A small lizard from the Neocomian rocks of Comén, near Trieste.
- Harry Govier Seeley
- Date:
- 1881
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A small lizard from the Neocomian rocks of Comén, near Trieste. 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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![On Hemains of a Small Lizard from the Neocomian Locks of ComIjn, near Trieste, preserved in the Geological Museum of the University of Vienna. By Prof. Seeley, E.lt.S., E.G.S., of King’s College, London. [Plate IV.] Professor Eduard Suess, E.M.G.S., recently received from Come'n, near Trieste, a specimen showing the hinder half of the skeleton of a lizard which he has desired me to describe. Unlike the two fine slabs from the island of Lesina, preserved in the k.-k. geologische lieichsanstalt, which are in a pale yellowish limestone matrix, this specimen is from a limestone slab nearly black ; the animal shown upon it has lain exposed for some time in the quarry and suffered by the solvent action of the rain. Prof. Suess mentioned to me that the colour merely indicated one of the many alterations in the limestone, and that, since it was collected by a former pupil, no doubt could attach either to its stratigraphies! or geographical position. Prof. Kornhuber does not appear to have been quite cer- tain as to the position of the Lesina rocks in the Cretaceous series ; but while I was in Vienna, Professor Pisani mentioned to me that he had identified thirteen species of fish with Upper Neocomian species ; and as fish constitute the chief fossils of the deposit, this must be held conclusive evidence of the geological age of these lizards. This new fossil (PI. IV. fig. 1) at first sight presents a considerable resemblance to the Hydrosaurus lesinensis of Kornhuber, as was pointed out to me by Prof. Suess; hut the differences arc so remarkable and important that I find myself unable to include it in the same genus. The specimens in the Museum of the Imperial Geological Survey were shown to me by the Director Eranz Hitter von Hauer. They are admirably preserved, and, as Kornhuber has stated, appear to indicate an animal with 9 cervical, 30 dorsal, and 2 sacral vertebrae, and a tail of which only the 24 anterior vertebral are preserved. The type is distinguished by the remarkable stoutness of the dorsal ribs, by the very long and large neural spines and early caudal vertebrae; and it possessed well-developed limbs, of which the hinder pair were much larger than the anterior pair. The specimen which I have now to describe has only the hindermost 12 dorsal vertebrae preserved. There are presumably 2 sacral vertebrae ; and then succeeds the tail, of which about 65 vertebrae are preserved or indicated by impressions ; and it is probable that more remained in the slab whifth had been adjacent but was not collected. The length of the 12 dorsal vertebrae is about 55 millims.; and the remainder of the vertebral column, as preserved, measures along the curves of the tail nearly 200 millims. The dorsal region is ex- posed so as to display the attachment of the ribs. The ilium is the](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22412463_0006.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
