THE 



GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE. 



NEW SERIES. DECADE II. VOL. VI. 



No. V.— MAY, 1879. 



OZRia-IICT^Xi AETIGLES. 

 I. — On the Discovery of a Species of Iguanodon in the 



KlMMERIDGE CLAY NEAR OXFORD ; AND A NOTICE OF A VERY 

 FOSSILIFEROUS BAND OF THE ShOTOVER SaNDS. 



By Prof. Prestwich, M.A., F.E.S., Y.P.G.S., etc. 



A N interesting discovery has just been made in this district. A 

 .l\_ short time since some workmen from Cumnor brought to the 

 Museum a basketful of bones which they said they had found in 

 digging the clay at the brick works, now in course of large exten- 

 sion, at Cumnor Hurst, three miles west of Oxford. On cleaning 

 the specimens, the characteristic vertebrae and teeth of Iguanodon 

 were recognized. A large number of the vertebra? are entire, but 

 the jaw is in fragments, with many teeth, however, in position. The 

 skull is wanting, except a small fragment. One of the feet, with 

 the claws, is almost complete. The larger bones are almost all 

 broken, but we hope to be able to reunite many of the fragments, 

 as there is reason to believe that the skeleton was entire or nearly so. 

 The smaller bones and the extremities of the larger bones are in a 

 heautiful state of preservation. It is a smaller animal than the 

 Wealden Iguanodon Mantelli, but whether owing to age or difference 

 of species remains to be determined. It seems to me to indicate a 

 different species, with smaller and more delicately-formed bones. 1 



On visiting the place, I found that the specimens had been met with 

 in driving a tramway into the side of the hill, where new pits are 

 being opened out. Consequently a cutting only a few feet wide was 

 made, and which, at the spot where the bones were found, was about 

 seven feet deep. The clay was bare at the top, though a little dis- 

 turbed. The bones were found at a depth of about four feet, in a 

 thin seam, two or three inches thick, of yellow sandy clay, and 

 they had extended part of the way across the cutting. A further 

 portion of the skeleton may therefore remain in the undisturbed 

 beds on one side. There is reason to believe that some portion of 

 the bones were carted away, but I hope these may yet be traced ; 

 while, with the obliging assistance of the manager of the works, a 

 watch will be kept on the clay at the sides when it has to be removed. 



1 The Scelidosanrus Harrisoni, Owen, from the Lias of Lyme Eegis, is closely 

 allied to Iguanodon, but is much smaller; so also is the Acanthopholis horridus, 

 Huxley, from the Grey Chalk of Dover. 



DECADE II. — VOL. VI. — NO. V. 13 



