On Protorosaurus speneri (Von Meyer) / by H.G. Seeley.

  • Seeley, H. G. (Harry Govier), 1839-1909.
Date:
1887
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On Protorosaurus speneri (Von Meyer) / by H.G. Seeley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    \ ■- ‘ ‘ ■' • i 03 Jinl IX. Researches on the Structu)h\Of-fUnizgtion, and Classification of the Fossil Reptilia*—I. On E^Iofpsa-urus Speneri (von Meyer). By H. G. Seeley, F.R.S., Professor of (oleography in King's College, London. Received and Read, February 3, 1887. [Plates 14-16.] Protorosaurus Speneri, one of the earliest known fossil reptiles, has been already studied and described by Baron Cuvier, Hermann von Meyer, Sir Richard Owen, and Professor Huxley. Occurring in the Kupferschiefer, and therefore of Primary age, the exact determination of its structure and affinities has become of some interest in relation to the great development of Reptilian life which characterises the succeeding Triassic period. The most interesting example of Protorosaurus is that originally obtained by Spener, which he described and figured in 1710, and regarded as the remains of a Crocodile, t His view was confirmed by Link. But Kundmann of Breslau in 1737 interpreted the remains ns those of a new type of large-headed fossil-lizard. This conclusion was substantially adopted by Cuvier, who in 1808 made the animal universally known as the fossil Monitor of Thuringia. | Cuvier had never seen a specimen ; and was dependent upon the figures published by Spener, Link, and Swedenborg, and a drawing, which he published, of a specimen preserved in the Royal Museum at Berlin. He remarks that the head is not without resemblance to that of the Nilotic Crocodile, and, as Spener only knew drawings of the exterior of * Some time ago the Royal Society did me the honour to place at my disposal grants from the Government Grant Fund, for the investigation of the Fossil Reptilia. They enabled me to make studies and preliminary descriptions of a large mass of materials in Continental and English collections. Some of these, which were chiefly of geological interest, were laid before the Geological Society. Others needed further work before they could be used to elucidate the structure, organization, and classification of the Fossil Reptilia. The general results to which the I’esearches have led are necessarily connected with the detailed evidence on which they rest; and I now propose to submit to the Roal Society any account of such genera and ordinal groups as fall within this field of work, as well as discussions of the distinctive osteological organization which some orders have in common, before summarising the classification. f ‘ Miscellanea Berolinensia,’ Berolini, 1710, T. 1, p. 99. “Disquisitio de Crocodilo in Lapide, &c.,” figs. 24, 25. J ‘ Annales du Museum,’ T. 12, p. 79, Plate 10. MDCCCLXXXVII.—B. 2 B 2 17.9.87