136 BRITISH "FOSSIL REPTILES. 



longer, but narrower antero-posteriorly than in tlie lumbar or dorsal vertebrae. 

 The h^mapophyses are united at their peripheral end, forming chevron bones, but 

 are detached at their central ends which are articulated, as in recent Crocodiles, 

 with the interspaces of the vertebral centres. The caudal vertebrge progressively 

 diminish in every diameter, save length, from the middle to near the end of the 

 tail ; the terminal vertebrjB are shorter than the rest. 



The sternum and sternal ribs closely agree with the ordinary Crocodilian type. 

 I have not yet seen a specimen of the abdominal sternal ribs. 



Pectoral extremities. — The scapula and coracoid resemble, in general form, 

 those of the Crocodile, but are relatively smaller, in correspondence with the 

 smaller size of the anterior extremities. The scajmla, for example, is only one 

 third the length of the femur ; it is straighter than that of the Crocodile ; both, 

 margins are nearly equally concave, instead of the anterior one being convex ; the 

 humeral end is less expanded, and is more obliquely truncated. The coracoid is 

 longer than the scapula, instead of being, as in the Crocodiles, shorter ; this prob- 

 ably depends upon the breadth of the fore part of the body, which regulates the 

 extent of the coracoid, while the proportions of the scapula more exclusively 

 depend upon the development of the pectoral extremity. The coracoid of the 

 Teleosaur differs also from that of the Crocodile in the greater expansion of its 

 humeral end, the more transverse position of its sternal convex extremity, and 

 a nearer approach, to parallelism in the direction of the two lateral margins. 

 {Crocodilia, PL 1.) 



In the Whitby Teleosaur, discovered in 1824, the humerus of the right anterior 

 extremity, and the humerus and bones of the fore-arm of the left (PI. 15), are 

 preserved nearly in their proper relative positions. The humerus is shorter in 

 proportion than in the Crocodiles, its length scarcely exceeds the antero-posterior 

 diameter of two of the cervical vertebrae. The antibrachial bones are still more 

 curtailed in their proportions ; the longest bone, or ulna, being not quite half the 

 lenofth of the humerus. 



No portions of the carpal or other bones of the paddle are preserved, but the 

 presence of the antibrachial bones, distinct from each other, and of the ordinary 

 form and breadth at the distal end, forbid our supposing them to have been 

 naturally deficient or of abortive proportions in the Teleosaurus. Admitting the 

 humerus, radius and ulna to have existed for a purpose, that purjDose, we may 

 conclude, from the modifications for an aquatic life in the rest of the skeleton, to 

 have been the support and movement of a palmated manus ; an organ which would 

 be of great use in turning and regulating the course of the swimmer and in 

 bringing the long and slender snout, with the terminal nostrils, to the surface. 

 The fore-paddles were doubtless much smaller than in ordinary Crocodiles, and 

 this difference of proportion related both to the less frequent resorting of the 



