632 BRITISH FOSSIL REPTILES. 



as ill Gavialit gongeticus, or extend to nenr tlie nostril, as in Crocodilus catapJiracfus, 

 rathei- nearer in Crocodilus intermedius, still nearer in Crocodilus Hastingsia, be produced 

 close to the aperture as in Crocodilus cJiampso'idcs, penetrate a short way into the 

 aperture, as in Crocodilus sucJius, or, by continuous ossification of the septum in old 

 individuals of Crocodilus niger and Alligator lucius, extend seemingly across the nostril. 

 These characters, barely of specific value, have been used in the fabrication of genera of 

 existing Crocodiles and Alligators,^ in all of which the orbits are larger than the upper 

 temporal apertures. In Goniopholis simus the orbits (PI. 40, fig. 1, o) are rather 

 smaller than those apertures (ib., ib., t). 



When p. 536 of the description of the Wealdon HglaocJiampsa was printed off I had 

 not materials for studying the palatal characters of Goniopholis. By excavating the 

 under surface of the block of Purbeck stone on the opposite side of which the subject of 

 Plate 40, fig. 1, was exposed, the characters in question were brought to light. A 

 narrow medial tract, ib., fig. 2, w, contributed by both pterygoids and palatines divided 

 the vacuity answering to Cuvier's ' Posse nasal posterieure ' in Teleosaurus cadomensis. 

 An increase in the breadth of this pterygo-palatine septum gives the character of the 

 '' 2^rxlalonares ' {Biiiosauria, PI. 60, fig. 25, «, «) in Hgla>ochamj)sa, and removes any 

 doubt as to the homology of those vacuities with the palatonares in Goniopholis. The 

 pterygo-maxillary vacuities (PI. 40, y, y) are relatively larger than in Hylceochampsa. 



Each pterygoid (fig. 2, 24), articulating by a crenate suture with the narrow hind end 

 of the palatine (ib. 2o), which diverges from its fellow to form the fore part of the 

 palatonaris, loses vertical thickness and gains in breadth as it extends backward. It 

 there articulates by a tract of an inch in length with the basisphenoid. The Eustachian 

 canal (ib., e) at the midspace between the basisphenoid and basioccipital. The latter 

 arches down in advance of the condyle, and the venus foramen is conspicuous on this tract. 



As the pterygoids are relatively less than in the Procoelians, so the palatines are 

 relatively larger, especially in anterior breadth. After contributing their share to the 

 palatonaris they come into contact, and the medial sutiu'e is continued forward to an 

 extent of 3 inches 5 lines. The anterior breadth of the pair is 3 inches 4 lines. The 

 medial suture of the palatal plates of the maxillaries was traced forward two inches or 

 more in advance of the palatines, and laterally the plates were exposed to the same 

 breadth as the palatines proper. The palato-maxillary suture, 20'— 21', is strongly 

 sigmoid, describing as it leaves the midline a convexity forward and then a concavity. 

 It was not thought expedient to endanger the unique specimen by further excavation in 

 reference to the comparatively unimportant preraaxillo-maxillary palatal suture. 



The bony palate, as far as it was exposed, is smooth ; the upper surface of the skull 

 is rugose and pitted. The pits are circular or subcircular, from 1 to 1\ hnes in 

 diameter, situated chiefly on the swollen sides of the maxillaries and on the cranial part 

 of the skull, including the expanded upper and outer surface of the squamosals ; and 



1 'Trans. Zool. Soc.,' vol. vi, p. 125. 



