170 FOSSIL REPTILES. 



of osseous pieces of similar nature, he finds them again in the 

 face attached to the three vertebrae of the cranium. The bones 

 which compose the nose represent the hyoi'd and laryngian 

 apparatus, and those of the two jaws represent the two extre- 

 mities of the body, but with an arrangement of relations quite 

 different from that of M. Oken. Thus the nasal bones, properly 

 so called, represent the sternum^ the cartilages, and the xyphoid ; 

 the shoulder-blade corresponds to the posterior frontal bone, 

 the clavicle to the cheek-bone. The small bones of the ear 

 represent the pubis, the condyloid apophysis, the femur, the 

 coronoid, the tibia, &c. The teeth, according to M. Spix, 

 are only claws, and the alveoli represent the phalanges ! 



This strange fantasy, of finding a representative of the body 

 in this way, has obliged some authors to give denominations to 

 certain bones of reptiles and fishes, which they would have 

 never thought of otherwise. The wish of constantly finding the 

 number of osseous pieces to be the same has led others into 

 deviations not less strange. When they found it difficult to 

 support their theory on those bones where it appeared most 

 natural to seek a foundation for it, they betook themselves to 

 the neighbouring bones. Sometimes they found themselves 

 obliged to admit the most singular metastases, without even 

 ever thinking of the number of organs and soft parts which it was 

 necessary to displace, and assign a different agency to,-b^fore 

 they could transport a bone from one place into another, ad- 

 joining. For instance, they would insert (to make out their 

 system) a piece belonging to the sternum between two pieces 

 belonging to the hyoid bone, or make some similar transposition, 

 as if such a process was quite simple, and that none but osseous 

 parts entered into the composition of the animal. 



Such theoretical reveries have been carried to a great extent 

 by these writers in their discussions on the reptile class, 

 and still farther in treating of the fishes, especially regarding 

 the osseous pieces composing the opercula and the hyoid 

 bone. 



But in matters of inductive science, it is absolutely neces- 



