278 Reports and Proceedings — 



those Eeptiles in abundance in quite the latter part of the Cretaceous 

 epoch. He had himself indicated the existence of various forms of 

 Dinosauria in the Trias. He confirmed his former opinion that 

 Zanclodon from the Upper Keuper of Wiirttemberg is a Dinosaur, 

 and probably identical with Teratosaurus (von Meyer), in which 

 case its affinity to Megalosaurus is exceedingly close. He corrected 

 a statement in a former paper with regard to the ilium of the The- 

 codontosaurians, which he had turned the wrong way, and stated 

 that when regarded in its proper position this ilium is much more 

 Lacertilian than that of Megalosaurus. From this and other evi- 

 dence of detail he inferred that the Triassic Thecodontosauria were 

 devoid of some of the most marked peculiarities of the later Orni- 

 thoscelida, while the most ornithic of the latter belong to the second 

 half of the Mesozoic period. The oldest Crocodiles differ less than 

 the recent ones from the Lacertilia, and the oldest Ornithoscelida 

 also approached a less differentiated Lacertian form, the two groups 

 seeming to converge towards the common form of a Lizard with 

 Crocodilian vertebrae. Cetiosaurus is also a reptile with a vertebral 

 system like that of the Thecodontosauria and Crocodilia, but with 

 more Lacertilian limbs, and Stenopelyx may be in the same case. 

 It may therefore be convenient hereafter to separate the Thecodonto- 

 sauria, Cetiosaurus and perhaps Stenopelyx as a group, " Sucho- 

 spondylia," distinct from both the Ornithoscelida and the Crocodilia 

 (or " Sauroscelida ".). 



Prof. Huxley, in reply to remarks on his paper by Professors 

 Duncan and Seeley, stated that the Indian Crocodile, Parasuchus, 

 was very like Belodon in the jaw and teeth, the scapula and coracoid, 

 the vertebrae, the ilium, and the tibia. The tibia had the proximal 

 end like that of a Lizard, the distal like that of a Crocodile. The 

 remains from India furnish a new point of resemblance between the 

 Indian deposits and those of Elgin. "With, regard to the difference 

 in the position of the nostrils, he did not know that any reason could 

 be given for this, unless the modification might facilitate respiration 

 when the animal was engaged, after the manner of Crocodiles, in 

 drowning its prey ; but this would not hold good in the case of the 

 Gavial, which feeds on fish. The food of Stagonolepis was doubtful : 

 the teeth were often more or less ground down ; but whatever the 

 food was, it might be an advantage to the animal to be able to breathe 

 when its mouth was full. In reply to Prof. Seeley, he stated that 

 his comparisons were not founded on the skull alone, but on the 

 other principal characters. Purely morphological considerations 

 would not be sufficient alone, but they must enter into the question. 

 As to the older Lacertilia, he had paid some attention to them, and 

 considered that in all their characters they resembled the existing 

 forms ; the modern Sphenodon (or Hatteria) of New Zealand was 

 exactly like the Triassic species. The skull in Belodon most closely 

 resembles that of Hylerpeton ? 



2. " On the remains of a Fossil Forest in the Coal-measures at 

 Wadsley, near Sheffield." By H. C. Sorby, Esq., F.E.S., F.G.S., 

 Pres.R.M.S. 



