Miscellaneous. 141 
orbital bones), two detached teeth, and probably a coracoid. The 
maxillary has thirteen alveoli, at the base of each of which is a 
large external vascular foramen for the passage of the nerves and 
vessels from the dental canal to the outer integuments, and by which 
the base of the enclosed teeth are visible: of these there are several 
in situ, either fully developed or as germs. The teeth are the most 
interesting portions preserved, as they possess all the external cha- 
racters of those of the Megalosaurus, and detached specimens might 
easily be mistaken for teeth of the latter reptile. According to 
H. von Meyer, the remains are of true Lacertian type, having some 
affinities to the existing genera Stellion and Uromastiz. 
From the same collection and locality were also obtained the 
fragmentary remains of the equally rare Chelonian Reptile Chely- 
therium obscurum, yon Meyer.—W. D. 
SuppEN DeEstTRuUCTION OF Marine AnImMALS.—Having often been 
puzzled to comprehend the manner in which, in some instances, large 
numbers of marine animals, such as Cuttle-fishes, Crabs, Lobsters, 
and even Fish and Reptiles, have in past ages suddenly perished in 
their own element and been entombed, probably on or near the 
very spots where they had been hatched, and which they had fre- 
quented all their lives, it has occurred to me that any suggestions as 
to causes now in operation which might have produced then, as now, 
the same result, will not be unwelcome to the Geological student. 
In the ‘Principles of Geology’ (7th edit. 1847) Sir C. Lyell men- 
tions (p. 743), among other causes, the shifting of currents, which 
might result in the carrying away of banks of sand and mud, 
habitats of vast colonies of cockles and other mollusks; and the effect 
of a storm in tearing up and casting ashore from their more solid 
bed great heaps of the edible oyster in the estuary of the Firth of 
Forth in 1831, and numbers of living whelks. 
At Stornoway, in the Island of Lewis, the largest of the Hebrides, 
is a depot for Fishermen, from whence vast quantities of Lobsters 
are every week despatched by steam-packet to Glasgow (a distance 
of 250 miles). These crustaceous delicacies are not packed until 
the latest moment, being required to reach London ‘strong alive,’ 
During the week the daily ‘catches’ are placed in large wooden 
boxes (perforated on every side so as to allow a free current of water 
to pass through them), and sunk in the sea at the end of the pier 
within the bay. On one occasion, when more than 1,000 lobsters 
had been so boxed up, a heavy fall of rain during the night brought 
down so much fresh water that in the morning every lobster was 
found dead, and the whole were sold, at a heavy loss, within the 
island. 
My friend Mr. Day, of Charmouth, informs me that after the sud- 
den thaw at the end of January and the beginning of February this 
year, such large floods of snow-water flowed into the sea along the 
Dorsetshire coast, that immense numbers of the ‘ Poulpe’ (Octopus 
vulgaris) have been killed and washed ashore at Charmouth. Is it 
not probable that these sudden influxes of fresh water—especially 
