64 The Alligator and Its Allies 



of the bone. Between these foramina and the 

 base of the teeth are four rounded depressions to 

 receive the points of the first four teeth in the lower 

 jaw; of these depressions the first and fourth are 

 the deepest. The first pit often becomes so deep 

 as to perforate the bone; this is true also with 

 the crocodile and, according to Reynolds, with the 

 caiman, but is not true of the gavial, whose inter- 

 locking teeth project outside of the jaws. It will 

 be remembered that one of the chief distinctions, 

 given early in this work, between the crocodile 

 and the alligator is that in the former the fourth 

 tooth in the lower jaw fits into a notch and not into 

 a pit in the upper jaw. 



The maxilla (2), which with its fellow forms most 

 of the hard palate, has also been mentioned in 

 connection with the dorsal aspect. Each maxilla is 

 notched, posteriorly, to form the anterior border 

 of the posterior palatine vacuity, and together 

 they are notched to receive the rectangular ante- 

 rior ends of the palatines. The postero-lateral 

 extremity of the maxilla articulates with the trans- 

 palatine. Along the outer border of the bone are 

 the teeth, of which there are fifteen or sixteen in the 

 alligator, about the same number (perhaps one or 

 two less) in the caiman and crocodile, and about 

 twenty-four in the gavial. The first or anterior 

 eight or ten teeth have individual sockets, the rest 

 are placed in a groove. In the crocodile none of 

 the teeth have individual sockets, and in the gavial 



