416 



THE WONDERS OF GEOLOGY. Lect. IV. 



crocodilians are covered ; * and certain extinct reptiles 

 appear to have had these scutes even more largely deve- 

 loped. As the fossil teeth and dermal bones were commonly 

 associated together, I was led to suppose that they might 

 belong to the same species; an opinion which was con- 

 firmed a few years since, by the discovery, in the Isle of 

 Purbeck, of a considerable portion of the skeleton of a 

 Crocodile, with similar teeth and dermal appendages. 



In the summer of 1837, the workmen employed in a 

 quarry in the immediate vicinity of Swanage, had occasion 

 to split asunder a large block of the Purbeck limestone, 

 when, to their surprise, they perceived many bones and 

 teeth on the surfaces they had just exposed. As this was 

 no ordinary occurrence — for though scales of fishes, shells, 

 &c. were frequently observed in the stone, bones had never 

 before been noticed — both slabs were carefully preserved 

 by the proprietor of the quarry ; and fortunately my intel- 

 ligent friend, Robert Trotter, Esq. happening to visit 

 Swanage a short time afterwards, heard of the discovery, 

 and with that liberality and ardour for the advancement 

 of science for which he is distinguished, obtained the spe- 

 cimens, and presented them to me. I cleared away the 

 stone, so far as the brittle state of the bones would permit 

 without injury, and they are now two of the most interest- 

 ing groups of crocodilian remains that have been discovered 

 in this country. f 



On one of the slabs, a considerable portion of the left side 



* See Medals of Creation, vol. ii. p. 701. 



f Both the slabs of the Swanage specimen are now placed side by 

 side in a case in the British Museum ; in the same room with the 

 remains of the Iguanodon and other fossil saurians. There can be 

 no doubt that the entire lower jaw of this reptile might have been 

 obtained, if the quarrymen had taken the precaution of examining the 

 adjoining block of stone. In the same case are several teeth and 

 dermal bones of this species from Tilgate Forest. 



