part 1J OF THE TIPPER CRETACEOUS IN" HUNGARY. 103 



regions, but is always very great. In the north of Transylvania, 

 where a band of freshwater limestone is intercalated near the top 

 of the Danian, it attains some 3700 to 4500 feet in thickness (36) ; 

 on the western margin of the Transylvanian basin, where the 

 Danian rests in some places transgressively on the crystalline rocks 

 forming the rim of that basin, its thickness is but 900 feet (36) ; 

 in Southern Transylvania it attains (in a geosyncline at the northern 

 base of the Transylvanian Alps) a thickness of at least 6000 feet 

 (53). At many places in Transylvania, especially in the north 

 and east, the Danian is covered by Middle Eocene strata (36) ; in 

 the south, however, in the neighbourhood of Hatszeg, the Middle 

 Eocene is missing, and younger Kainozoic (Miocene and Upper 

 Oligocene layers) rest upon it (21, 53). 



II. The Vertebrate Fauna. 



From several good exposures in the country round Hatszeg 

 numerous vertebrate remains were collected, and, although a 

 detailed study will probably bring to light further quite interesting 

 features, the most important characters of the fauna can already 

 be fixed. 



This fauna comprises Pterosauria, birds, tortoises, crocodiles, and 

 several Dinosaurs (37). The birds, tortoises, crocodiles, and some 

 of the Dinosaurs, such as Titanosaurus, Orihomerus, and Shabd- 

 odon, seem to have lived in marshes and lakes in the deposits of 

 which they are found. The Pterosaurians and some other Dino- 

 saurs (such as Struthiosaurus and ' Mec/alosaurus'') became 

 accidentally buried in these sediments (53). 



Unfortunately, the bird-remains (1) and those of the Theropoda 

 (59) are in so poor a state of preservation that they do not throw 

 much light on the systematic position of the animals to which 

 they belonged, and the same statement holds good for the Ptero- 

 saurs ; the latter seem, however, to be related to the Ornitho- 

 cheiridse, especially to Ornithodesmus (74). They are, therefore, 

 more primitive than the American Pteranodontidse. 



The crocodilian remains are better preserved than the remains 

 of the animals hitherto mentioned (59), for in the Foldtani 

 Intezet (Hungarian Geological Institute) at Budapest a nearly 

 complete skeleton is preserved, which will prove to be, when 

 mounted, the finest known skeleton of a true Mesozoic crocodilian 

 (69, 70, 73). Preliminary study, however, has failed to reveal any 

 remarkable features by which this animal differs from existing 

 forms. Perhaps it represents a new genus, but otherwise this 

 specimen seems to be of little palfeontological importance. It is 

 identical with Crocodilus ajfuvelensis Matheron (50). In con- 

 trast to this, the Dinosaurs and tortoises of the Transylvanian 

 Cretaceous exhibit many remarkable features. In order to show 

 these features clearly, the representatives of each group must be 

 considered separately, and I think it advisable to begin with the 

 tortoises. 



