OOLITIC CROCODILES. 145 



Species — Steneosaurus laticeps, Owen, CrococUlia (PI. 18, fig. 2). 



The breadth of the cranium in proportion to the length, measured from the 

 occipital tubercle to the orbit, suggested the specific name. The oi'bits, like the 

 temporal fossae, approach nearer to a circle in outer contour than in Sfen. 

 Geoffroyi, and they have a less obliquely lateral aspect, approaching in that 

 character nearer to the Teleosauri ; the facial part of the prefrontal, 14, terminates 

 in a point, at the same transverse parallel as that part of the mid-frontal, n, and 

 this part is relatively broader and shorter than in 8ten. Geoffroyi. The nasals, 15, 

 become narrower, as they advance more rapidly than in that species, and 

 terminate in a point at some distance from the external nostril which is bounded 

 exclusively hj the premaxillaries, as in the type Steneosaur, which in this 

 character adheres to the modern Gavial.^ 



Species — Steneosaurus temporalis, Owen, Crocodilia (PI. 19). 



This specific name was suggested by the great relative size of the temporal 

 vacuities as indicated by their upper apertures (fig. 1, «, «)• The powerful biting 

 muscles originating therein have reduced the cranial interspace to a ridge. 



The orbits seem to have been comparatively small; but the contour of 

 their outlet had been mutilated in the clearance of the specimen from the oolitic 

 free-stone (Bath) in which it was imbedded. The mastoidal process contributed 

 to the concave mandibular joint is relatively broader than in the Teleosaur (PI. 

 16, fig. 3) ; the occipital condyle is relatively larger; and the descending part of the 

 basi-occipital does not show the median notch. The length of the portion of man- 

 dible (ib., fig. 4) from the angular process to the hindmost tooth-socket, indicates 

 the proportion wanting in the interval between the cranial and orbital regions of 

 the skull somewhat artificially joined in the Bath specimen. The outer nostril is 

 bounded by the premaxillaries, the nasals terminating at some distance therefrom 

 as in other Steneosaurs. The teeth, 24 on each side of the upper jaw (fig. 3), are 

 relatively larger than in the preceding and type Steneosaurs ; and, with the 

 general proportions of the facial part of the skull, indicate a transition to the 

 platycoelian Crocodilia of later mesozoic formations. 



In the "Woodwardian Museum, Cambridge, is a portion of the skull of a Croco- 



1 " Les 03 dii nez, k, k, sont bien eloignes d'aboutir a I'overture des narines," ' Oss. Toss.,' torn, 

 cit., p. lOG. 



19 



