1863.] DAWSON CARBONIFEROUS REPTILES. 471 



§ II. Remains of Skin and Horny Scales. 



In some of my earliest explorations of the reptile-bearing stumps 

 of the Joggins, I observed on some of the surfaces patches of a 

 shining black substance, which, on minute examination, proved to 

 be the remains of cuticle, with horny scales and other appendages. 

 The fragments were preserved ; but I found it impossible to determine 

 with certainty to which of the species, whose bones occur with them, 

 they belonged, or even to ascertain the precise relations of the 

 several fragments to each other. I therefore merely mentioned them 

 in general terms, and stated my belief that they must have belonged 

 to the species of Hylonomus *. More recently other specimens have 

 been obtained, and I have undertaken the detailed examination of 

 the whole. I shall now endeavour to describe the principal frag- 

 ments, and afterwards to consider the probability of their having be- 

 longed to certain of the Reptiles entombed with them. 



1. One of my specimens is a flattened portion of cuticle, 2\ inches 

 in length, and 1 \ inch in average breadth. The greater part of the 

 surface, though wrinkled, is smooth and shining to the naked eye ; 

 but under the microscope it shows minute pits or pores, and in places 

 indistinct imbricated scales. A limited portion of the upper and, I 

 suppose, anterior part is covered with imbricated scales, visible to 

 the naked eye, and which are thin and quite free at the lower edges, 

 though apparently attached to the skin by the whole breadth of the 

 base. Most of them show a small spot, or pore, near the anterior 

 edge, and smaller points, or subordinate scales, on their surfaces. In 

 contact with the upper part of this specimen there are many frag- 

 ments of the skull of Dendrerpeton Oweni. 



2. In another portion of cuticle, similarly marked, the form of 

 the posterior part of the animal appears to be preserved, and also a 

 mark representing the point of attachment of the hind leg, near to 

 which, and also along the dorsal ridge, the skin is covered with 

 much smaller scales. The lower or abdominal side shows only a 

 slightly pitted or porous surface. A notch in the lower or abdominal 

 surface may perhaps represent the anus ; and, immediately in ad- 

 vance of this, the removal of a part of the outer surface showed an 

 interior membrane marked with rows of small pits or depressions. 

 This was found in close proximity to a mass of bones of Dendrer- 

 peton Oweni mixed with some of Hylonomus Lyelli, and is repre- 

 sented in pi. 1, fig. 5, of my work already referred to. 



3. A third portion of cuticle, procured from a different trunk, 

 presents precisely the features of that above described, but is flat- 

 tened, and has on its surface a number of vertebrae and detached 

 bones of Hylonomus Wymani. These, however, lie on its outer sur- 

 face, and the dimensions of this species would seem to be too small 

 to suit so large a surface of skin. 



4. Another well-preserved fragment, less than 2 inches in 

 length, presents a very different aspect from those just described. 



* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xvi. p. 277. 



