118 ON THE STAGONOLEPIS ROBERTSONI AND THE 
exist. I am obliged to take this opportunity of distinctly asserting 
that the only two coracoids of Stagonolepis which have been dis- 
covered have been sent to me direct from Elgin, that J 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 Reptile, Wyperodapedon Gordonz, which | 
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 footmarks to S¢tagonolepis—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 5tratigraphical proof before admitting the 
palzozoic age of the beds in which it occurs. 
Finally, I may add, that Sagonolepis 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 Note 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 bollensis is preceded by a valuable essay on 
the organization of recent Crocodi/ia, 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 
apparently that of a /acare) is found in all recent Crocodiles. I 
can find no reference to the fact that the great majority of living 
Crocodilta are wholly devoid not only of ventral bony armour, but of 
articulated dorsal scutes—July 5, 1859. T. H. H. 
