1852.] 



MANTELL ON SUPPOSED FOSSIL OVA. 



107 



and removal of the ova are distinctly shown ; and they entirely corre- 

 spond with those in the recent carbonized mass from Clapham. 



Fig. 1 



Fig. 2. 



Fig. 3.- 



Fig.l. Slab of Old Red Sandstone, 

 Forfarshire, with eggs ofBatrU' 

 chians ? 



a. Ova in a carbonized state. 



b. Egg cells ; the ova having been shed. 



Fig. 2. Eggs of the common Frog, 

 Rana temporaria, /rom a dried- 

 ^a f^P pond in Clapham Common. 



a. Portion of the ovary. 



b. A transverse section of the mass ex- 

 hibiting the form of the egg-cells. 



-Devonian Shale, Forfarshire, with impression of Plants 

 and Eggs of Batrachiansl. 



a. Two pair of ova resembling those of large Salamanders or Tritons on the same leaf. 



b, b. Detached ova. c. Egg-cells of Frogs ? 



[The use of the above woodcuts has been kindly granted by Sir C. Lyell.] 



Associated with these remains are small, oval, roundish bodies, 

 disposed singly or in pairs among, and sometimes adherent to, the 

 foliage with which they are collocated ; these fossils so strikingly re- 

 semble the eggs of aquatic Salamanders, that, admitting the batra- 

 chian character of the specimens previously described, there is every 

 reason to conclude they are the mineralized ova of reptiles, which, 

 like the recent Tritons, deposited their eggs on the leaves of aquatic 

 plants. 



Aware how startling such a statement might appear to those who 

 had not examined the evidence on which it is founded, I requested 

 my friend Mr. Newport, our eminent physiologist, whose profound 

 investigations of the development of the ova in the Amphibia have 

 recently received the award of a Royal Medal, to allow me to place 

 before him the facts which bear on this question ; and I am permitted 

 to state that, after a careful investigation of the fossil and recent ova, 

 Mr. Newport concurs with me in the opinion that the carbonized 

 eggs in the Devonian shales of Forfarshire are referable to Batrachians; 

 those which are in clusters, and in size and form and arrangement 

 resemble the spawn of the Frog, belong to Banidce ; while the larger 

 ova that occur singly or in pairs, and are attached to leaves, are pro- 

 bably those of large aquatic Salamanders. It may be observed that 



