Page:Geology and Mineralogy considered with reference to Natural Theology, 1837, volume 1.djvu/163

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The head of the P. Dolichodeirus exhibits a combination of the characters of the Ichthyosaurus, the Crocodile, and the Lizard, but most nearly approaches to the latter. It agrees with the Ichthyosaurus in the smallness of its nostrils, and also in their position near the anterior angle of the eye; it resembles the Crocodile, in having the teeth lodged in distinct alveoli; but differs from both, in the form and shortness of its head, many characters of which approach closely to the Iguana.

lias at Street, near Glastonbury. At Pl. 16 is also copied Mr. Conybeare's restoration of this animal, from dislocated fragments, before any entire skeletons were found. The near approach of this restoration to the character of the perfect skeletons, affords a striking example of the sure grounds on which comparative anatomy enables us to reconstruct the bodies of fossil animals, from a careful combination of insulated parts. The soundness of the reasoning of' Cuvier, on the fossil quadrupeds of Montmartre, was established by the subsequent discovery of skeletons, such as he had conjecturally restored from insulated bones. Mr. Conybeare's restoration of the Plesiosaurus Dolichodeirus, (Pl. 16,) was not less fully confirmed by the specimens above-mentioned.