Page:Geology and Mineralogy considered with reference to Natural Theology, 1837, volume 1.djvu/153

 Rh similarly disposed in strata of many miles in extent, and mixed so abundantly with teeth and rolled fragments of the bones of reptiles and fishes, as to show that this region, having been the bottom of an ancient sea, was for a long period the receptacle of the bones and fœcal remains of its inhabitants. The occurrence of Coprolites is not, however, peculiar to the places just mentioned; they are found in greater or less abundance throughout the lias of England; they occur also in strata, of all ages that contain the remains of carnivorous reptiles, and have been recognised in many and distant regions both of Europe and America.

The certainty of the origin of these Coprolites is established by their frequent presence in the abdominal region of fossil skeletons of Ichthyosauri found in the lias of Lyme Regis. One of the most remarkable of these is represented in Pl. 13; the coprolitic matter loaded with fish-scales, within the ribs of these and similar specimens, is identical in appearance and chemical composition with the insulated coprolites that occur in the same strata with the skeletons.