On Saurodesmus Robertsoni (Seeley), a Crocodilian Reptile from the Rhætic of Linksfield, in Elgin

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Abstract
Linksfield is north of Elgin and west of the River Lossie. The locality was fully descrihed by Professor Judd, F.R.S., in 1873, and the strata, previously regarded as Lias and Wealden, were interpreted as a large boulder of Rhætic beds in Boulder-clay. A number of freshwater shells occur in these beds, associated with land plants, marine invertebrata, fishes, and reptiles ; but very few of the species are identical with those found in other European localities. And, although there is not much room for doubt as to the age, I could have wished the evidence stronger in determining the horizon of the interesting specimen now described, which was found by Mr. A. Robertson, of Inverugie. It appears to be an isolated bone, first noticed nearly fifty years ago by Sir R. Owen in his second report to the British Association on British Fossil Reptiles. “I have been favoured by Mr. Robertson of Elgin with the examination of a Chelonian femur 4½ inches in length from a stratum at Linksfield in which remains of Plesiosaurus and Hybodus occur; and this femur, though not identical in form with that of any Trionyx with which I could compare it, yet resembles the modifications of the bone in that genus more closely than in Tortoises, Emydians, or Turtles.” This guarded determination has sometimes been read as referring the specimen to Trionyx , but it amounts to no more than a statement that the bone is a femur, and probably Chelonian. It was figured in 1842 by Mr.

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