INTRODUCTION. 133 



summary of the known species of fossil fishes and the localities 

 in which they occurred. 



Few specimens of Amphibians had been discovered ; the 

 famous " Andrias " of Scheuchzer and a few remains of frogs 

 in the Oeningen beds were almost the only representatives 

 known in the literature. 



Reptiles also were only known by rare specimens. Ichthy- 

 osaurian vertebrae from the Liassic strata of England and 

 Altdorf had been figured by Lhuyd and Baier as fish vertebrae, 

 whereas Scheuchzer had taken similar specimens from Altdorf 

 for human vertebrae. Sir Everard Home gave the first de- 

 scription of an ichthyosaurian skull from the Lias of Lyme- 

 Regis under the name of Proterosaurus (Philos. Trans., 1814). 



One of the most ancient reptiles, the Triassic Proterosaurus 

 from the copper slate of Suhl, had been found as early as 

 1706, and in 1710 had been assigned to the group of croco- 

 diles; a second specimen was again described in 1718 by 

 Linck as a crocodile, but Kundman thought it bore a stronger 

 resemblance to lizards, and this was the view afterwards con- 

 firmed by Cuvier. 



True crocodile remains were mentioned by Collini from the 

 Liassic strata of Altdorf, and by Faujas de Saint-Fond from 

 the Upper Jura of Honfleur and Le Havre and the Tertiary 

 rocks of the Vicentine. In the Upper Lias of Whitby a full 

 crocodile skeleton (Teleosaurus) from five to six feet long was 

 seen by Chapman and Wooller, but only a few of the vertebrae 

 could be saved entire (Philos. Trans., vol. 50). 



The discovery of a Mosasaurus skull in the Cretaceous tuffs 

 of Petersberg, near Maestricht, has already been mentioned, 

 and its identification by Cuvier as a lizard (ante, p. 107). 



A great sensation was produced when, in the Jurassic shales 

 of Solenhofen, a complete skeleton of a perfectly preserved 

 small saurian was found with wing-like appendages. Collini 

 described and figured it as an unknown marine animal of 

 doubtful zoological affinities. Blumenbach regarded it as a 

 water-fowl, but Cuvier recognised the skeleton as essentially 

 reptilian in structure, called it Pterodactylus, and described it 

 as a flying reptile. Although Cuvier had given convincing data 

 for this conclusion (in his Researches on Fossil Bones, vol. iv., 

 1812), Hermann and Sommerring explained the skeleton as 

 that of a mammalian genus allied to the bats. The original 

 specimen is now in Munich Museum. 



