Lign. 234.
Dicynodon testudiceps. (Owen.)
(Geol. Trans. 2d ser. vol. vii. pl. v. figs. 3 & 4.)
| Fig. | 1.— | Longitudinal section of the fang of the tooth implanted in its socket: 1/3 nat. size. |
| 1a.— | Transverse section of the tooth. |
A few sub-biconcave vertebræ and other undetermined bones were associated with these remains; and many similar crania, both with and without the tusks, and other cranial remains with jaws armed with numerous teeth, as well as indications of smaller reptiles, form part of Mr. Bain’s collections now in the National Museum, awaiting the skilful manipulation of the experienced workman to clear away their hard investing matrix, and the scientific examination of the palæontologist to elucidate their zoological characters.
Telerpeton Elginense (Mantell). Ligns. [235] and [236].—This is the oldest Reptile yet known.[671] Its remains consist of the impression[672] of a skeleton of a small, four-footed, vertebrate animal, on a block of the Old Red or Devonian Sandstone from Spynie, near Elgin, North Britain. It was obtained by Mr. Patrick Duff, in 1851; and a detailed description of this unique fossil, with an illustrative plate, will be found in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, vol. viii. pp. 100, et seq.; together with a notice by Captain Brickenden of the geology of the district where the specimen was found, and a paper on some fossil foot-prints,[673] discovered by this geologist in the same rock.
[671] The word Telerpeton simply denotes the remote antiquity of this Devonian reptile of Scotland, τἡλε (far off), ἑρπετον (reptile); the trivial name, Elginense, records the locality from whence it was obtained.
[672] A model of this most delicate and valuable impression has been deposited in the palæontological gallery of the British Museum.
[673] A general notice of the fossil foot-prints, or Ichnolites, that have been referred to Reptiles will be given at a subsequent page of this chapter.
By reference to [Lign. 235], it will be seen that the cranium is almost wholly lost; a few conical teeth, mostly of a very small size, were observed in connexion with the vestige of the jaws. The spinal column is represented by the impressions of about thirty-six vertebræ, eleven or twelve of which belong to its caudal portion. The vertebræ present some faint evidence of their possessing a biconcave form; the length of one of the dorsal vertebræ is 1/9th of an inch. There are twenty-one pairs of long slender ribs. The pectoral arch and anterior extremities have nearly disappeared in the fracture of the stone. The pelvis and sacrum are very obscure; the latter is formed probably of two anchylosed vertebra;. The thigh-bones are somewhat curved; the tibia is gently bowed, and expanded at each extremity. There are no remains of the feet.