FAUNA OF THE GOSAU FORMATION. 



677 



animal with remarkably small anterior limbs, suggesting the pro- 

 portions of a Teleosaur. I may state that this identification is 

 founded chiefly on similarity of general aspect, superficial texture, 

 condition of preservation, and colour. 



Femur. 

 (See Biinzel, pi. iii. fig. 1.) 



A pair of remarkable slender bones, somewhat crushed, and with- 

 out trace of an articular end, which, at first sight, have the aspect 

 of being portions of ribs, I am disposed to regard as the femora of 

 a small Dinosaur, having probably Teleosaurian affinities. Yet such 

 an identification is necessarily somewhat conjectural; and I would 

 therefore state that I am led to the conclusion that the bones are 

 femora (PI. XXXI. figs. 6, 7) by their slightly curved form, by 

 the widening of what I take to be the proximal end, by the 

 slightly smaller size of what would be the distal end, but chiefly 

 by a large somewhat oblique muscular scar with an elevated border 

 in its lower part, which is situate in the same position as the 

 middle trochanter on the femur of a Dinosaur, which also looks 

 inwards, backwards, and downwards. And I do not recognize so 

 many probabilities in favour of any other interpretation, especially 

 as only two bones have been found, which are right and left, 

 while nearly all the other limb-bones are similarly represented 

 by pairs. The longer specimen measures about 6 inches : it is 

 inch wide proximally ; and the trochanteroid scar reaches to 

 within 1| inch of the proximal end. At its upper limit the bone is 

 inch wide. The scar is 1^ inch long, and about ^ inch wide 

 in its greatest width in the middle (fig. 6). It causes the bone 

 to swell out in thickness, so that the internal border is much 

 thicker than the external border, which appears to be somewhat 

 compressed, and which is slightly convex in length ; while the inner 

 border of the bone, but for the trochanteroid bulge in its lower 

 part, would be slightly concave. As it is, it is divided into two con- 

 cavities. The widening of the bone at the proximal end I take to 

 indicate the base of the proximal articulation. The specimen is 

 there slightly incrusted with pyrites : but no trace is preserved of 

 either articular head or external trochanter. The long oval of the 

 lateral trochanter is defined by a ring, which is slightly elevated in 

 its proximal and internal part, and much more elevated on its distal 

 and anterior portion, which gives a width to the bone of 1-^- inch, 

 while the width at the distal end is i§- inch. The thickness of the 

 bone at the distal end may be slightly diminished by accidental 

 compression. It is inch on the inner side, which is less than 

 the thickness at the proximal end (fig. 7), where, in a corresponding 

 position, the bone measures ^jj inch. The inner border, both proxi- 

 mally and distally, is convexly rounded ; the external border appears 

 to be flattened obliquely externally in the distal half, and com- 

 pressed and rounded proximally. But as the specimen is crushed, 

 this point remains obscure. These femora are among the most re- 

 markable bones that the Gosau formation has yielded. 



