Miscellanies. 167 



There are also the remains of several kinds of ferns in the Tilgate 

 strata : one of the most elegant is the species named by M. Brong- 

 niart, Sphcsnopteris Mantelli. Another is the Lonchoteris Mantelli, 

 distinguished by the beautiful reticulated structure of the leaves. 



Besides the fossil vegetables above noticed, there are stems of 

 other plants; and vegetable matter in the state of lignite, (an impure 

 coal,) is abundantly dispersed throughout the strata. 



Birds. — Long slender bones occur which were supposed to have 

 belonged to birds ; but from the discovery of the bones of the Pter- 

 odactylus, (a flying reptile,) in the lias at Lyme Regis, it is now be- 

 lieved that the specimens in question belonged to that extraordinary 

 reptile. 



Shells. — These consist of univalves and bivalves, allied to recent 

 fresh water genera. In some instances they constitute entire beds of 

 limestone, of which the Sussex marble is a familiar example. 



The specimens above described are distributed in the cabinet as 

 follows : — 



Shelf No. 1. Stems of vegetables, bones of Saurians, &£c.* 



2. Vertebrae, ribs, humeri, and other bones of the Iguanodon, Me- 

 galosaurus. Crocodile, Plesiosaurus, &.c. 



3. A series of specimens, illustrative of the Geology of Sussex, 

 commencing with the rocks of Bognor, and ending with the strata at 

 Hastings. 



4. Bones of Turtles; teeth of Iguanodon, &;c. ; horn and claw of 

 ditto ; remains of Fishes, Birds, &c. ; vertebrae of Crocodile and 

 Plesiosaurus. 



5. Vegetable remains : Clathraria Lyellii, Endogenites erosa, 

 Ferns, Lignite, &c. 



6. Bones of the extremities and pelvis of the Iguanodon, &£c. 



In the drawers of the Cabinet, No. 6, there are also many fossils 

 from the Tilgate strata. 



From the examination of these organic remains, the following in- 

 ferences arise : — 



1st. The reptiles and vegetables must have been inhabitants of a 

 country, enjoying a much higher temperature than any part of Eu- 

 rope ; and the former, from their enormous magnitude and osteolo- 

 gical characters, clearly belong to an order of things, of which the 

 present state of the earth affords no example ; the epoch of their ex- 

 istence may, indeed, be termed the age of reptiles. 



* On this Shelf there is also part of the fossil rib of a whale, from Brighton Cliffs. 



