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XII. On the Fossil Remains of Turtles, discovet'ed in the Chalk Formation of the 
South-east of England. By Gideon Algernon Mantell, Esq., LL.D., F.R.S., 
F.L.S., F.G.S., fyc. 
Received May 11, — Read May 20, 1841. 
Although no species of the order Testudinata now inhabits the British Isles, 
and the Turtles and Tortoises admitted into the fauna of Great Britain by modern 
naturalists are only individuals which have strayed or been drifted from other lati- 
tudes, the fossil remains of Chelonian Reptiles which occur in the strata of this country 
afford indisputable evidence, that in very remote periods, the seas, rivers, and lands 
of Europe, swarmed with marine, lacustrine, and terrestrial forms of this family. 
It is well known that the earliest indications of the presence of reptiles on this 
planet, are the impressions of the feet of Turtles on the rocks of the new red sand- 
stone formation. These foot-marks have been detected in Dumfriesshire, at Stourton 
quarry near Liverpool, and in various places in Germany, and are supposed to be 
referable to land and lacustrine species ; but no decided remains of Turtles have 
been found in strata antecedent to the muschelkalk. At Luneville, in deposits of 
this epoch, bones and fragments of the carapace or dorsal shield of an extinct species 
have been observed. 
In the oolite formation, the remains of Testudinata occur more abundantly. 
M. Cuvier has described two large extinct species of Einys, from the Jura limestone 
at Soleure, and bones of the same genus from Solenhofen. Traces of similar fossils 
exist in the Stonesfield slate, and in the Bath oolite. 
The Purbeck limestone abounds in remains of these reptiles, and they also occur 
in considerable abundance in the other divisions of the Wealden. I have collected 
from the strata of Tilgate Forest, bones and portions of the carapace and plastron of 
several species, belonging to three subdivisions of the order, namely, Chelonia, 
Emys, and Trionyx*. These relics of the contemporaries of the colossal reptiles, 
which formed the subject of a memoir I had lately the honour to lay before the Royal 
Society, occur for the most part in a very mutilated state, the specimens consisting 
of rolled fragments of bones, particularly of the expanded ribs. There are, however, 
a few examples which illustrate the characters and relations of the originals. Some 
of the bones and plates from Tilgate Forest, were determined by M. Cuvier to belong 
to a remarkably flat Emys, identical with a species discovered by M. Hugi in the 
Jura limestone at Soleure'}'. Other examples, consisting of ribs with a smooth 
* Wonders of Geology, vol. i. p. 384. f Ossemens Fossiles, tom. v. p. 230. 
