Structure of the Fossil Saurians. 351 



not on the outer superior surface of the skull, but on its side. 

 With regard to the apparatus of hearing, as Cuvier had 

 already remarked, the stapes is more cylindrical and stronger 

 than in any other reptile. The general form of the head is 

 similar to that of the Gavial ; the beak, however, is still longer 

 and sharper, and the number of the teeth greater, than in the 

 Gavial. The first tooth appears to be particularly long; the 

 others are alternately longer and shorter. Geoff 'roy considers 

 the teeth more similar to those of the Mammalia than had pre- 

 viously been imagined, and doubts not that they were also 

 covered by soft lips. The head measures 3 ft. 4 in. The 

 hinder surface of the vertebras is concave; and the pro- 

 cesses show here and there considerable departures from 

 the vertebral processes of Crocodiles ; while, as is the case 

 among many other fossil Saurians, the spinous process of the 

 caudal vertebras is broader. The form of the vertebras of 

 the pelvis differs essentially from the Crocodile. The skin 

 was covered by scales, which, however, are thicker and broader 

 than in the Crocodile, and, as in the scaly animals, overlay 

 each other in such a manner that the skin of the fossil animal 

 was stronger than that which covers the Crocodile. For the 

 rest, the scales of the Teleosaurus are not to be mistaken, 

 owing to their rectangular form, and their half-spherical ca- 

 vities, of the size of a pea or a lentil, existing over the whole 

 exterior surface. Free from elevations in the middle, they 

 possess a depression similar to the scales of fish; and they 

 led Geoffroy to imagine that the animal was more addicted to 

 the water than the Crocodile ; that it was probably a marine 

 animal ; and that its feet were more adapted for swimming 

 than for walking. The recent investigations of Geoffroy will 

 appear in the next volume of the Transactions of the Academy 

 of Paris, He has, he states, now made himself acquainted 

 with almost all the organs of the animal. The fore foot is 

 about half as large as the hind ; and the animal, which in 

 this respect reminds us of the type of the Kangaroo, could 

 walk but with difficulty ; and its stiff motions, occasioned by 

 its hard scales, prove that it moved with facility only in the 

 water. The belly possessed a breast-plate, formed of a series 

 of six scales. Both portions are unbending, as in the turtles ; 

 while in the Crocodile the lower alone is so* A hard plate, 

 with two hollows, lies under the neck, in order to permit 

 the lateral motions of the head. Lamouroux had previously 

 proposed to distinguish this species more deter minately as 

 cadomensis. 



Streptospo'ndylus. 



Cuvier's first Gavial of Honfleur, the separation of which 



