316 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



could only be extracted with diiSiculty. In another part of the section he was 

 fortunate enough to find a deposit consisting of a coarse friable sand, containing 

 similar remains. In order that this might receive a more careful examination 

 than could be given to it on the spot, the whole of it, weighing about three 

 tons, was carted away to the residence of the author, at Bath, a distance of 

 twenty miles, which was then passed under his observation with the following 

 results : 



The fish-remains, which were the most abundant, were first noticed. Some 

 idea might be formed of their numbers when he stated that of the genus 

 Acrodus alone, including two species, he had extracted forty-five thousand 

 teeth from the three cubic yards under notice, and that they were even more 

 numerous than there numbers indicated., since he rejected all but the most per- 

 fect examples. Teeth of several species of 8aurict 'hys were also abundant, and 

 next to them teeth of Byhochis, with occasional spines of the latter genus. 

 Teeth and scales of Lepidotus, and scales of Gp'olepis were also numerous, as 

 also were teeth showing the presence of several other genera of fishes. With 

 the above were found a number of curious bodies, each of which was sur- 

 mounted by a depressed enamelled thorn-like spine, or tooth, in some cases 

 with points as sharp as that of a coarse needle ; these the author supposed to 

 be spinous scales belonging to several new species of fish allied to the Sqv.a- 

 loraia, and that to the same genus were to be referred a number of minute 

 hair-like spines, with flattened fluted sides, found in the same deposit. There 

 were also present specimens hitherto supposed to be teeth, and for which 

 Agassiz had created the genus Ctenopfychius, but which the author was rather 

 disposed to consider, like those previously referred to, to be the outer scales of 

 a fish allied to the Squaloraia. It was remarked that as the drift must have 

 been transported from some distance, delicate organisms could scarcely be ex- 

 pected, but, notwithstanding, it contained some most minute fish-jaws and 

 palates, of which the author had, perfect or otherwise, one hundred and thirty 

 examples. These v/ere from the eiglith to a quarter of an inch in length, and 

 within this small compass some specimens possessed from thirty to forty teeth. 

 In one palate he had reckoned as many as seventy-four in position, and there 

 were spaces from which sixteen more had disappeared, so that in this tiny 

 specimen there had been ninety teeth. 



Of the order Eeptilia there were probably eight or nine genera, consisting of 

 detached teeth, scutes, vertebree, ribs, and articulated bones. Amongst these 

 he had found the flat crushing teeth of Flacodus, a discovery of interest, for 

 hitherto this reptile had only been found in the Muschelkalk of Germany, a 

 zone of rocks hitherto considered wanting in this country, but which in its 

 fauna was represented by the above reptile. 



But by far the most important remains in this deposit were indications of 

 the existence of Triassic mammalia. Two little teeth of the Microlestes had 

 some years before been discovered in Germany, and were the only traces of this 

 hii^Ii oi-dcr in beds older than the Stonesfield Slate. The author^s minute re- 

 searches had brought to light fifteen molar teeth, either identical with, or 

 nearly allied to, the Microlestes, and also five incisor teeth, evidently belonging 

 1o more than one species. A very small doublc-fanged tooth, not unlike the 

 oolii ic Spr/Iacotherhim, proved the presence of anotlier genus, and a fragment of 

 a tooth, consisting of a single fang, with a small part of the crown attached, a 

 third oiMius, larger in size than the Microlestes. Three vertebrae belonging to 

 an annual smaller than any existing mammal had also been found. The author 

 interred that if twonly-live teeth and vertebrae, belonging to three or four 

 genera of mannnalia, wore to be found within the space occupied by three 

 cubic yards of c^u•th, that portion of the globe which was then diy hind, and 

 whence the material was in part derive'd, was probably inhabited at that 



