452 ACCOUNT OF A FOSSIL SKELETON 



even this has heen much compressed, and shatter- 

 ed ; the sockets for the eyes (D D,J being flatten- 

 ed, and the jaws distorted ; so that the upper jaw 

 projects over the under, on the right side ; leaving 

 part of the inner surface of the under jaw exposed 

 on the left side, at C. The teeth, which are near- 

 ly conical, but swell a little in the middle, and have 

 a gentle bend inwards, have been almost all broken 

 or displaced ; so that they are lying in various posi- 

 tions, and a few of them are even found beneath the 

 cranium, in the cavity between the two diverging 

 sides of the lower jaw, immediately under that part 

 of the upper jaw marked N. The head is three 

 feet long, and tapers towards the anterior extremity 

 in the form of a bird's beak, being near fourteen 

 inches broad at the thickest part; while the snout, 

 for a considerable space, would measure only about 

 three inches in breadth, were the one jaw laid di- 

 rectly over the other. 



The rest of the skeleton consists of portions of the 

 spine, with a few broken and mutilated ribs. One 

 portion, H, K, I, consisting of twenty-one vertebrae, 

 and extending two feet in length, was found behind 

 the cranium, nearly in the natural position, but 

 twisted to one side ; so that the spinal processes K, 

 instead of rising perpendicularly, appear in a hori- 

 zontal position'on the right side. Some of the verte- 

 brae at H, were separated in taking up the skeleton ; 

 and as the head was removed before any other part 

 was discovered, it is uncertain whether the curious 



