460 PEOCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [DcC. 15, 



ture which I have ascribed to this hone in Stagonole^is do not really 

 exist. I am obliged to take this opportunity of distinctly asserting 

 that the only two coracoids of Stagonolepis which have been discovered 

 have been sent to me direct from Elgin, that I have worked them 

 out from the matrix with my own hands, and that no anatomist 

 had seen the one described in my paper before the publication of my 

 account of its structure. That account, however, is incomplete, the 

 new specimen showing that a considerable part of the bone was 

 wanting, and that, when perfect, it is far more Crocodilian than 

 Lacertilian in its characters. 



The remarkable new Eeptile, Hyjperodapeclon Gordoni, which I 

 have briefly characterized in a note to Sir R. I. Murchison's paper 

 (see p. 435), is of paramount interest ; for while, on the one hand, 

 its discovery justifies my hesitation in at once ascribing the Cum- 

 mingstone foot-marks to Stagonolepis, — on the other, its marked 

 affinity with certain Triassic reptiles, when taken together with the 

 resemblance of Stagonolepis to mesozoic Crocodilia, leads one to 

 require the strongest stratigraphical proof before admitting the 

 palaeozoic age of the beds in which it occurs. 



Finally, I may add, that Stagonolepis attained a much greater size 

 than my former materials warranted me in believing. Some of the 

 recent discoveries lead me to suppose that it reached 16 or 18 feet 

 in length. 



While this Kote was passing through the press, the Monograph of 

 D'Alton and Burmeister (' Der fossile Gavial von Boll,' 1854) came 

 into my hands. The excellent memoir by these authors on the ancient 

 Mystriosaurus hollensis is preceded by a valuable essay on the orga- 

 nization of recent Crocodilia, including the best account I have met 

 with of the ventral dermal armour (p. 29). The transverse sutures 

 dividing the ventral scutes, and their mode of articulation, are noted ; 

 but, on the other hand, it is said that only the three or four outer 

 series of ventral scutes have pitted surfaces, and the authors suppose 

 that the ventral armour which they describe (and which is appa- 

 rently that of a, Jacare) is found in all recent Crocodiles. I can find 

 no reference Jto the fact that the great majority of living Crocodilia 

 are whoUy devoid not only of ventral bony armour, but of articulated 

 dorsal scutes.— July 5, 1859. T. H. H. 



DESCEIPTION OF PLATE XIV. 



Fig. 1. Plaster-cast of a portion of the specimen of Stagonolepis originally de- 

 scribed by Prof. Agassiz. a, anterior ends of the flat scutes ; b, their 

 posterior ends. 



Fig. 2. Grutta-percha cast of the impression of a hroad-angulated scute (not that 

 described in the text), from Findrassie. 



Fig. 3. G-utta-percha cast of an impression of an irregular-angulated scute, from 

 the same locality. 



Fig. 4. Right anterior foot-print, from Cummingstone. 



Fig. 5. Bight posterior foot-print, from the same series of tracks. 



