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EXPLANATION OF PLATE 10.
6. Front view of bony plates in the Eye of an Iguana.
7. Profile of the same.
8. Two of the fourteen component scales of the same.
I owe these three last figures to the kindness of Mr. Allis of York.
A 1, 2, 3, 4. Petrified portions of the skin of a small Ichthyosaurus, from the Lias of Barrow on Soar, Leicestershire, presented to the Oxford Museum, by the Rev. Robert Gutch, of Segrave. (Original.)
In Fig. 1; a, b, c, d, are portions of ribs, and e, f, g, h, are fragments of sterno-costal bones (nat. size.)
The spaces between these bones, are covered with the remains of skin; the Epidermis being represented by a delicate film, and the Rete mucosum by fine threads of white Carbonate of Lime; beneath these the Corium, or true skin, is preserved in the state of dark Carbonate of Lime, charged with black volatile matter, of a bituminous and oily consistence.
2. Magnified representation of the Epidermis and Rete mucosum. The fine superficial lines represent the minute wrinkles of the Epidermis, and the subjacent larger decussating lines, the vascular net-work of the Rete mucosum.
In Fig. 3, the Epidermis exhibits a succession of coarser and more distant folds or wrinkles overlying the mesh-work of the Rete mucosum.
In Fig. 4, the Epidermis has perished, and the texture of the fine vessels of the Reta mucosum is exhibited in strong relief, over the black substance of the subjacent Corium, in the form of a net-work of white threads.[1]
- ↑ Nothing certain has hitherto been known respecting the dermal covering of the Ichthyosauri; it might have been conjectured that these reptiles were incased with horny scales, like Lizards, or that their skin was set with; dermal bones, like those on the back of Cro-
