Downloaded from http://jgslegacy.lyellcollection.org/ at University of Virginia on October 5, 2012 Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society On Hyperodapedon T. H. Huxley Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society 1869, v.25; p138-152. doi: 10.1144/GSL.JGS.1869.025.01-02.27 Email alerting click here to receive free service e-mail alerts when new articles cite this article Permission click here to seek permission request to re-use all or part of this article Subscribe click here to subscribe to Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society or the Lyell Collection Notes © The Geological Society of London 2012 Downloaded from http://jgslegacy.lyellcollection.org/ at University of Virginia on October 5, 2012 138 PROCEEDINGSOF THE G~T.0~Ie~ S0CIE~Y. [Jan. 13, by metamorphic changes during the age of elevation which marked the close of the Palaeozoic age in China, have hitherto resisted the action of the great solvent. Other facts of interest in connexion with the geology of the districts treated of are, the absence of glacial action south of the Yangtse, and the large deposits of rich iron-ore, together with consider- able quantities of coal, in the central provinces, while the careful study of the Tertiary and modern beds may probably at some future period throw light on the vexed question of the antiquity of the human race. DISCUSSION. The PaES~DEN~ remarked that if the South of China had been dry land since so early a period, the fauna might have been expected to resemble that of the Siwalik ~]]s. Among the teeth was the molar of a very small horse, presenting some of the characters of HiTpotherium or Hilx2arion , which might possibly be of Miocene date. Prof. T. RUeERT JONES alluded to the general parallelism of the axial folds of the strata with the coast-line, and to the similar strike of the gold-bearing rocks in the Gulf of Petchele, and men- tioned that Cycadaeeous remains occurred in the coal of some parts of Germany as in China. Mr. W. BorD DxwKr~s remarked that one of the equine molars was the largest of the 4ass he had seen. He agreed with the Pre- sident as to the smaller molar. He was unable, from the specimens, to determine whether they were Miocene or Pliocene. He men- tioned the discovery in the laterite of India of a portion of a human femur of most remarkably slender make. JANUARY 13, 1869. William Groome, Esq., B.A., of St. John's College, Cambridge, was elected a Fellow ; and Dr. J. F. Brandt, of St. Petersburg, Prof. A.E. NordenskiSld, of Stockholm, and Prof. F. Zirkel, of Kiel, were elected Foreign Correspondents of the Society. The following communications were read :-- 1. On Hr~ERO1)APEDON. By T. H. HVXLEr~ F.R.S., Pres. Geol. Soc. A T.ITTT.E more than ten yea~s ago, namely, on the 15th December 1858, Sir R. Murchison read a paper "On the Sandstones of Elgin" before this Society. It was followed by an essay of my own "On the ~tagonoleTis _Pwbertsonii," an animal so named by Prof. Agassiz in his ' Poissons fossiles du u Gr~s Rouge' from some impres- sions of its dermal covering which had been discovered in the Elgin sandstones. In the latter paper, and in notes added to both papers, before their publication in the middle of the following year, the fact that Stagonolet~is was a reptile closely allied to the Mesozoic Crooo- Downloaded from http://jgslegacy.lyellcollection.org/ at University of Virginia on October 5, 2012 1869.] HVX~Y--HYPSa0D*P~DON. 139 dilia, though distinct from any known form of that age, was for the first time asserted, and, indeed, I may say, demonstrated, the remains placed in my hands enabling me to put the fact beyond doubt. At the same time I mentioned the existence in the same beds of "a Saurian reptile about 6 feet long, remarkable for the flattened or slightly concave articular surfaces of the ceatra of its vertebrae, and for its well-developed costal system and fore and hind limbs, but more particularly charactel~ed by its numerous series of subeylin- drical palatal teeth." I named this new reptile Ityperodaipedon Gordoni, in honour of its discoverer, the Rev. Dr. Gordon, to whose exertions in the Elgin country geology owes so much: and I stated that "its marked affinity with certain Triassic reptiles, when taken together with the resemblance of ,Stagonolepis to Mesozoic Crocodilia, lead one to require the strongest stratigraphical proof before admit- ting the Palaeozoic age of the beds in which it occurs." Sir R. I. ~urchison admitted that his belief in the Devonian age of the ]~lgin sandstones was "somewhat shaken" by the discovery of the nature and affinities of these reptilian remains. In the ten years which have elapsed since the papers to which I have referred were read before the Society, the age of the reptili- ferous sandstones of Elgin has been repeatedly discussed by some of the most eminent of ]~nglish geolo~sts, with the general result that while one half of the disputants produced excellent reasons for be- lieving them to be of Mesozoic date, the other half adduced no less weighty arguments in favour of their Palaeozoic age. And it is a curious circumstance that in this Geological Siege of Troy, Priam has been fighting the battle of the Greeks, and Nestor that of the Trojans,--Sir R. Murchison, whose general geological views would naturally incline him to assign a later date to these Elgin rep- tiles, having been the sturdiest champion of their Devonian age; while Sir Charles Lyell, who ought to rejoice if they could be made out Paheozoic, has as strongly fought for their belonging to the Trias. Without meaning to compare myself to Achilles, I may say that "under these circumstances" I thought it best to retire to my tents and take no part in the fray until my pal~eontological armoury should 9yield more efficient weapons. And as my excellent friend Dr. Gor- don supplied me from time to time with new specimens, I lived in hope that one day or other I should be able to make an effective sally. No such opportunity presented itself, however, until the year 1867, when a number of important facts came to light in sin.gular coincidence, and, as I conceive, rendered the proper discussmn of the question e,nd the drawing of satisfactory conclusions somewhat easier than before. I may premise that the original specimen of Hyl~erodapedon is in a very bad condition, the substance of the bones and teeth being ex-, tremely friable and decayed. It is nevertheless sufficiently clear that the roof of the mouth is provided with several parallel rows of teeth, that the edge of the ramus of the lower jaw is also beset with a series of close-set or even confluent teeth, and that the mandibular Downloaded from http://jgslegacy.lyellcollection.org/ at University of Virginia on October 5, 2012 140 ~XOCE~Dn~s O~ THX a~oT.oexc~ soccer. [Jan. 13, teeth bite between the inner and outer series of the palato-maxiUary teeth. The surfaces of the teeth, however, are not sufficiently pre- served to enable one to make sure of the manner in which the teeth wear. For a number of years I have been acquainted with two specimens from the quarry opened in a Triassic sandstone at Coton End, near Warwick--the one belonging to the Warwick Museum, and the other to the Rev. P. B. Brodie, F.G.S. Each of these is an elongated jaw- like bone, in which are set parallel rows of conical teeth ; and I have often compared them with the palate of H?LPerodapedon, but without being able to satisfy myself that I was entitled to draw any positive conclusions from their resemblance. In the winter of 1866, however, the Rev. Dr. Gordon sent me several specimens, among which one (belonging to Mr. Grant, of Lossiemouth), though a very much mutilated fragment of a skull, presented part of the characteristic dentigerous bones of the palato- maxillary apparatus of Hyperodapedon; and my attention was, at once, forcibly drawn to the fact that the opposed faces of two of the rows of the teeth were worn down by attrition against other teeth. These two rows of teeth were placed on opposite sides of a deep longitudinal groove; and the planes of the worn faces converged to the bottom of this groove. On looking at the original specimen, it became clear that this groove corresponded with the depression into which the oral edge of the mandible is received when the mouth is shut. The opposed faces of the palato-maxillary teeth had been worn fiat by attrition against the opposite sides of the mandibular teeth, which work between them as a knife-blade shuts into its handle; and it followed that the dentary margin of the mandible must be worn to an edge adapted to fit into the groove. So far as I know, no other fossil reptile possesses any such peculiarities; and thus this interesting fragment pre- sented me with new means of distinguishing the teeth and jaws of Hyperodapedon from those of other Reptilia. Some time after I had become acquainted with Mr. Grant's new specimen, Mr. Lloyd, F.G.S., was good enough to call upon me for the purpose of showing me some specimens from the Coton-]~nd quarry before mentioued, which had for many years been in the possession of his father, Dr. Lloyd, long well known for his atten- tion to the geology of Warwickshire.