| Description | Murchison correspondence: letter from Gideon Algernon MANTELL, Castle Place, Lewes, Sussex, 14 May 1826. Re: eager to hear the results of Murchison's correspondence with Baron Georges Cuvier [?on saurians]; difficulty in identifying the bones of the Megalosaurus and Iguanodon; Murchison's forthcoming paper ["Geological Sketch of the North-western Extremity of Sussex, and the adjoining Parts of Hants and Surrey", 'Transactions of the Geological Society of London', series 2, vol 2 (1826), pp97-108]; complains that he has not received a list of Officers or notice of the forthcoming meetings of the Geological Society; travelling around the south coast of England to gather an accurate account of the Hastings beds for his next book.
The letter is written on the reverse of a lithographic plate by F Pollard, printed by Baxter, of a selection of fossils which include a vertebra of a crocodile and Iguanodon, shells and fin spines of fossil fish, which appeared in Mantell's book 'Illustrations of the Geology of Sussex' (1827). Mantell notes that he is sending it to Murchison as he considers it is the best illustration of an Iguanodon bone. |