398 BRITISH FOSSIL REPTILES. 



CHAPTER 11.— Order— CROCODILIA. 



Genus — Streptospondylus, Von Meyer. 



This name, from the Greek orros^w, I turn, airov^uXn^, vertebra, was applied by 

 M. Hermann v. Meyer to the Crocodilian reptile distinguished by Cuvier as the 

 " seconde esp^ce de Crocodile de Honfleur,"* and characterised by tlie same great 

 anatomist as " having the cervical and anterior dorsal vertebrae, with the articular 

 ends of the centrum, convex in front and concave behind. "f By this character was 

 distinguished the "second Gavial of Honfleur" from a "first Gavial of Honfleur," 

 in which the articular ends of the centrum were both slightly concave. 



With regard to these kinds of fossil vertebrae Cuvier writes : "je nommerai I'un 

 systeme convexe en avant, et I'autre sj/steme concave" % To the former he referred a 

 gavial-like skull, with a shorter and more obtuse upper jaw, and a less depressed 

 symphysis of the lower jaw ;§ to the latter a more gavial-like skull, with longer and 

 more slender jaws.|| 



Certain vertebrae of the "anteriorly convex" system were further distinguished by 

 the origin of the transverse process from salient ridges converging so as to form a 

 pyramidal base of such process, and by a deep depression behind tlie costal facet. 

 These characters are peculiar to the anterior dorsal vertebrae. In the posterior dorsal 

 and lumbar vertebrae, recognised by Cuvier as belonging to the same " seconde Gavial 

 de Honfleur" by the character of the pyramidal base of the transverse process, the 

 anterior convexity had subsided : even in a dorsal vertebra, in which the articular 

 surface for the head of the rib is still distinct, only a little higher placed, the terminal 

 articular surfaces of the centrum are nearly equal and flat, " a pen pres egales et 

 planes."^ 



* ' Ossemens Fossiles,' ed. 8vo, 1836. Explication des Planches, p. 7.'', pi. ccxxxviii, figs. 5, 6, et 7. 



t lb., t. ix, p. 309. 



X lb., p. 308. 



§ Subsequently named Steneosaurus rosiro-mit'ior, by GcofFroy St. Hilaire. 



jl Steneosaurus rostro-mojor, ib. 



^ 'Ossemens Fossiles,' torn, cit., p. 311. 



