FOSSILS OF THE GREAT OOLITE GROUP. 245 



CETEOSAURUS. 



The earliest notice of this mighty lizard is that communicated 

 to the Geological Society of London, on the 3rd of June, 1825, by 

 John Kingdon, Esq., who related the discovery of vertebrae and 

 other bones in the oolite of Chapelhouse, near Chipping-Norton. 

 The bones were said by Mr. Kingdon to have been taken from the 

 quarries of the lower oolite. Chapelhouse stands on the upper or 

 Great oolite of Bath, but near it the lower or Inferior oolite makes 

 an inconspicuous appearance. From an examination of the quarries 

 and of the specimens, and inquiries in the neighbourhood, it appears 

 to me that they lay in the upper of these rocks, according to the 

 distinction now adopted by the National Survey. 



These bones, or a portion of the ' find,' came to the hands of 

 Dr. Buckland, probably not many years after the date of Mr. King- 

 don's notice, and they are now in the University Museum. 



Dr. Buckland's attention being drawn to the subject while 

 composing the Bridgwater Treatise, he acquired specimens from 

 Thame and Enstone, which appeared to be congeneric, and received 

 a valuable contribution from his friend William Stowe, Esq., who, 

 residing at Buckingham, was well informed of the objects of 

 geological interest which occurred in the quarries and clay pits of 

 the neighbourhood. The following letter from Dr. Buckland to 

 Mr. Stowe will shew how sagaciously the first traces of a remarkable 

 discovery were interpreted and followed up by my great predecessor 

 in office : 



'OXFORD, December 4, 1834. 



* My dear Sir, I am much obliged by your kindness in forward- 

 ing to me the basket of bones, which I received yesterday. They 

 are all of saurian origin; that which has been rubbed down is 

 probably a vertebra of a large crocodile; and the largest of all 

 a caudal vertebra of some yet undescribed reptile of enormous 

 stature, larger than the iguanodon, and of which I am collecting 

 scattered fragments into our Museum, in hope ere long of being 

 able to make out its history. 



' Four large dorsal vertebrae of this animal were some time since 

 presented to our public collection by a gentleman of Thame ; more 

 recently another, apparently a lumbar vertebra,, has been added from 



