NOT A REPTILE

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 142, 13 December 1923, Page 8

NOT A REPTILE

PROBABLY A WHAL&

The theory that the petrified bones ara the remains .of a specimen of the marine reptile ichthyosaurus, of the Mesozoic period, is discredited in local geological opinion. The report from Taranaki is that the remains .were unearthed during survey operations in connection with the Public Works Department. The river at the place of the find, it is stated, is very low, and has a very hard sandstone bed. The petrified bones were found embedded in the rock. The length of the visible remains is about 16 feet, and the rest disappears under the river bank. The pelvis bon e is nearly all exposed to view, and measures about 14 inches across, while some of the spinal sections are about 8 inches in diameter. The head end is not t 3 be seen, but it is stated that quite probably it would be found under the bank, where the skeleton is embedded. A number of other largo fossilised bones are also showing. The idea that the find is a specimen of ichthyosaurus is not shared by the Government Geologist, Dr. Henderson, who has been somewhat interested in the report. His opinion is that the remains are those of a whale, and that it is quite impossible that they are the fossilised hones of a reptile. He pointed out to a r ost reporter this morning that the department had recently conducted surveys throughout that particular district and that the rocks in the locality were too young, to harbour a'skeleton of a reptile oi the Mesozoio period. So convinced was. lie that the discovery was not what, it was imagined to be that he did not consider it necessary to examine the specimen for purposes of identification as ichthyosaurus. Remains of ichthyosauri of 'Lower Cretaceous age are widely distributed geographically, and have been found in v ti d) Australi». South America, Last Indies, and Europe. The name which really means fish-lizard, was applied in allusion to the reptile's outward form. A-large head is produced into a slender-, pointe^'shout/iand- the jaws are provided with a row'of conical teeth nearly uniform in size and deeply implanted in a continuous groove. The eye is enormous, and is surrounded by a ring of " sclerotic plates," which .would serve to protect the eyeball during diving, .he vertebrae are very numerous, short, and deeply biconcave, imparting great flexibility to the backbone, as in fishes Ihere are always two pairs of paddle-like limbs, the hinder pair never disappearing as in porpoises and other cetacea though :often much reduced in size. Interesting remains of prehistoric monsters discovered in • New Zealand usually in the South Island, are exhibTd in the Dominion Museum.