Notice of the Discovery of a Reptilian Skull in the Coal of Pictou

Abstract

T he reptilian specimen described by Prof. Owen (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. No. 38. p. 207. pl. 9) is the upper part of a head found by me in 1851, at the Albion Mines, in a heap of rubbish extracted from a band of carbonaceous clay iron-stone and coarse coal, occurring in the main coal-seam, about 5 feet below its roof, and known to the miners as the “ holeing-stone .” This band is marked No. 5 in the detailed section of the Albion main coal given by Mr. Poole and myself in the Geological Society's Journal, vol. x. p. 47. It varies in thickness in different parts of the mine, from 2 inches to about 18 inches; and it contains much coprolitic matter, and a few scales, teeth, and spines of fishes, as well as minute Spirorbis-like shells, similar to those found in the Joggins coal-measures attached to plants*. None of these fossils, however, are by any means abundant; and the vegetable remains contained in the “holeing-stone” have in general been reduced to the state of homogeneous coal, or of mineral charcoal. There can be little doubt that this remarkable band indicates a somewhat protracted submergence of the area of coal then accumulating under the waters of a lake or lagoon. As stated in a note which accompanied the specimen, when forwarded to the Geological Society in 1852, the matrix split in such a manner as to leave the upper part of the skull adhering to the larger portion of the block,