scholarly journals I.—On Saurosternon Bainii, and Pristerodon McKayi, Two New Fossil Lacertilian Reptiles from South Africa

1868 ◽  
Vol 5 (47) ◽  
pp. 201-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. H. Huxley
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
British Museum ◽  
Natural Size ◽  
Caudal Vertebrae ◽  
The Matrix

Some time since Prof. T. Rupert Jones directed my attention to a curious fossil in the British Museum, obtained by Mr. Bain from Styl Krantz, Sniewe Berg, South Africa. The matrix is of the same nature as that in which the Dicynodonts are so commonly found, and exhibits the greater part of the skeleton, but unfortunately not the skull, of a Lacertilian reptile, not more than seven or eight inches in length. It is represented of the natural size in Plate XI., Fig. 1. The trunk is about two and a half inches long, and appears to have attained hardly more than one-third the length of the tail, which is bent round into three-quarters of a circle, and consists of vertebræ, which are very stout near its root, but become attenuated at its termination (a). The centra of these vertebræ appear to have been slightly constricted in the middle, and are about one-tenth of an inch in length. The anterior caudal vertebræ present strong and long transverse processes. The dorsal vertebræ can hardly have been fewer than eighteen or twenty, and seem also to have possessed hour-glass shaped centre. They are for the most part provided with long curved ribs, the hindermost four or five pair of which become gradually shorter. One of two vertebræ in front of the sacrum may have been devoid of ribs.

scholarly journals I.—On a New Specimen of the Cretaceous Fish Portheus Molossus, Cope

1913 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 529-531 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur Smith Woodward
Keyword(s):  
British Museum ◽  
Teleostean Fish ◽  
Total Length ◽  
Natural Size ◽  
The Matrix

Several nearly complete skeletons of the primitive teleostean fish Portheus molossus are now known from the Chalk of Kansas; but none is better preserved than a remarkable trunk, nearly 12 feet in total length, lately obtained for the British Museum by Mr. Charles H. Sternberg. The specimen is shown, of about of the natural size, in the accompanying Plate XVIII, where it is seen mounted with the head of another fish of the same proportions. All the bones remain embedded in the matrix exactly as they were found, and there is no restoration beyond slight repairs.

scholarly journals IX. On the fossil remains of a long-tailed bird ( Archeopteryx macrurus , Ow.) from the lithographic slate of Solenhofen

1863 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 271-273 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
British Museum ◽  
Lower Portion ◽  
Consecutive Series ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Fossil Remains ◽  
Caudal Vertebrae ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Right

The author details the circumstances connected with the discovery of the fossil remains, with the impressions of feathers, in the Lithographic slates of Solenhofen, of the Oxfordian or Corallian stage of the Oolitic period, and of the acquisition for the British Museum of the specimen which forms the subject of his paper. The exposed parts of the skeleton are,—the lower portion of the furculum; part of the left os innominatum; nineteen caudal vertebræ in a consecutive series; several ribs, or portions of ribs; the two scapulæ, humeri, and antibrachial bones; parts of the carpus and metacarpus, with two unguiculate phalanges, probably belonging to the right wing; both femora and tibiæ, and the bones of the right foot.

V.—Some Rodents from the Middle Miocene Lacustrine Deposits of Oeningen, Southern Germany

1899 ◽  
Vol 6 (8) ◽  
pp. 363-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. I. Forsyth Major
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Middle Miocene ◽  
British Museum ◽  
Southern Germany ◽  
Lacustrine Deposits ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Satisfactory State

In the Geological Department of the British Museum (Natural History) are preserved a certain number of slabs from Oeningen, exhibiting skeletons of Rodents. Partly owing to unskilful developing, partly to the absence of the counterpart-slab, several of them are in such a crushed and otherwise imperfect condition, that in some cases not even the genus could be made out with certainty; which is equivalent to saying that their interest is little beyond that of mere curiosities. On closer examination it appeared to me that in some instances the case was not quite so hopeless, and that by carefully developing the more important parts still concealed by the matrix, a more satisfactory state of things might be obtained. The following pages are an account of the result arrived at.

On the Megatherium.—Part II

1854 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 57-65
Keyword(s):  
British Museum ◽  
Caudal Vertebrae

In his lecture the author premised a brief sketch of the successive steps which had led to the knowledge of the Megatherium acquired at the date of his researches, and of the different hypotheses which had been broached of its affinities, habits and food. He then recounted the mode of the acquisition of the complete skeleton, and of its articulation, at the British Museum, and commenced its description by the vertebræ of the trunk. These consist of 7 cervical, 16 dorsal, 3 lumbar, 5 sacral, and 18 caudal vertebræ.

scholarly journals II.—Micropholis Stowi, Huxley, A Temnospondylous Amphibian from South Africa

1913 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 340-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. M. S. Watson
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
British Museum ◽  
Type Specimens ◽  
North West

Micropholis Stowi was described by Huxley in 1859 from a small and very incompletely preserved skull found by G. W. Stow at Rhenosterberg (north-west of New Bethesda), District Graaf Reinet, Cape Colony. Subsequently R. Owen described another specimen as Petrophryne granulata. In his description he suggested that it might prove to be identical with Huxley's type. The British Museum now contains these two type-specimens and three other examples of the form, all except Huxley's type being from the Procolophon zone of Donnybrook, Upper Zwartkei, District Queenstown.

scholarly journals Croonian lecture.—On Parieasaurus bombidens (Owen), and the significance of its affinities to amphibians, reptiles, and mammals

1887 ◽  
Vol 42 (251-257) ◽  
pp. 337-342
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
British Museum ◽  
Short Account

The author gives a short account of the literature of Parieasaurus, and describes a skeleton in the British Museum, received from the Karoo deposits of South Africa in 1878.

scholarly journals II.—Notes on the Geology of West Swaziland, South Africa

1899 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 105-111
Author(s):  
T. Rupert Jones
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
British Museum ◽  
Critical Examination ◽  
Large Collection ◽  
Complete Catalogue ◽  
Rock Specimens

Mr. Sydney Ryan, of Darkton, Managing Director of the Ryan Tin Mines, situated on the Embabaan River in West Swaziland, has collected and sent to England a large collection of rock-specimens from the Ingwenya Berg, the dominating feature of the district. He has also provided plans and sections of the district, which are here partly reproduced. The specimens have been presented to the Mineralogical Department of the British Museum, together with a complete catalogue, having reference to the Sections referred to above, and indications of the lithological characters of the 140 specimens. Mr. G. Th. Prior, F.G.S., has kindly aided the writer in the critical examination of the rocks, and is communicating a description of those of economic value to the forthcoming number of the Mineralogical Magazine.

scholarly journals VII. On parts of the skeleton of meiolania platyceps (Ow.)

1888 ◽  
Vol 179 ◽  
pp. 181-191 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
British Museum ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Fossil Bones ◽  
Extinct Genus ◽  
Osseous Structure

Since my last communication to the Royal Society (March 15, 1886) of the characters of some fossil bones of a Meiolania from Lord Howe’s Island, I have been favoured with the opportunity of inspecting a second and richer series of remains of the same extinct genus of Reptile from the same island and formation. These fossils have been liberally transmitted by Charles Wilkinson, Esq., F. G. S., F. L. S., Government Geologist of the Department of Mines, Sydney, to the Geological Department of the British Museum of Natural History, and have been confided by the Keeper, Dr. Woodward, F. R. S., for their development from the matrix, to Mr. Richard Hall, Assistant Mason in that Department, whose name deserves to be recorded for the patient devotion and admirable skill with which he has brought to light the manifold and complex evidences of osseous structure, especially of the cranial and some vertebral parts of the petrified skeletons of the present singular genus of extinct Reptile.

scholarly journals VII. The action of the venom of sepedon hæmachates of South Africa

1909 ◽  
Vol 200 (262-273) ◽  
pp. 241-269 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
British Museum ◽  
The Other ◽  
The South ◽  
Cape Of Good Hope

Sepedon hæmachates has received other names, such as Naja hæmachates, Naja Capensis , and Aspidelaps hæmachates . It is found at the Cape of Good Hope, Namaqualand, Clanwilliam, and elsewhere in South Africa. It is known to the Dutch as “Rhinghals” and “Spuwslang,” and in Cape Colony also as the “Brown Snake.” It measures about 2 feet in length, and has the reputation of being one of the most lethal of the South African snakes. Being a Colubrine of the sub-family of the Elapinæ, it is therefore closely related, in zoological characters, to the members of the Naja genus which includes the deadly Cobras and Hamadryad. So far as we have been able to ascertain, the action of this venom has not before been examined. The Sepedon venom used in this investigation was extracted from eight dried glands: two of which were sent to one of us, in 1898, by Mr. J. W. van Putten, of van Putten’s Vlei, Clanwilliam, and the other six, in 1901, by Dr. Robertson, of the Agricultural Department of Cape Colony. To these gentlemen we take this opportunity of expressing our great indebtedness. The glands had been removed in South Africa from recently killed serpents, cleared of adhering fat and other extraneous matter, and then thoroughly and quickly dried by being hung up in a warm and airy place. Along with the dried glands, there were sent the heads of several of the serpents from which these glands had been removed. The latter were submitted to Mr. Boulenger, F. R. S., of the British Museum, and he confirmed the identification of their being heads of Sepedon hæmachates .

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