74 REPORT 1880. 



it has been my fortune to dissect a porpoise in which the foetus was simi- 

 larly placed, and the parent animal was driven ashore in an obviously 

 enfeebled condition, consequent probably upon the function in which it 

 ■was engaged, and if such a specimen had been fossilised it would have 

 exactly paralleled these fossil Ichthyosaurs. 



The specimens in the Tiibingen Museum (figs. 3, 4,) are in some respects 

 more instructive since the heads of the parent animals are preserved, the 

 ribs are less disturbed, and the skeletons are altogether more complete. The 

 specimen exhibited in the Museum, which is from Holzmaden in Wiirtem- 

 berg, is numbered 7532. The parent animal has the skull-bones somewhat 

 displaced ; they are about U^ inches long, while the length of the vertebral 

 colunan is 8 feet 3^ inches, the fore limb is 16 inches long, and the 

 hind limb 8^ inches in length. In the dorsal region there are forty 

 vertebrae with double-headed ribs ; then follow six with single-headed ribs, 

 and in about this position the ilium was placed. The caudal vertebrae 

 number ] 06. The length of the abdominal region of the large animal is 

 3 feet 6 inches. The iliac bones are relatively large, flattened, and oblong, 

 and measure 3| inches in length. They have been a little displaced, so 

 that the hinder limbs lie just below the vertebral column. 



Entirely within the abdomen is a small Ichthyosaur, lying between the 

 right and left ribs, with its head directed towards the posterior region of 

 the body, the extremity of the snout being separated from the present 

 position of the iliac bones by a width of about five vertebras. The verte- 

 bral column of the small animal is parallel to that of the large one in 

 which it is contained. The head, which is well preserved, is 10^ inches 

 long, has teeth in both jaws, has the eye-plates well developed, and the 

 orbital cavity abovit 2 inches in length. The region of the fore limb is 

 missing, owing- apparently to a fracture of the fossil in extracting it in 

 the quarry. The dorsal vertebra and dorsal ribs are well shown. The 

 centrums here have a diameter of 1 inch. The vertebral column can be 

 traced within the large animal for 21 inches, but the series is a little 

 scattered, and towards the end the vertebra are obscure from their small 

 size. The interspace between the two vertebral columns is only about 

 2 inches ; the depth of the body of the large animal was probably about 

 28 inches. It is to be remarked that there is no indication that I could 

 detect of the tail of the small specimen reaching so far forward as to 

 justify the expression that it was in the throat. 



The second Tiibingen specimen is contained in the work-room, and 

 has no catalogue number. 



It is of much larger size, has the dorsal vertebrae and ribs in natural 

 position, but the hind limbs do not appear to be 23resent, though the iliac 

 bones remain, slightly displaced. The skull is here 24 inches long. There 

 are 45 vertebras, with double-headed ribs, measuring, as preserved, 4 feet. 

 To them succeed two vertebra?, with large single tubercles, which are 

 usually regarded as sacral ; then 31 vertebrae, measuring 2 feet 8 inches, 

 which form the large anterior part of the tail ; and then succeed 47 ver- 

 tebrae of much smaller size ; but the extremity of the tail is not preserved. 

 The abdominal ribs are not well seen, but the depth of the body is about 

 25 inches. The fore limb in this animal is 13| inches long. From these 

 and other considerations, which it is not withia my present province to 

 dwell upon, it is evident that we have here a distinct species from the 

 specimen just described. The young animal lies entirely between the 

 ribs of the large one in the posterior part of the abdomen, with its back 



