56 



VEETEBRATA. 



No. 84. [258] Teleosaurus Mandelslohi, Bionn. 



Skeleton, on slab (cast). 

 The Teleosaurus (called 

 Mystriosaurus by Kaup) 

 was a large, amphibious, 

 loricated reptile, repre- 

 sented most nearly at the 

 present day by the long, 

 slender-jawed Crocodile of 

 the Ganges — the "Gavial" 

 of the Hindoos. Its name, 

 given by St. Hilaire, has 

 reference to his belief that 

 it formed one extreme (the 

 earliest) of the crocodilian 

 series. We now find it 

 was preceded by Belodon, 

 in the Trias. The jaws are 

 armed with numerous, 

 long, slender, sharp-point- 

 ed, slightly curved teeth. 

 In the lower jaw the teeth 

 are alternately longer and 

 shorter, counting from the 

 fourth tooth ; in the upper 

 jaw they are of equal size, 

 except the first two, which 

 are small, and the third, 

 which is very large. The 

 nostrils are situated nearer 

 the end of the upper jaw 

 than in the modern Gavial ; 

 the fore limbs are shorter, 

 and the hind limbs are 

 longer and stronger, which 

 indicates that it was a bet- 

 terswimmer. Thevertebrae 

 are united by slightly con- 

 cave surfaces, whence it 

 would seem that it lived 

 more habitually in the 

 water, and seldom moved 

 on dry land; and as its 

 fossil remains have been 

 found only in the sedi- 

 mentary deposits from the 

 sea, it may be inferred that 

 it was more strictly marine 

 than the Crocodile of the 

 Ganges. This entire skeleton of the Teleosaurus Mandelslohi was discovered in 

 the Lias at Holzmaden, Wurtemberg, and belongs to the Krantz Collection of 

 Bonn, Rhenish Prussia. Size, 7 ft. 2 in. x 2 ft. 6 in. 



