Megalosaurus
Megalosaurus, Bkld.—the True Dinosaurian Cha Racters Of This Reptile Have Been Established By The Discovery Of The Sacrum, Which Consists Of Five Vertebrae, Interlocked By The Alternating Position Of Neural Arch And Centrum. The Articular Surfaces Of The Free Vertebrae Are Nearly Fiat ; The Neural Arch Develops A Platform ...
Micr
Micr Oustes.—the Mammalian Teeth From German And English Trias Indicate A Very Small Insectivorous Quad Ruped, To Which The Above Generic Name Was Given By Professor Plieninger. The German Specimens Were Discovered In 1847 In A Bone Breccia At Diegerloch, About Two Miles From Stutt Gardt, The Geological Relations Of ...
Nothosaurus
Nothosaurus, Stet. Sp. Nothosaurus Miinster.—in Fig. 69 Is Given An Analysis Of The Chief Charac Ters As Yet Ascertained Of The Species Which May Be Regarded As The Type Of Its Family ; By Comparing This Diagram With That Of The Archegosaluruz (fig. 65), The Advance In The Orga Nization ...
Ophidia
Ophidia. (slow-worm, ,serpents.) Very Numerous, Proccelian, With A Single Transverse Process On Each Side ; No Sacrum ; No Visible Limbs. The Order Ophidia, As It Is Characterized In The System Of •cuvier, Requires To Be Divided Into Two Sections, According To The Nature Of The Food, And The Consequent ...
Order
Order Il—holocephall (chimaroid Fishes.) Char.—jaws Bony, Traversed And Encased By Dental Plates ; Endo-skeleton Cartilaginous ; Exo-skeleton As Placoid Gran Ules ; Most Of The Fins With A Strong Spine For The First Ray ; Ventrals Abdominal ; Gills Laminated, Attached By Their Margins ; A Single External Gill Aperture. ...
Oudenodon
Oudenodon, Bain. Sp. 0 Udenodon Fossils On Which The Above Genus And Species Are Founded Are From A Bluish Argillo-ferru Ginous Limestone In South Africa, And Form Part Of A Collection Transmitted To The British Museum By A. G. Bain, Esq. One Portion Of The Fossil Skull Includes All That ...
Ow Triconodon
Triconodon, Ow. Sp. Triconodon Mordaz.—this Name Is Proposed For A Small Zoophagous Mammal, Whose Generic Distinction Is Shown By The Shape Of The Crowns Of The Molar Teeth Of The Lower Jaw, Which Consist Of Three Nearly Equal Cones On The Same Longi Tudinal Row, The Middle One Being Very ...
Palaotheriitm
Palaothe.riitm, Cuv.—this Extinct Genus Of Quad Ruped Was Restored (fig. 98) By Cuvier Through A Series Of Admirably Instructive Steps, Ultimately Verified By A Complete Series Of Fossils, Obtained Chiefly From The Upper Eocene Ous Formation At Montmartre And Other Parts Of France. The Restoration Of The Polceotheriurn (eocene Gyps). ...
Paleontology
Paleontology. These Conditions Of Life, Palaeontology Demonstrates That Life Has Been Enjoyed During The Same Countless Thousands Of Years; And That With Life, From The Beginning, There Has Been Death. The Earliest Testimony Of The Living Thing, Whether Coral, Crust, Or Shell, In The Oldest Fossiliferous Rock, Is At The ...
Placodus
Placodus. The Cranial Structure In This Genus Of Muschelkalk Reptile Is Closely Similar To That In Simosaurus, But Its Proportions Are Different ; It Is As Broad As Long ; The Greatest Breadth Being Behind, Whence The Sides Converge To An Obtuse Muzzle ; The Entire Figure Viewed From Above ...
Placoganoidei
Placoganoidei. Genus Pterichthys (fig. 43).—the Head And The Anterior Half Of The Trunk Are Defended By Ganoid Plates----ti. E., Plates Composed Of A Hard Bone Coated With Enamel ; Those Of The Trunk Forming A Buckler Composed Of A Back Plate (fig. 43) And Breast-plate (fig. 44), Articulated Together At ...
Plagiaulax
Plagiaulax, * Fr.—the Most Remarkable Of Mr. Beccles' Discoveries In The Above Formation Are The Mammalian Jaws Indicative Of The Genus Above Named, Of Which Two Species Have Been Determined By Dr. Falconer. Sp. Plagiaulax Becclesii, Fr.—two Specimens Exemplified The Shape And Pro Portions Of The Entire Jaw Of This ...
Plagiobtomi
Plagiobtomi. (sharka, Rap.) Char.—endo-skeleton Cartilaginous Or Partially Ossified ; Exo Skeleton Placoid ; Gills Fixed With Five Or More Gill Apertures ; No Swim-bladder ; Scapular Arch Detached From The Head ; Ventrals Abdominal ; Intestine With Spiral Valve.* The Earliest Good Evidence Which Has Been Obtained Of A Vertebrate ...
Plesiosaurus
Plesiosaurus. The Discovery Of This Genus Forms One Of The Most Important Additions That Geology Has Made To Comparative Anatomy. Baron Cuvier Deemed The Structure Of The Plesiosaur "to Have Been The Most Singular, And Its Cha Racters The Most Anomalous That Had Been Discovered Amid The Ruins Of A ...
Pleu
Pleu Etonectime. (flat-fishea.) In This Family The Symmetrical Form Is Lost, And Both Eyes Are On One Side Of The Head. Species Of Still Existing Genera Of This Much-modified Family Have Been Found In Tertiary Deposits. The Little Turbot (rhombusminintus, E. G., Fig. 63) Occurs In The Tertiary Deposits Of ...
Pliolophus
Pliolophus, Ow.—the Most Complete And Instruc Tive Example Of A Mammal From The Next Overlying Division Of The Eocene Tertiaries, Viz., The " London Clay," Is That Which The Writer Has Described T Under The Name Of Pliolophws Vulpi Ceps. It Is A Hoofed Herbivore, But Presents A Dentition Not ...
Pliosaurus
Pliosaurus, Ow.-m. Von Meyer Regards The Num Ber Of Cervical Vertebrae And The Length Of Neck As Characters Of Prime Importance In The Classification Of Reptilia, And Founds Thereon His Order Called Macrotrachtlen, In Which He Includes Simosaurus, Pistosaurus, And Nothosaurus, With Plesiosaurus. No Doubt The Number Of Vertebrae In ...
Proccelia
Proccelia. The Best And Most Readily Recognizable Characters By Which The Existing Crocodilians Are Grouped In Appropriate Genera Are Derived From Modifications Of The Dental System. In The Caimans (genus Alligator) The Teeth Vary In Number From :4: To ; The Fourth Tooth Of The Lower Jaw Or Canine, Is ...
Protichnites
Protichnites. Protizhnites Septem-notatue The Subject So Named Consists Of A Series Of Well-defined Impressions, Continued In Regular Succession Along An Extent Of 4 Feet ; And Traceable With An Inferior Degree Of Definition, Along A Further Extent Of Upwards Of 2 Feet. In The Extent Of 4 Feet There Are ...
Protorosaurus
Protorosaurus, Von. Meyer. Sp. Protorosaurus Speneri, Von M.—the First Fossil Saurian' On Record Is That Which Marks The Circumstance By Its Generic Name, And Honours Its Describer By The Specific One. The Slab Of " Copper-slate" From The Permian Beds Of Eisenach In Thuringia, Displaying, Either In Fossils Or Impressions, ...
Pterosauria
Pterosauria. Char.—pectoral Members, By The Elongation Of The Anti Brachium And Fifth Digit, Adapted For Flight. Vertebre Proccelian ; Those Of The Neck Very Large, Not Exceeding Eight In Number ; Those Of The Pelvis Few And Small. Most Of The Bones Pneumatic. Head Large ; Jaws Long, And Armed ...
Pycnodonteb
Pycnodonteb. The Name Of This Group Of Ganoid Fishes Refers To The Blunt Rounded Form Of The Greater Proportion Of The Teeth, Especially Those Attached To The Palate And Hind Alveolar Part Of The Lnwar Inar • Tha Anterior Teeth Are Small And Sub-prehen Sile ; But The Whole Dentition ...
Ramphorhynchus
Ramphorhynchus, Von Meyer.—in This Genus The Fore Part Of Each Jaw Is Without Teeth, And May Have Been Encased By A Horny Beak, But Behind The Edentulous Pro Duction There Are Four Or Five Large And Long Teeth, Fol Lowed By Several Smaller Ones. The Tail Is Long, Stiff, And ...
Rhinoceros
Rhinoceros, L.—the Rhinoceros, Like The Elephant, Was Represented In Pliocene And Pleistocene Times, In Tempe Rate And Northern Latitudes Of Asia And Europe, By Extinct Species. One (rhinoceros Leptorhinus) Associated With The Hippopotamus Major In Fresh-water Pliocene Deposits ; Another (r. Tichorrhinus) With The Mammoth In Pleistocene Beds And Drift. ...
Rhizopoda
Rhizopoda. The Organisms Of This Class Are Small And For The Most Part Of Microscopic Minuteness, Of A Simple Gelatinous Structure, Commonly Protected By A Shell. The Most Simple Rhizopods, Called Amoeba, Present A Globular Form When Contracted, But Can Extend Portions Of Their Substance (" Sar Code") Like Roots, ...
Rhynchosaurus
Rhynchosaurus, Ow. Sp. Rhynchosaurus Articeps, Fossils In Which The Above Order, Genus, And Species Of Reptile Have Been Based Are From The New Red Sandstone (trigs) Of Shropshire. They Occur At The Grinsill Quarries, Near Shrewsbury, In A Fine Grained Sandstone, And Also In A Coarse Burr-sandstone ; In The ...
Rodentia
Rodentia. This Order Includes An Extensive Series Of Small Mam Mals In Which A Single Pair Of Large, Curved, Ever-growing Incisors In Each Jaw Is Associated With Many Other Peculia Rities Of Structure. These Incisors (fig. I 33, Sepa Rated By A Wide Interval From A Short Series Of Molars, ...
Ruminantia
Ruminantia. Of Other Forms Of Beasts Subsisting On The Vegetable Pro Ductions Of The Earth, And More Akin To Actual European Her Bivore, There Co-existed, In Europe, With The Now Exotic Genera Elephas, Rhinoceros, Hippopotamus, Etc., A Vast As Semblage Of Species, Nearly All Of Which Have Passed Away. The ...
Spalacotherium
Spalacotherium, Ow.—the Next Stratum Overlying The Older Oolites In Which Mammalian Remains Have Been Detected, Is A Member Of The Newest Oolitic Series At Purbeck, Dorsetshire, Called The " Marly " Or " Dirt-bed." In A Series Of Fossils Discovered There By Mr. W. R Brodie, And Transmitted For Determination ...
Squalide
Squalide. (sharks.) The Well-marked, Saw-shaped Tooth (fig. 32), So Closely Re Sembles The Lower Jaw-teeth Of The Sharks, Called " Grisets " By The French (notidanus, Cuv.), As To Be Referred To That Genus By Agassiz. Such Teeth Nevertheless Occur In Strata Of Oolitic Age (notidanus Miinsteri, Ag., Fig. 32). ...
Tanystropheus
Tanystropheus. Sp. Tanystrophceus Conspicuus, H. Von Meyer.—certain Long, Slender, Hollow Bones (fig. 70, A), From The German Muschel Kalk, Were Referred By Count Miinster To The Class .reptilia, Under The Name Of Macroscelosaurus, Under The Impression That They Were Bones Of The Limbs. H. Von Meyer Subsequently, In More Perfect ...
Tetrabranchiata
Tetrabranchiata. (nautikdd Cephakipoda.) Of The Lower Group Of Cephalopods, Possessing Chambered Shells Similar To The Pearly Nautili, There Are 1400 Extinct Species, Belonging To Above 30 Genera, While 3 Or 4 Species Alone Exist In Modern Seas. These Fossils Resemble The Nauti Lus, And Differ From The Dibranchiate Spiry,la In ...
Thecodontosaurus
Thecodontosaurus. Sp. Thecodontosaurus Antiquus.—in 1836 Certain Reptilian Remains From The "dolomitic Conglomerate" At Redland, Near Bristol, Were Described By Messrs. Riley And The Matrix Has Been Referred To The Permian Period ; It Is Now Thought By Some Good Observers To Be Not Older Than The T Riassic. The Teeth ...
Trilobites
Trilobites. Char.—trunk Segments Trilobed ; Sessile Compound Eyes In Most ; Limbs Aborted. The Great Family Of Trilobites Is Entirely Confined To The Paheozoic Age ; None Are Found Even In The Upper Coal Measures Or Permian System. Above 400 Species Have Been Described, And Grouped In 50 Genera. Of ...
Vertebrata
Vertebrata. There Is An Enormous Series Of Subaqueous Sediment, Originally Composed Of Mud, Sand, Or Pebbles, The Successive Bottoms Of A Former Sea, Derived From Pre-existing Rocks, Which Has Not Undergone Any Change From Heat, And In Which No Trace Of Organic Life Has Yet Been Detected. These Non Fossiliferous, ...