile in the Museum of Xewcastle-upon-Tyne, 

 it indicates the existence of a reptile in Northumberland during 

 the Carboniferous era of a size erpuil to that of a full-grown 

 crocodile. 



I have also obtained from the same district large jaws, 

 teeth, ribs, vertebra^, and other remains of Carboniferous La- 

 b}Tintliodonts ; and I feel confident that if the various collieries 

 in England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland, were diligently 

 searched by competent observers, a large and rapid addition 

 to our Carboniferous fauna would certainly be made. No 

 field of pahvontological research has been more neglected, and 

 none would yield better results. 



I am. Gentlemen, 



Yours ol)edientlv, 



T. P. Bakkas. 



Newcastle-on-Tyno, Mav II, 18(511. 



32* 



