12 AIR-BREATHERS OP "THE COAL PERIOD. 



ments of coprolitic matter. I have also observed in it a few scales 

 having the peculiar one-sided form of those of Archegosaurus and 

 Dendrerpeton ; and which I may possibly describe and figure, 

 among miscellaneous indications of unknown creatures, in the end 

 of this memoir. 



It is evident that the " Holing stone " indicates one of those 

 periods in which the Albion coal area, or a large part of it, was 

 under water, probably fresh or brackish, as there are no properly 

 marine shells in this, or any of the other beds of this coal series. 

 We may then imagine a large lake or lagune, loaded with trunks 

 of trees and decaying vegetable matter, having in its shallow parts, 

 and along its sides, dense brakes of Calamites, and forests of Sigil- 

 laria, Lepidodendron, and other trees of the period, extending far 

 on every side as damp pestilential swamps. In such a habitat, 

 uninviting to us, but no doubt suited to Baphetes, that creature 

 crawled through swamps and thickets, wallowed in flats of black 

 mud, or swam and dived in search of its finny prey. It was, in so 

 far as we know, the monarch of these swamps, though there is 

 evidence of the existence of similar creatures of this type quite as 

 large in other parts of the Nova Scotia coal field ; but my notice 

 of these I defer for the present, in hope that additional tacts may 

 be discovered in respect to them. If this should not be the case 

 they will be noticed among miscellaneous remains in the sequel. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE II. 



• Baphetes planiceps. 

 Fig. 1. — Skull seen from below, half natural size. 



" 2. — Portion of bone of skull magnified, to show vascular canals and 

 bone-cells. 



" 3. — One of the largest teeth, natural size. 



f 4. — Sculpturing of skull, and margin of orbit, natural size. 



" 5. — Fragment of maxillary bone, with four teeth of the outer series> 

 and one of the inner large teeth, — the points of the teeth re- 

 stored from fragments in other specimens. 



" 6 and 7. — Sections of a tooth magnified : 6, upper part ; 7, lower 

 part, with convoluted dentine. 



" 8. — Section of bone in Fig. 2, more highly magnified. 



" 9 and 10. — Sections of tooth represented in Figs. 6 and 7, natural 

 size. 



" 11. — Dermal scale found with remains of Baphetes. 



" 12. — Scapular or sternal bone found with remains of Baphetes. 



" 13. — Longitudinal section of the middle of the same, showing the 

 manner in which it has been crushed. 



( To be continued.) 



