§29. FOSSIL OPHIDIANS AND BATRACHIANS. 579 



or wing-cases, of beetles ; in the Lias, the remains of a sj 

 of the size of a Raven, were discovered by Miss Aiming.* 



Numerous thin delicate bones, evidently belonging to 

 Pterodactyles, have been found in the Wealden, and prove 

 that some species of these extraordinary creatures inhabited 

 the country of the Iguanodon. In the Chalk of Kent,, the 

 maxillary bones, with teeth in both jaws, portions of a 

 coracoid bone, several digital bones, and part of the arm- 

 bone, of a large Pterodactyle, have been obtained by Mr. 

 Bowerbank. From a comparison of these relics with the 

 specimen of P. crassirostris (Lign. 130), the Kentish species 

 appears to have been much larger, and it is estimated that 

 its expanded wings would be six feet wide ; it has, therefore, 

 been named P. glganteus.-\ Among existing reptiles, the 

 diminutive Draco volans is the only known species capable 

 of flight. 



29. Ophidians (Serpents) and Batrachiaxs (Frog- 

 tribe). — There are no vestiges in the secondary formations of 

 the Ophidians, or reptiles destitute of feet or any extremities 

 for progressive motion ; but in the tertiary, bones of a few 

 species of large^ serpents, allied to the Boa? and Pythons, 

 have been discovered. These fossils were obtained from 

 the Red Crag, at Kyson, in Suifulk, and from the London 

 Clay of the Isle of Sheppey, and Bracklesham Bay.) 

 From the size of the vertebrae, Professor Owen ascertained 

 that some of these serpents must have exceeded twenty 

 feet in length. i; Serpents of such dimensions," he observes, 

 " exist in the present day only in warm or tropical regions : 

 and their food is by no means restricted to animals of the 

 cold-blooded classes ; living birds and quadrupeds constitute 

 the favourite food of the Pythons and Boa? of similar dimen- 

 sions, which are exhibited in our menageries. "§ 



* Geological Transactions, vol. iii. page 220. This specimen is now 

 in the British Museum. f Geol. Journal, vol. ii. pi. 1. 



J Medals of Creation, p. 750. § Geol. Trans, vol. vi. p. 209. 



VOL. II. Q Q 



