120 EXTINCT MONSTERS 



A model or cast of this delicate fossil is to be seen in the 

 Natural History Museum. Unfortunately, the head is not pre- 

 served. Dr. Mantell considered Telerpeton to be partly amphibian 

 and partly saurian. But, some years later, Professor Huxley 

 came to the rescue, and threw more light on the subject. In 

 a paper read before the Geological Society, 1 he described a new 

 specimen, which showed the skull. This specimen, the property 

 of Mr. James Grant, of Lossiemouth, was sent to him by that 

 veteran geologist, the late Eev. Dr. Gordon, of Birnie, by Elgin, 

 who, for fifty years or more, had taken a deep interest in the 

 geology of the district. It is larger, being ten to twelve inches 



2 



2 ""^"feSs^^ii^^^"" 



FIG. 36. Skull of .R7i?/c7iosattrs ar^iceps from the Trias, from the New Red 



Sandstone near Shrewsbury ; natural size. 2. Upper aspect of a dorsal vertebra ; 



natural size. (After Mantell.) 



in length. As is usual with fossils from the Elgin sandstone, 

 the bones are represented by casts, but these were well defined. 

 Professor Huxley was able to show that Telerpeton has no 

 relationship with amphibians. In all its characters it is a true 

 lizard. Instead of being a low, or "generalised" form, it is 

 somewhat " specialised," or highly developed. 



The second example of the reptilian order now under considera- 

 tion is the Ehynchosaurus, discovered by Dr. 0. Ward, in a quarry 

 in the New Eed Sandstone, at Grinsill, near Shrewsbury. His 

 discovery comprised the skull and a considerable portion of the 

 skeleton (see Fig. 36). Professor Owen also found some remains 

 of the same animal in this quarry. 



1 Published in the Journal of 1867, vol. xxiii. p. 77. 



