Professor Seeley. — Some Scientific [Sept. 16. 



that when I saw the radius was the stronger bone, I felt I could have 

 interpreted the limb, if it had been brought to me whole and separate 

 from the skeleton, as probably a mammalian limb. The time went on, 

 and the sun rose higher ; we cleared away the hind limb, and I then 

 had the pleasure of laying bare what was hitherto unknown ; — the 

 bones of the ankle joints. Now there is absolutely nothing in the 

 skeleton of an animal which is more instructive of the higher types of 

 life than the condition of the ankle joints, In the reptiles, the ankle 

 joints are for the most part two series of small bones, ranged in 

 parallel series, in rows. When you come to birds, the structures are 

 modified in consequence of the wonderful mode of progression of the 

 bird, by hopping, in consequence of which a large amount of labour is 

 done by the hind limbs, which result in a concentration of ossification 

 as a result of which you find that the upper ankle bone is blended with 

 the end of the drumstick, and the other with the metatarsal bones, so 

 that there appear to be at first sight in the birds no ankle bones at all, 

 but when you come to the mammal you find a much nearer approach to 

 the reptile. The lower row consists of a series of small ossifications, 

 while the upper rows usually consist of two or three bones. Now when 

 I laid bare these bones to draw their contours, I found they presented 

 forms which were of this kind : — here came the lower end of the bone, 

 which forms the outer bone of the leg", which we term the fibula and 

 here came downward the bone which forms the inner bone of the leg, 

 which we call the tibia, and to my surprise there was a single great 

 bone extending downward in this way, which passed underneath the 

 lower end of the tibia, and which corresponded to the heel bone and 

 pulling bone of the ankle, that is, corresponded to the oscalcis ard 

 astragalus blended together. Now this is a perfectly new type of 

 ankle formation, and as the excavation went on, we found there were 

 other bones indicating a lower row in this manner, and these came on 

 the metatarsal bone, the bones o^ the phalanges succeeding, and we 

 found that the feet terminated in great curved claws, so that although 

 I only represent to you one digit, because there was only one 

 undisturbed, owing to the action of the weather, yet from this we 

 were able to make out the structure of the foot and prove that these 

 animals were not only capable of swimming in the sea, but possessed 

 that modification of limb which adapted them to move upon land. I 

 should weary you if I went into detail as to the history of this 

 particular animal, and I have only gone into the story of some of the 

 points we have made as to the structure of the animal, because it 

 serves as a type of those wonderful problems connected with the history 

 of life upon the earth, with which your country teems. It contains 

 riches on every side for the naturalist who will take the treasures as 

 they lie near to the surface of the country ; and I will venture to say 



