CHARACTERS OF RECENT CROCODILTA. 17 



the Indian one, is principally distinguished by the following 

 characters : — 



"1. By its stronger form and better developed limbs. 



" 2. By its much less slender head and snout, which last does 

 not narrow so suddenly in front of the eyes as in G. Gangeticus. 



" 3. By the smaller number of teeth, of which there are twenty 

 above and eighteen below on each side, while G. Gangeticus has 

 5g or ^ ; furthermore, the teeth are stouter, less curved, and less 

 sharp, and are disposed more perpendicularly, and the ninth 

 tooth of the upper jaw (reckoning from the front) is considerably 

 larger and stronger than the others ; whence it follows that, just 

 as in the true Crocodiles, the snout at the level of this tooth ex- 

 hibits a lateral projection. 



" 4. By the shorter symphysis of the under jaw. 



" 5. By the absence of the swollen nasal prominence (neus- 

 klep), which characterizes the Gangetic Gavial. 



" 6. By the less expanded form of the tabular upper surface of 

 the hinder part of the skull. 



" 7. By the very slight production of the edges of the orbit. 



" 8. By the large eyes. 



" 9. By the presence of a number of small nuchal shields, 

 while G. Gangeticus has but one pair. 



" 10. By the strongly developed keels of the dorsal scutes. 



" 11. By the much larger scales on the under parts and on 

 the legs of the animal. 



" 12. By the different colours with which it is variegated." 



These authors further point out that the vomers appear for a 

 small space in the posterior part of the palate, that the opercular 

 or splenial bones join in the symphysis of the lower jaw, and that 

 the cervical and dorsal scutes form one continuous shield ; and they 

 represent the two anterior mandibular teeth passing in grooves on 

 either side of the end of the premaxilla. In fact, they fully and 

 completely establish the fact that their new species belongs to the 

 Longirostres of Cuvier, or to the Gavials of later writers. 



Under these circumstances, it is somewhat surprising to find 

 the deliberate conclusions of these careful investigators set aside 



in the following brief passage : — 



« 



" This Bornean species (0. Schlegelii) was, in fact, originally 

 described as a new species of Gavial ; but the nasal bones, as in 

 the fossil from Sheppey, figured in t. ii. 15, extend to the hinder 



LINN. PEOC. — ZOOLOGY. 2 



