DINOSATJRIAN FOOT-BONES FEOX THE WEALD EN. 375 



23. Note on Two Dinosattrian Foot-Bones from the Wealdex. By 

 E. Ltdekkee, Esq., B.A., P.G.S. (Head March 23rd, 1892.) 



Bones of the feet of the Sauropodous Dinosaurs of the Wealden are 

 of such rare occurrence that all specimens seem worth record, even 

 in cases where we are unable to determine definitely the species to 

 which they pertain. The specimens of these bones in the British 

 Museum hitherto recorded comprise one huge claw-phalange, to- 

 gether with another associated bone of the foot (No. E. 986) pro- 

 yisionally referred to Uoplosaurus armntus^ ', and several associated 

 metatarsals and phalangeals (Nos. 36559, g, and R. 206) assigned to 

 Morosaurus brevis.'^ In addition to these, Prof. Seeley ^ has described 

 and figured the metapodium (? metatarsus) of a Sauropod from the 

 Cambridge Greensand under the name of AcanthopJiolis platypus, 

 showing the whole five bones in their natural position. The genus 

 AcantJiopholis, it need scarcely be observed, belongs to the Stego- 

 saurian section of the Ornithopodous Dinosaurs, and the Sauropodous 

 nature of the so-called A. platypus was subsequently admitted by 

 its describer,^ who suggested that it might prove identical with his 

 Macrurosaurus semnus^ of which the specific name ranks later. 

 Quite recently Dr. Baur ^ has observed that the type of A. platypus 

 is indistinguishable from the metatarsus of Morosaurus, of the 

 American Jurassic, to which genus it may perhaps belong. 



The two specimens forming the subject of this communication are 

 represented in the figure on the following page ; they comprise a 

 perfect metapodial (? metacarpal) bone and an associated phalangeal. 

 Both were obtained by Mr. C. Dawson from the Bone-bed of the 

 Wadhurst Clay, near Hastings ; and they were extracted from a single 

 lump of matrix by myself. These bones exhibit the articular surfaces 

 and edges in a perfect condition, and appear to have belonged to a 

 fully adult animal. The metapodial has a length of 3'4 inches, and a 

 distal transverse diameter of 2 inches. In the process of extraction 

 from the matrix the shaft was fractured, thus revealing the absence of 

 a medullary cavity. Apart from their great difference in form, the 

 solid nature of the shaft of the metapodial clearly shows that they do 

 not belong either to the Megalosaurians or to the Iguanodonts. 

 Moreover, since the specimens are unlike the corresponding bones 

 of Scelidosaurus and Stegosaurus, while they resemble such as have 

 been referred to the Sauropoda, I have no hesitation in regarding 

 them as belonging to that group. 



Compared with the figures of the type of the so-called AcantTio- 

 pJiolis platypus, diud. remembering that the extremities of these bones 

 have been much worn, the metapodial under consideration accords 

 so closely in general contour with the third or median bone of that 



^ Cat. Foss. Eept. B. M. pt. i. p. 151, as Ornithopsis Hulkei; see pt. iv. 

 p. 243. 



^ Ihid. pt. i. pp. 140, 141 , as Cetiosaurus hrevis ; see pt, iv. p. 237. 

 3 Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 4, vol. viii. (1871) p. 305, j)l. vii. 

 * Quart. Journ. Geo!. Soc. vol. xxxii. (1876) p. 444. 

 ^ ' American Nat.' for 1891, p. 452, note. 



