FOSSIL REPTILES. 363 



Neither the researches of M. Cuvier nor those of his prede- 

 cessors have been so fortunate respecting the pelvis and pos- 

 terior extremity, as respecting those just described. It would 

 appear, as we said before, that, in general, the hinder limb must 

 have been feebler, and less strongly attached than the anterior, 

 since it is so frequently wanting altogether, or sadly mutilated. 



Two bones of the pelvis, but a little mutilated, were found in 

 one of M. Cuvier's skeletons. One bone was slender, growing 

 flat in front : the other more gross, triangular below, and a little 

 more compressed at top. Articulated together by their two 

 extremities, they intercept a hole of an elongated and elliptical 

 form. M. Cuvier suspects then to be the pubis and - ischion. 

 Their posterior extremity is truncated and rough, and it con- 

 curred to the formation of the cotyloid foss, probably with one 

 of the bones of the ilia, which is lost, but the remains of which 

 seem to have been found in another skeleton. 



The femur is smaller and shorter than the humerus, but 

 resembles it a little in form, being in the same manner trian- 

 gular above and compressed below. 



On its inferior edge it supports the two bones, the tibia and 

 fibula, which, like those of the fore-arm, are flatted and 

 almost confounded with the rest of the paddle. 



After them comes a rank of three bones, then one of five, 

 and five ranges of bones which grow more and more narrow in 

 proportion as they approach the point of the paddle. The 

 number of these little bones is not exactly determined, but it 

 does not appear to be less than in the anterior paddle, and the 

 arrangement is the same. 



Thus we possess the skeleton of the ichthyosaurus in all its 

 parts, and, if we except the form of the scales, and the shades 

 of the colours, nothing is wanting to the complete representa- 

 tion of the animal. 



It was a reptile with moderate tail, and a long pointed muz- 

 zle, armed with sharp teeth. Two eyes, of enormous bulk, 

 must have given to its head an aspect altogether extraordinary. 



