REPTILIAN REMAINS IN NEW ZEALAND.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 525, 3 July 1869, Page 2

REPTILIAN REMAINS IN NEW ZEALAND.

At a recent meeting of the Philosophical Institute, Christchurch, Dr. ITaast road a paper on some saurian remains recently found in the bed of the river Waipara, and some in the possession of Mr J. IT. Cockburn, illustrating it by several specimens and drawings. The latter were by Mr Triphook, and represented the most valuable of the specimens. It differed from other saurian remains, and consisted of large slabs of stone enclosing the upper and lower jaws and part of the skull of a large saurian reptile of the sub-order of crocodilia called amphiccelia, and to which genera Teleosaurus belonged. It was calculated to have been from IS to 20 feet in length. The papers also stated that in Mr Hood's collection there were a great many vertebra?, one specimen of which comprised 14 dorsal vertebra? still connected together, and which from their bi-concave character might samereptile, the impression of whose skull he had exhibited. There were also many bones belonging to Plesiosaurus, and of which the principal ones formed part of the paddles or fins of those fish-like marine reptiles. The paper concluded by stating that many other bones of crocodilian reptiles were included in this collection, showing that New Zealand was at one time, like parts of the Northern Hemisphere, the abode of numerous large repti'es. The subject excited considerable interest amongst the members, and a very animated conversation ensued.