brittle 



27 



brittle than the Belemnites, and both of these Cephalopoda are 

 found in the Cornbrash commonly enough. I confess, therefore, 

 that the absence of Belemnites is at present a puzzle to me, for 

 which I can suggest no explanation. 



It is possible that eventually all the great divisions of vertebrate 

 life may be discovered in the formation in question, but at present 

 the evidence of the existence of such life is very scanty. Occasion- 

 ally you can meet with a specimen or two of the flat grinding palatal 

 teeth of some fish allied to our sharks, and a portion of a Ganoid 

 fish (of which our sturgeon is a remotely connected relation) was 

 found in Ireland. Of the existence of reptiles at that period you 

 will find no evidence in Morris's list of British fossils, of which a 

 second edition appeared in 1854 ; but I possess a few bones, and Mr. 

 Darell Stephens a very fine example of part of the jaw, of what I 

 suppose is a Steneosaurus a species found in the Lias, the great 

 oolite of Stonesfield and the Kimmeridge clay, and which was allied 

 to the modern Gavial of the Ganges. Of the existence of birds and 

 mammals in this period, we have, I believe, at present no evidence. 



