THE MEDITERRANEAN NATURALIST 
177 
lias, hitherto, been made to carry out this sugges- 
tion, and as no record of this interesting specimen 
exists, I have therefore visited the Malta Museum 
wherein the fossil is now deposited, and have 
obtained the following particulars relating to it. 
The specimen is oblong in shape, and measures 
22§ inches from the snout to the 10th dorsal ver- 
tebra. It consists of a fragment of the head, and 
a portion of the vertebral column, the latter of 
which extends as far as the 10th dorsal. 
The vertebrae are circular in shape, and they 
form a continuous chain which curves slightly in 
a downward direction. They are well ossified, 
but, unfortunately, most of them have been badly 
developed from the matrix, and their character- 
istic features have thereby been obliterated. The 
1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th are, however, in an excellent 
state of preservation; and the 10th vertebra dis- 
tinctly shows deep lateral pits longitudinally ex- 
tended. Each vertebra is bi-concave, and its body 
is somewhat depressed towards the middle. Com- 
pared with the posterior diameter, the antero- 
posterior diameter is much the shorter of the two. 
Posterior diameter of the 6th dorsal vertebra... 
l£ inches. 
Antero-posterior of the 6th dorsal vertebra... 
| of an inch. 
Posterior diameter of the 10th dorsal vertebra... 
of an inch. 
Antero-posterior of the 10th dorsal vertebra... 
§ of an inch. 
The average diameter of the posterior extremi- 
ties is If inches. 
Above and below each of the vertebrae exhibits 
a broad protuberance, which forms the base of a 
long, sword-shaped spine, the flattened sides of 
which lie in a plane with the vertebral column, 
while the thin edges lie in the direction of the 
articular facets. These spines are anchylosecl with 
the neural and haemal arches of the vertebrae. They 
average three inches in length, and half an inch in 
width. The neural spines spring obliquely upwards 
and backwards from the centrum, while those on 
the haemal side spring obliquely downwards and 
backwards, and gradually become shorter and 
more slender as the caudal extremity is ap- 
proached. 
There are m traces of scales. 
Considerable portions of the bones of the head 
have been preserved in the limestone matrix, but 
most of them are so crushed as to be quite unreco- 
gnizable. 
A fragment of the left branch of the lower jaw, 
containing a tooth which is similar in every 
respect to those that formed the subject of Prof. 
Owen’s paper, is intact, and thus affords an oppor- 
tunity for the comparison of the two fossils. 
Geological Magazine. 
Some Strange Plants. 
The line between the vegetable and animal 
kingdoms is very narrowly drawn. Indeed, as all 
naturalists are aware, there are certain forms of 
lowly life which it is difficult to assign to either 
kingdom, presenting as they do features which, 
taken singly, might cause the one to be identified 
now with one and now with the other. But- even 
in more highly developed forms there are instances 
of plants whose carnivorous habits seem to suggest 
some survival of a former animal instinct, or at 
least some strange adaptation to circumstances of 
a nature entirely opposed to those by which the 
great bulk of plant life is affected. 
The Liverpool Post contains a description of an 
adventure that befel a naturalist who has recently 
returned from Central America. This gentleman 
after two years study of the botany of that region, 
has brought with him a story which, if it be any- 
thing more than a ‘‘traveller’s tale,” may well 
make us thankful that the woods of our temperate 
clime contain nothing more inimical to the inte- 
grity of the human form than burrs and briars. 
He tells of a strange plant which he found in 
one of the swamps surrounding the Nicaragua 
lake. While hunting for specimens he heard his 
dog cry out, as if in agony, from a distance. Run- 
ning to the spot whence the animal’s cries came, 
Mr. Dunstan found him enveloped in a perfect 
network of what seemed to be a fine, rope- like 
tissue of roots and fibres. The plant or vine 
seemed composed entirely of bare, interlacing 
stems, resembling more than anything else the 
branches of a weeping w illow denuded of its foliage, 
but of a dark, nearly black hue, and covered with, 
a thick, viscid gum that exuded from the pores. 
Drawing h;s knife Mr. Dunstan attempted to cut 
