A Manual of Elementary Geology: or, The Ancient Changes of the Earth and its Inhabitants as Illustrated by Geological MonumentsLyell, Charles, Sir
Science
A Manual of Elementary Geology: or, The Ancient Changes of the Earth and its Inhabitants as Illustrated by Geological Monuments
Lyell, Charles, Sir
Geology
_Skeleton of a reptile, allied to the Batrachians, in the Old Red Sandstone
of Morayshire._--Mr. Patrick Duff, author of a "Sketch of the Geology of
Morayshire" (Elgin, 1842), obtained recently (October, 1851), from the rock
above alluded to, the first example ever seen of the skeleton of a reptile
in the Old Red Sandstone. He has kindly allowed me to give a figure of this
fossil, of which Dr. Mantell has drawn up a detailed osteological account
for publication in the "Journal of the Geological Society of London." The
bones in this specimen have decomposed, but the natural position of almost
all of them can be seen, and nearly perfect casts of their form taken from
the hollow moulds which they have left. The matrix is a fine-grained,
whitish sandstone, with a cement of carbonate of lime. The skeleton
exhibits the general characters of the Lacertians, blended with
peculiarities that are Batrachian. Hence Dr. Mantell infers that this
reptile was either a freshwater Batrachian, resembling the Triton, or a
small terrestrial Lizard. Slight indications are visible of very minute
conical teeth. Captain Brickenden, who is well acquainted with the geology
of that part of Scotland, informs me that this fossil was found in the Hill
of Spynie, north of the town of Elgin, in a rock quarried for building, and
the same in which the Chelonian foot-prints, alluded to in the last page,
occur. The skeleton is about four and a half inches in length, but part of
the tail is concealed in the rock. Dr. Mantell has proposed for it the
generic name of Telerpeton, from +tele+, afar off, and +herpeton+, a
reptile; while the specific name Elginense commemorates the principal place
near which it was obtained.
[Illustration: Fig. 522. Natural size. _Telerpeton Elginense._ (Mantell.)
Reptile of Old Red Sandstone, from near Elgin, Morayshire.]
_Eggs of Batrachians (?) in the Old Red Sandstone of Scotland._--At page
344. of this work I have given two figures (figs. 397 and 398.) of small
groups of eggs, very common in the shales and sandstones of the "Old Red"
of Kincardineshire, Forfarshire, and Fife. I threw out as a conjecture,
that they might belong to gasteropodous mollusca, like those represented in
fig. 399. p. 345.; but Dr. Mantell, some years ago, showed me a small
bundle of the dried-up eggs of the common English frog (see fig. 524 _a_.),
black and carbonaceous, and so identical in appearance with the fossils in
question, that he suggested the probability of these last being of
Batrachian origin. The plants by which they are often accompanied (fig.
398. p. 344.), I formerly supposed to be Fuci, but Mr. Bunbury tells me
that their grass-like form agrees well with the idea of their being
freshwater, and of the family Fluviales.
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