A Pictorial Atlas of Fossil Remains, consisting of coloured illustrations selected from Parkinson's "Organic remains of a former world," and Artis's "Antediluvian phytology."

Fig. 4. "Ostrea vel frons folium."—Mr. Parkinson. This species appears to be the Ostrea gregarea (?) of Sowerby, which occurs in the chlorite marl or firestone of the Lower chalk in Sussex and Kent.

Fig. 5. The fossil is the cast of an oyster-like bivalve, called Perna, (Perna quadrata, of Sowerby,) which is easily recognisable, even in casts, by the line of distinct teeth which compose the hinge. This species is abundant in the Portland limestone, particularly in the quarries around Swindon, in Wiltshire; but from the close adhesion of the outer surface of the shell to the surrounding stone, they can seldom be extracted, the casts only being readily obtainable. In the Kimmeridge clay, which lies above the Portland rock, the shells may be met with in great perfection. The best locality is near Hartwell, in Buckinghamshire, where the clay is extensively dug for the brick manufactures.

Figs. 6, & 7. Two views of a small shell of the genus Crenatula, from Bedfordshire.

Fig. 8. Portion of a very large species of Perna (Perna maxillata, of Sowerby), from tertiary strata. Piedmont. The figure shows the inner surface of the shell with part of the broad crenulated hinge.

Fig. 1. A species of Radiolites (R. agariciformis, of M. D'Orbigny), from the Cretaceous strata of France. This genus is only known in a fossil state; it belongs to the same group of shells (order, Rudistes) as the Spherulites and Hippurites: the lower valve is conical, and much larger than the upper, which is slightly convex; it is deeply channelled longitudinally.

Fig. 2. Smooth valve of a species of Corbula (Corbula gallica, of Lamarck); abundant in some of the Eocene deposits of the Paris basin.

Fig. 3. A single valve; the inner surface is shown in the figure, of a remarkable genus of shells (Crania personata, of Lamarck), frequently occurring attached to Echinites and other bodies of the white chalk.

Fig. 4. A species of Terebratula (T. diphya, of Lamarck). The shells of this genus belong to that division of mollusks termed Brachiopoda (arm-feet), from their having internally two spiral fleshy arms developed from the sides of the alimentary orifice. These organs are supported by shelly processes, curiously modified in different genera, which often occur in a fossil state. Although the fossil Terebratulæ are very numerous, the recent species are but few, and are inhabitants of the seas off Australia. They form two natural groups; in the one the shells are smooth, but perforated all over with minute openings or foramina; and these are often filled with a dark substance, which is the carbonized soft parts: in the other division the shells are plicated or furrowed, and are not foraminiferous.[62] The Spirifers, another group of Brachiopoda, have a pair of internal spiral appendages.

Fig. 5. Terebratula coarctata, of Parkinson. Bradford clay, Wilts.

Figs. 6, & 7, show the internal structure of recent Terebratulæ from New Holland. The complicated shelly apophyses which supported the arms are quite perfect.

Fig. 8. Terebratula triquetra, of Parkinson (T. diphya, of Lamarck); another example of the species, fig. 4.

Figs. 9, & 10. Different parts of the same specimen of a brachiopodous bivalve belonging to the genus Productus, so named from the lengthened or produced form of the convex valve. "This is generally filled with limestone, which conceals the internal structure; but, with a slight blow, the shell divides, when the edge of the small valve rests against the inside of the produced cylindrical part of the larger one; generally about half an inch from the top of the shell: one side of the valve, before hidden, fig. 9 a, is then exposed, as shown in fig. 10."—Mr. Parkinson.

Fig. 9. a, the beak of the upper valve; c, a cavity in the superior part of the shell.

Fig. 10. The under part of the shell; b, a depression receiving the beak of the upper valve, a.

Fig. 10*. The inner surface of another upper valve, having a longitudinal fissure. The species figured is the Productus Martini of Mr. Sowerby. From the mountain limestone of Derbyshire; in which deposit numerous examples occur.

Fig. 11. a large species of Spirifer (Spirifer striatus, of Sowerby), from the mountain limestone of Derbyshire. In this species the upper valve is broken away, and one of the large spiral apophyses is seen lying imbedded in the limestone with which the cavity of the shell is filled.

Fig. 13, is a beautiful example of part of one of the spiral appendages of the same species.

Fig. 12. "A patch of square scales of a fish from Dorsetshire."—Mr. Parkinson. These evidently belong to a Lepidoid fish (Dapedius), whose remains are common in the Lias;[63] perfect specimens are often obtained. The British Museum contains some beautiful examples of this fossil fish.

Figs. 14, & 15. A curious fossil bivalve, from the Devonian strata of the Eifel. The flat valve is shown in fig. 14; and the deep conical valve in fig. 15; a, tooth in the posterior margin; b, a part of the surface magnified, to show its cellular structure. The species is Calceola sandalina, of Lamarck.

Fig. 16. A species of Spirifer; a, medial convexity of the upper valve; b, the triangular foramen at the beak.

Fig. 17. Spirifer (S. cuspidatus, of Mr. Martin), from the Mountain limestone of Derbyshire.

Fig. 18, represents a common appearance in certain chalk flints. Although I have examined hundreds, and some in which the form was more definite than in the specimen figured, I am not able to offer any probable suggestion as to their origin, should they be organic bodies, of which there is much doubt.

Fig. 19. "Coronulites diadema."—Mr. Parkinson. Probably a species of Balanus, from a tertiary deposit.

Fig. 20. Cast of one of the shells of a bivalve (Pentamerus), from the Wenlock limestone of Dudley.

Figs. 1, & 3. "Fossil Crabs, from Sheppey."—Mr. Parkinson. The London clay of this celebrated locality contains an abundance of the fossil remains of Crustacea; and the visitor may purchase of the local collectors fossil crabs and lobsters, as readily as the recent species from the neighbouring sea. Good specimens are however rare, and command high prices. The specimens figured are two common species.

Fig. 1. Cancer Leachii, of MM. Desmarest and Brongniart.

Fig. 3. Inachus Lamarckii.

Fig. 2. Fossil Insects from the lithographic stone of Pappenheim. "a, an insect with a bifurcated caudal extremity; b, the sting which has passed out of its sheath; c, the termination in a single point."—Mr. Parkinson.

Fig. 4. "A fossil Shrimp, from Anspach."—Mr. Parkinson.

Fig. 5. "Impression of an unknown fossil."—Mr. Parkinson.

Fig. 6. "The claw of a Crab, from Maestricht, &c."—Mr. Parkinson. Claws of this kind are frequent in the soft sandy limestone of St. Peter's Mountain, but no other vestiges of the Crabs to which they belonged have been met with. The cause of this has been ascertained: the claws belong to a species of Hermit Crab (Pagurus Faujasii, of Desmarest), which like the living species had the body covered by a delicate membrane, the claws only possessing a durable crustaceous shell.[64]

Fig. 7. "An extended trilobite, from Dudley."—Mr. Parkinson. Among the organic remains of the inhabitants of the seas, in whose abysses were formed the Silurian, Devonian, and other ancient sedimentary strata, an extinct family of crustaceans, comprising numerous genera, are among the most characteristic and remarkable. The name "Trilobite," first given by Mr. Parkinson, expresses the most obvious character of the longitudinally trilobed, convex, segmented, carapace of the body, of the most common forms; but so great is the number of species, and so dissimilar the groups, now known, that the nomenclature of this class of fossils is greatly extended. In Sir R. I. Murchison's splendid work on the Silurian System, the genera and species of the formations therein comprised are beautifully illustrated. The specimen figured is an expanded specimen of the species commonly known as the Dudley Locust or Insect, (Calymene Blumenbachii), from the Wenlock limestone, Dudley.

Fig. 8. A coiled-up specimen; in this view are seen both ends of the crustaceous covering of the animal: a, "the eye enlarged."

Fig. 9, is part of the head of the same species.

Fig. 10. "A fossil Crab from the East Indies."—Mr. Parkinson. Beautiful specimens of this species of Crab (Gonoplax Latreilli, of Mr. Edwards) have been obtained from the tertiary strata of India.

Fig. 11. Another form of Trilobite (Ogygia Buchii, (Asaphus,) of the Silurian System), from the Llandeilo flagstones.

Fig. 12. "Remains of some large unknown insect."—Mr. Parkinson. This figure is not sufficiently defined to admit of interpretation.

Fig. 13, "Part of a trilobite with tuberculated head," (Calymene variolare,) from the Wenlock limestone, of Dudley.

Fig. 14. Posterior part of a trilobite with a caudal style or process, (Asaphus caudatus,) from the Wenlock shale, Dudley.

Fig. 15. A nodule of ironstone from Coalbrook Dale, in which is imbedded a small crustacean allied to the recent King Crab or Limulus; a genus abundant in the seas of India and America.[65] (Limulus trilobitoides, of Dr. Buckland. Bellinurus bellulus, of Mr. König.)

Fig. 2. The plastron, or inferior aspect of the carapace of a fossil Turtle (Chelonia breviceps), from the London Clay of the Isle of Sheppey. a, fragment of the entosternal plate; b, b, hyosternal plates; c, c, hyposternals; d, xiphisternals.[66]

Fig. 3. The cranium of the same species of Turtle, from the Isle of Sheppey. Equally rich in the remains of Chelonian reptiles, as in those of Fishes, Crustaceans, Serpents, and Mollusks, the little Island at the mouth of the Medway has yielded to the indefatigable researches of Mr. Bowerbank the most extensive series of fossil Turtles hitherto discovered in England. The various genera and species will be figured and described in a work now in progress by Professors Bell and Owen, under the auspices of the Palæontographical Society.

Fig. 4. A Serpula (S. antiquata ?), from the chalk, Sussex.

Fig. 5. A dorsal vertebra of a fossil crocodilian reptile (Steneosaurus), from the Oxford Clay of Honfleur. a, b, costal depressions.

Fig. 6. A dorsal convexo-concave vertebra of a crocodilian or gavial-like reptile (Streptospondylus), from the same locality. This figure shows the remarkable character whence the name of this genus: the convexity of the body of the vertebra (a) being situated anteriorly as in mammalia, the reverse of the position of the bones forming the vertebral column in the existing Crocodilians and Lacertians. b, the posterior concavity; c, a deep depression beneath the neural arch.

Fig. 7. Sketch of the lower jaw of an extinct gavial-like reptile (Steneosaurus): the vertebra, fig. 5, probably belongs to the same species. From Honfleur. This figure, and figs, 5, 6, and 8, are copied from Cuvier, "Annales du Muséum"

Fig. 8. A caudal vertebra of the Fossil Animal of Maestricht (Mosasaurus); a, the chevron bone or inferior spinous process (hœmapophysis), anchylosed to the middle of the body of the vertebra.

Fig. 9. Fossil scale of a ganoid fish (probably Lepidotus), from Kent.

Fig. 10. Fossil tooth of a fish of the Shark family (Notidanus microdon, of Agassiz,) from the chalk of Kent.

Fig. 11. Recent "tooth of one of the Dog-fish," (Mr. Parkinson,) for comparison with fig. 10.

Fig. 12. Tooth of an extinct group of squaloid fishes (Ptychodus decurrens, of Agassiz,) from the chalk of Kent.[67]

Fig. 13. a ctenoid (or comb-like) scale of a fish, (probably of a species of Beryx,) from the chalk of Kent.

Fig. 1. A reduced figure of the celebrated specimen of the jaws, &c. of the "Fossil Animal of Maestricht," (Mosasaurus Hoffmani,) from the cretaceous strata of St. Peter's Mountain. See "Supplementary Notes," art. Mosasaurus.

Figs. 2 to 18, are fossil teeth of various kinds of fishes, principally of the Shark and Ray families.

Fig. 2. Tooth of a shark (Lamna), from Malta.

Fig. 3. Tooth of a shark (Galeus pristodontus), chalk marl, Kent.

Fig. 4. Tooth of a Saurian, the upper and lower end imperfect: probably of a species of Steneosaurus, from Bath.

Figs. 5, & 8. Teeth of a shark (Otodus,) London Clay, Isle of Sheppey.

Fig. 6. Tooth of a fish, (Spherodus,) from the Oolite, Gloucestershire.

Fig. 7. Part of the fossil jaw with three rows of teeth of a fish, (of the Pycnoid[68] family,) from the Oolite, Gloucestershire.

Fig. 9. Tooth of a species of Lamna, from Sheppey.

Fig. 10. Tooth of a species of Hybodus,[69] Stonesfield.

Fig. 11. A very large tooth of a Shark, (Carcharias megalodon,) from the tertiary deposits of Malta.

Fig. 12. Fragment of a bone, with two teeth, probably of a species of Pycnodus.

Fig. 13. "The mandible and tooth of a recent fish (Diodon), to compare with the fossils figs. 16, and 17."—Mr. Parkinson.

Fig. 14. "Fossil palate of a fish, from Sheppey."—Mr. Parkinson. This evidently belonged to a species of Ray; possibly to the Eagle rays (Miliobatis).

Fig. 15. Tooth of a fish allied to the Cestracionts, or Port Jackson Shark, (probably of the genus Acrodus,[70]) from Bath; commonly called "Leech palates" by the quarry-men.

Figs. 16, & 17. "Fossil palates of fishes of the Ray kind, from Sheppey."—Mr. Parkinson. These appear to belong to the Miliobates (M. micropleuris, of Agassiz). Beautiful examples of these fossils have been obtained from the Bracklesham clay, on the coast of the West of Sussex. The late Frederic Dixon, Esq. of Worthing, whose untimely death is so much to be deplored, had a matchless suite of specimens from that locality.

Fig. 18. A fine specimen of a fossil tooth of a fish of an extinct genus, of which many species occur in the chalk (Ptychodus polygurus, of Agassiz). The teeth of various species of this genus of Sharks abound in the chalk of almost every part of England.[71]

Fig. 2. The antlers and skull of the Fossil Elk, of Ireland, (Megaceros Hibernicus.) The original was nearly eleven feet across, from the point of one antler to another. A perfect skeleton of this extinct gigantic deer is exhibited in the Gallery of Organic Remains in the British Museum. For an account of this animal see Wonders of Geology, vol. i. p. 132; and Supplementary Notes, p. 189. The following measurements of the specimen figured are given by Mr. Parkinson;

Fig. 3. Fragment of the fossil horn of some species of Cervus or Deer, from Etampes, in France.

Fig. 4. Two teeth of a ruminant, (a species of Bos or Ox,) in breccia, from Gibraltar.[72]

Fig. 9, shows the structure of part of the tooth.

Fig. 1. A right lower molar tooth of an extinct species of Hippopotamus (H. major, of Cuvier), from France.

Fig. 2. Upper molar of an extinct species of Rhinoceros (R. leptorhinus, of Cuvier), from the bone-cave near Torquay, Devonshire.

Fig. 3. The crown of a molar tooth of the "gigantic Tapir" of Baron Cuvier; the Dinotherium of M. Kaup.[74]

Fig. 4, "the outer, and fig. 5, the inner, surface of the fourth molar of Palæotherium medium, of M. Cuvier."—Mr. Parkinson. From the eocene tertiary deposits of Paris.

Fig. 6, the outer, and fig. 7, the inner, aspect of an upper molar of the same animal.

Figs. 8, & 9. Lower molars of Amplotherium commune, of M. Cuvier.[75]

Fig. 10. An ungueal or bone of the claw, of a gigantic animal of the Sloth tribe (Megalonyx Jeffersoni); the figure is half the linear diameter of the original.[76]

Fig. 11. Vertical section of a tooth of the same. These remains of a colossal animal of that remarkable group of mammalia—the Edentata—are from Big-bone Cave, in Kentucky. The Megalonyx resembled the Megatherium in its general characters but was one-third smaller. See Supplementary Notes, p. 184.

Fig. 1, is a sketch, on a very small scale, of the skeleton of a colossal extinct animal of the Sloth tribe, discovered in the alluvial deposits of the Pampas, and preserved in the museum at Madrid. A plaster model of a skeleton, restored from the remains of various individuals, dispersed in different collections, is just completed, and exhibited to the public in the Gallery of Organic Remains of the British Museum.[77] This extinct animal is named the Megatherium (gigantic wild animal) Cuvieri. It was seven feet high, and nine long, and therefore larger than the largest rhinoceros. It possessed no incisor teeth; and the grinders, which are seven inches long, are of a prismatic form, and like those of the sloths, are composed of dentine and cement. They are so formed that the crown always presents two cutting, wedge-shaped, salient angles; they are therefore admirably adapted for cutting and bruising vegetable substances. The entire fore-foot is about a yard in length, and armed with strong claws. The Megatherium held an intermediate place between the sloths, armadillos, and ant-eaters. The celebrated specimens of different parts of the skeleton of this colossal creature, preserved in the Hunterian Museum of the College of Surgeons of England, were collected and presented by Sir Woodbine Parish.

Fig. 2. The hindmost grinder of the upper jaw of the Fossil Bear (Ursus spelæus) of the Caverns, from Gaylenreuth.[78]

Fig. 3. The middle upper grinder.

Fig. 4. The foremost upper grinder.

Fig. 5. The hindmost grinder of the lower jaw.

Fig. 6. The penultimate grinder of the lower jaw.

Fig. 7. The antepenultimate lower grinder.

Fig. 8. The foremost lower grinder.

Fig. 9. The canine tooth of the Fossil Bear.