532 



THE WONDERS OF GEOLOGY. Lect. V. 



reptiles, as the scales, teeth, and bones of fishes, and their 

 eoprolites, are frequently met with in the abdominal 

 cavity.* These facts show that the carcasses of these 

 animals were imbedded in the soft mud at the bottom of 

 the sea, without having been exposed to the action of 

 the billows, or to long transport by rivers or currents. 

 The Wealden fossils present a striking contrast in this 

 respect ; for although bones of plesiosauri are by no means 

 uncommon in that formation, no two have ever been ob- 

 served in contact, and all the specimens that have come 

 under my observation are water-worn. 



In the Kimmeridge Clay, the relics of a very large marine 

 lizard allied to the Plesiosaurians, but distinguished by cer- 

 tain osteological characters, have been met with : this extinct 

 reptile is named Pliosaurus. Bones of Flying-Dragons, or 

 Pterodactyles, occur more abundantly in the Oolite and Lias 

 than in any other series of deposits ; eleven species have 

 been found in the Solenhofen quarries alone. In the Stones- 

 field slate (Ptero dactylics Bucklandi), and in the Lias of 

 Lyme Regis (P. macronyx), bones of one species, and a 

 considerable part of the skeleton of another, have been 

 discovered. The Mammalians of Stonesfield have already 

 been noticed (ante, p. 510). 



The general character of the Jurassic or Oolitic formation, 

 as derived from its organic remains, is therefore that of a 

 series of oceanic deposits, accumulated in a depression of 

 great extent, through a period of immense duration. The 

 sea teemed with marine animals, belonging to genera and 

 species most of which became extinct before the Tertiary 

 epoch ; and with these were associated multitudes of pecu- 

 liar Reptiles. The dry land, as attested by the remains 

 drifted into the basin of the sea, was inhabited by numerous 

 reptiles, and a few marsupial mammalia, and was clothed 

 with tree-ferns, palms, cycadeous plants, and coniferous trees. 



* Consult Dr. Buckland's Bridgwater Essay. 



