Hector. — On the Fossil lieptilia of Neio Zealand. 351" 



9 h. — A liumerus coiTespoiiding with the characters of this sjjecies, but 

 haviiig also the ulua or radius, and sorue of the smaller paddle bones, is in the 

 Canterbury Museum, according to Mr. A. McKay, who thinks the specimen 

 came from Heath stock, in the Waipara. 



Leiodon, Owen. 



This genus was distinguished from Mosasaurus by Owen, by the form of 

 the teeth, which are smooth, curved, and slightly compressed, so that in section 

 they show an ellipse sharply pointed at both ends, and also by the mode of 

 attachment of the teeth to the jaw bone. According to Professor Cope, it is 

 abundant in America, being a characteristic fotisil of the cretaceous formation, 

 four species having been obtained from the western, four from the eastern, and 

 two from the southern, cretaeeou:; rocks of the United States ; while the only 

 othfer known species is represented by the jaw fragments found in Europe, and 

 desciibed by Professor Owen. The characters of the vertebrae show it to have 

 been an exceedingly elongated reptile, one of the American species, the 

 individual bones of which are not larger than those now to be described from 

 the Amuri, having belonged to an animal which was not much short of 

 100 feet in length, 



10. Leiodoit iiaumuriensis, n. sp. 



No. 10 a. — This is a portion of a skull of a gigantic species, which I refer to 

 this genus on account of the character of the teeth. It consists of the whole 

 tooth series of the upper jaw and the corresponding portion of the lower jaw 

 of the right side, and the anterior half of the lower jaw of the left side, 

 which was worked out from the lower part of the slab. There are 15 teeth, 

 averaging two inches apai-t, above and below ; the matui-e teeth lising from a 

 distinct elevated crown of cement — characteristic of this genus — while the 

 immature teeth push their way thi'ough the cement, generally alongside or 

 slightly internal to the base of the old teeth. The largest mature teeth have 

 a black enamelled crown 1 -5 inches in length, slightly ciirved outwards and 

 backwards, compressed laterally with an obtuse anterior ridge, and more 

 rounded but still slightly angulate behind, the surface being irregularly striate 

 but not channelled. The long diameter of the base is about -9, and the shoit 

 diameter about '6, inches. Pulp cavity is filled with rock matrix, and the 

 section shows it constricted where implanted in the dental cement. The internal 

 cavity of the tooth shows more lateral compression than the external surface. 

 It is lined with a black layer, between which and the enamel the dental 

 substance is yellowish white. The total length of the tooth series is 26 inches ; 

 the jaws are quite sti'aight and not curved towards the symphyses, and appear 

 to have been set at a niod(?i'at(.' horizontal angle, so that the muzzle must have 

 been loner and narrow. 



