292 



Species found in England : — One specimen was obtained 

 from the Purbeck stone (now in the possession of Mr. 

 Johnson, of Bristol), and another was found in Oxfordshire, 

 at Gibraltar, on the Cherwell, in cornbrash, (now in the 

 Oxford Museum.) 



marl, which, from the subsequent researches of M. de la Beche, 

 appears to be the same with the blue clay occurring immediately 

 beneath the green sand in the Weald of Kent, the Isle of Wight, 

 &c. The under jaw is shown to be that of a crocodile by its shape ; 

 by the conical striated teeth, with cutting edges, placed in distinct 

 sockets, and with a cavity receiving the replacing tooth. The 

 sutures also show that the bones of the jaw are six in number 

 on each side, nearly agreeing in their forms with those in the gavial ; 

 but in these jaws the branched part is longer than the anterior 

 united part, and the angle made by the branches is not so open as 

 in the gavials. The separation of the branches extends more among 

 the teeth, there being in these jaws seven teeth in each branch ; 

 whilst, in those of the gavial, there are but tw o or three ; and, at 

 the same time, the whole number is less in the fossil than in the 

 recent gavial, there being in the fossil but twenty-two on each side, 

 whilst in the gavial there are twenty-five. Nor is the oval hole 

 to be seen in the outer side of the branch, as in the lower jaw of the 

 gavial. In these jaws the anterior end finishes in a point, instead 

 of spreading out as in the gavial. The jaw, too, is less depressed 

 and more cylindrical than in the gavial ; but, in one specimen, a 

 greater approximation to the snout of the gavial, especially as to its 

 flatness, was observable, from which the existence here of two fossil 

 species was suspected. 



This supposition appears to have been confirmed by the exami- 

 nation of the accompanying vertebrse. The genus to which these 

 belong was determined by the body and the angular part being 

 joined by a suture, which occurs only in crocodiles and tortoises, 

 whilst several other characters decidedly show that they belonged 

 to tw^o different and to two unknown species. 



In one specimen, containing the atlas and axis, a particular 

 species was evinced by the tubercle of the axis appearing to be 

 adapted for the articidation of two heads of a false rib, as in the 

 succeeding cervicals ; whilst in the existing crocodile there is 

 but one. Another character, still more striking, is observable here. 



