Vol.  49.] 
FBOJI  THE  WEALDEN  OF  HASTINGS. 
279 
It  might  be  urged  that  the  difference  in  the  form  and  structure 
of  the  lateral  cavity  in  the  two  specimens  is  due  to  difference  in 
serial  position.  I  find,  however,  that  all  the  numerous  series  of 
dorsals  of  Hoplosaurus  in  the  British  Museum  have  the  same  general 
characters,  some  of  them  being  identical  with  the  one  here  figured. 
In  others,  however,  which  occupied  a  different  position  in  the  series, 
the  cavity  is  shorter  and  higher,  but  it  still  retains  the  same  egg- 
like  shape  with  the  vertical  septum  near  the  middle. 
It  seems,  therefore,  certain  that  the  present  specimen  cannot 
belong  to  Hoplosaurus ,  and  the  presumption,  accordingly,  is  that  it 
should  be  referred  to  the  so-called  Morosaurus  Becklesi ,  which,  as  I 
have  said,  cannot  apparently  be  separated  from  Cetiosaurus  brevis. 
As  I  have  been  unable  to  compare  Mr.  Rufford’s  specimen  with  the 
dorsals  of  the  American  Morosaurus ,  I  have  not  this  aid  in  coming 
to  a  conclusion  whether  the  English  Dinosaur  is  correctly  assigned 
to  that  genus.  If,  however,  I  am  right  in  my  conclusions,  we  are 
now  in  a  fair  way  to  be  able  to  define  tolerably  well  two  species 
of  English  Wealden  Sauropods. 
I  may  add  that  the  centrum  of  a  vertebra  from  Cuckfield  in  the 
British  Museum  (Ho.  2239), 1  figured  long  ago  by  Mantell,  is  pro¬ 
bably  a  late  dorsal  or  lumbar  of  Morosaurus. 
Discussion. 
The  Chaikhan  (Prof.  Jujdd),  in  opening  the  discussion,  insisted 
on  the  importance,  where  such  a  course  is  possible,  of  getting  rid  of 
palaeontological  names  which  had  been  given  to  different  parts  of 
the  same  organism. 
Mr.  Htjlee  endorsed  the  remarks  of  the  Chairman  respecting  the 
great  utility  of  re-assembling  under  a  smaller  number  of  genera  and 
species  the  many  genera,  etc.,  often  founded  on  scattered  bones 
belonging  frequently  to  different  skeletal  segments ;  where  such  re¬ 
duction  of  unnecessary  genera  and  species  can  be  done  with  certainty, 
the  worker  is  a  benefactor  to  palaeontology.  Mr.  Hulke  would  not 
follow  the  Author  through  all  the  details  he  had  placed  before  the 
Society,  but  he  would  say  that  vertebrae,  of  the  type  of  the  large 
specimen  exhibited  formerly  from  the  Eox  Collection,  occurred  at 
widely  different  horizons — and  in  Isle  of  Wight  horizons  so  far  apart 
and  representing  such  long  periods  of  Wealden  time — -that  he  was 
prepared  to  find  the  family  represented  by  these  vertebrae  a  very 
large  one,  comprising  several  distinct  genera  and  species. 
Prof.  Seelet  said  that,  without  further  study  of  the  specimen 
described  than  was  possible  at  the  table  of  the  Society,  he  was  not 
prepared  to  express  a  final  opinion  on  its  interpretation.  On  the 
general  question  of  the  classification  of  the  genera  which  had  been 
reviewed,  he  urged  that  the  first  need  of  science  was  accuracy  in  the 
evidence  on  which  its  truths  were  to  be  based.  He  was  not  aware 
of  any  evidence  on  which  it  could  be  predicated  that  the  humerus 
known  as  Pelorosaurus  belonged  to  an  animal  which  possessed  the 
1  Cat.  Eoss.  Eept.  Brit.  Mus.  pt.  i.  (1888)  p.  142. 
