Fig. 136.—Terebratula deformis.
This analysis of the marine fauna belonging to the Néocomian formation might be carried much further, did space permit, or did it promise to be useful; but, without illustration, any further merely verbal description would be almost valueless.
Numerous Reptiles, a few Birds, among which are some “Waders,” belong to the genera of Palæornis or Cimoliornis; new Molluscs in considerable quantities, and some extremely varied Zoophytes, constitute the rich fauna of the Lower Chalk. A glance at the more important of these animals, which we only know in a few mutilated fragments, is all our space allows; they are true medals of the history of our globe, medals, it is true, half effaced by time, but which consecrate the memory of departed ages.
In the year 1832 Dr. Mantell added to the wonderful discoveries he had made in the Weald of Sussex, that of the great Lizard-of-the-woods, the hylæosaurus (ὑλη, wood, σαυρος, lizard). This discovery was made in Tilgate forest, near Cuckfield, and the animal appears to have been from twenty to thirty feet in length. The osteological characters presented by the remains of the Hylæosaurus are described by Dr. Mantell as affording another example of the blending of the Crocodilian with the Lacertian type of structure; for we have, in the pectoral arch, the scapula or omoplate of a crocodile associated with the coracoid of a lizard. Another remarkable feature in these fossils is the presence of the large angular bones or spines, which, there is reason to infer, constituted a serrated crest along the middle of the back; and the numerous small oval dermal bones which appear to have been arranged in longitudinal series along each side of the dorsal fringe.
The Megalosaurus, the earliest appearance of which is among the more ancient beds of the Liassic and Oolitic series, is again found at the base of the Cretaceous rocks. It was, as we have seen, an enormous lizard, borne upon slightly raised feet; its length exceeded forty feet, and in bulk it was equal to an elephant seven feet high.
Fig. 137.—Lower Jaw of the Megalosaurus.
