180
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF
...
July 14th.
The President, Dr. Hays, in the Chair.
Nineteen members present.
The following papers were presented for publication:
"Second contribution to the history of the
Vertebrata of the Miocene period of the United States." By Edw. D. Cope.
"Remarks on Conosaurus," By Joseph
Leidy, M.D.
"Remarks on a jaw fragment of Megalosaurus."
Jos. Leidy, M.D.
[July,
NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA
181
E. D. Cope exhibited the vertebra of an extinct reptile, from the
middle green sand bed of New Jersey; which possessed the peculiar articular structure
known as zygantrum and zygosphen. He said the form was in some degree like that of certain
terrestrial genera of Iguanidę, as the genus Euphryne, Baird, but it appeared to
have some affinity to Macrosaurus, Owen, in form. The animals if similar in
proportions to the Iguanę, would have been some 12 feet in length. It was called Clidastes
iguanavus.
A Mosasauroid
reptile was indicated by a single vertebra from Medford,
N.J., also from the middle bed. It was distinguished from other forms of
the family by its compressed elevated form. It was assigned to a species
named Nectoportheus validus.
The structure of the
vertebral column in Elasmosaurus was pointed out.
It was stated to possess apparently no zygapophyses throughout its whole
length, but in place of these, the zygosphen and zygantrum articulation.
The articulations of the vertebrę were therefore the reverse in respect to
direction of their surfaces from the usual form among vertebrata. In fact,
the structure of the genus was shown to be entirely new and peculiar among
vertebrated animals. The genus Cimoliasaurus Leidy, was stated to exhibit
the same structure, and required that the vertebrae should be reversed in
order to read their connections correctly.
...
1868]
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