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representations of tlie former; and described the general character of this enormous 
Lizard, which once roamed through the primeval forests that clothed the southern 
regions of our island. 
The Hyloeosaurus (Lizard-of-the-Weald) is another genus discovered by Mr. 
Mantell, and supposed to have been between twenty and thirty feet in length, 
and to have been furnished with a large erectile fringe, supported by bony spines, 
seventeen inches in length, which rose from the centre of its back. The Mega- 
losaurus, discovered in the Stonesfield slate, was a terrestrial Carnivorous reptile, 
intermediate in its organization between the Crocodiles and Monitors. This 
creature is supposed to have attained fifty feet in length, and to have waged 
a fierce war on the Plesiosauri , Crocodilidce , and other Reptilia: the colossal 
character of the skeleton, and the formidable structure of the sabre-shaped teeth 
which armed its jaws, were demonstrated, and its organization was shown to have 
been well adapted to its sanguinary habits. 
Mr. Weight’s fourth lecture on Fossil Organic Remains was delivered on Feb, 
27, in the lecture-room of the Institution, before a numerous audience. 
In resuming the consideration of Fossil Reptiles Mr. Wright glanced briefly 
at the leading facts which he had explained in his last lecture, regarding the 
adaptation of their structure to their habits ; he next entered upon the history of 
the Flying Saurians, which he described as the most singular forms of animal life 
yet discovered among the ruins of the ancient earth. “ To mould and adapt the 
typical structure of reptiles,” said he, “ into a form capable of soaring through 
the higher regions of the air, centres such a variety of contrivances, and produces 
a form so anomalous, that when the nearly-perfect skeleton of a Pterodactyl© 
(or wing-toed animal) was • exhumed from the calcareous cemetery which had 
enshrouded it for ages, the most learned naturalists were at a loss to decide to 
what class it in reality belonged; thus, Blumenbach regarded it as a bird, and 
Soemmering as a Bat ; but the structure of its dentiferous jaws, the form of its 
breast-bone and scapular arch, with the organization of its members, alike showed 
that it was a reptile which had once winged its way through the liquid air. The 
remains of six species have been found in the lithographic limestone of Aichstadt 
and Solenhofen, and two species in the lias of Lyme Regis and the Stonesfield slate 
near Oxford.” The lecturer detailed the wonderful mechanism displayed in the 
skeletons of these reptiles, and drew an interesting comparison between them 
and the skeletons of other vertebrated animals destined for an aerial life, as the 
Bats, birds, Flying-dragons, and Flying-fishes. It appears, from Mr Wright’s 
description, that the Pterodactyle differs from all other animals, either living or 
extinct, in the compound character of its anterior members,—the inner fingers 
of the hand being armed with sharp claws, like other Lizards ; whilst the outer 
finger is enormously developed,—its length equalling that of the entire body. 
