in the Neighbourhood of Edinburgh. 195 



In the fourth place, very large disjointed bones, generally cra- 

 nial, were disclosed. These were in such a broken and unconnect- 

 ed state as to throw no light whatever upon the saurian question. 

 Some of them appeared fish-like ; and, as it was certain, from the 

 discovery of large Ichthyodorulites, that immense fish must have 

 existed, a reference was easily made. But, on the other hand, 

 certain bones were strikingly reptilian ; and, accordingly, it was 

 judged possible that the latter might have belonged to the ani- 

 mal to which the teeth had been referred. 



Such was the character of the osseous relics which had been 

 discovered. No important bones were in a state of connection, 

 or integrity, with the exception of a jaw so very minute as to be 

 comparatively microscopic, {see Plate IX. fig. 1 . ) Of this relic, 

 however, an important use was made, as will soon be shewn. 



From the foregoing statement it would appear, that, while 

 the scales, and many other bones, yielded rather ambiguous evi- 

 dence in determining an exclusively saurian question, it was the 

 character of the teeth which afforded the greatest ground of pre- 

 sumption, that saurian reptiles had actually existed during the 

 carboniferous epoch. 



But, in order to arrive at the truth, the greatest desideratum 

 was the discovery of some part of the head in which the jaws and 

 teeth would prove to be in a state of connection. It is certain 

 that two or three of such relics had been actually found, the in- 

 spection of which was never conceded to myself. M. Agassiz 

 had the opportunity of a momentary glance at one of these re- 

 mains, when he instantly conceived that it belonged rather to a 

 sauroid fish than to a reptile. This suspicion having been com- 

 municated to me, I instantly recollected, that the portion of a 

 very minute jaw, evidently belonging to one of the fry of the 

 questionable animal, was in the possession of the Royal Society 

 of Edinburgh ; and, upon placing it under a strong magnifying 



b b 2 



