268 Dr. J. E. Gray on the Species of Crocodiles, 



Crocodilus biporcatus, Cuvier, Oss. Foss.v.C5,t. 1 .f.4, 18, 19 (young skulls), 

 t. 2. f. 8 ; Muller and Schlegel, Verb. t. 3. f. 6 (middle-aged skull). 



Champse fissipes, Wagler, Amph. 1. 1/. 



Crocodilus biporcatus raninus, Muller and Schlegel, Verb. t. 3. f. 7 (aged 

 skull). 



Hab. Asia and Australia. India, Bengal and Pinang {Hard- 

 wicke)-, China {Lindsay) ; Trincomalee; Borneo {Belcher)', North 

 Australia {Ince, Elsey) ; Tenasserim coast {Packman). 



The Museum specimens vary in length from 18 to 52 inches; 

 but the skull shows that it grows to a very large size. We have 

 one skull 29 inches long ; another, which is 26 inches long, is 

 said, by the gentleman who sent it from India, to have been 

 taken from an animal 33 feet long. 



Cuvier figures the skulls of young and half-grown specimens. 

 S. Muller and Schlegel figure two skulls, one under the name of 

 C. biporcatus (f. 6), and the other C. biporcatus raninus (f. 7) : the 

 latter seems to be from an adult or aged animal ; the former 

 (f. 6) from a full-grown one, before the skull is thickened and 

 spread out. Another specimen figured] as C. biporcatus rani- 

 nus (f. 8) appears to be from a specimen of Crocodilus Siamensis. 

 It certainly is not an Oopholis, from the form of the dorsal scales 

 and the presence of the nuchal ones. 



b. The dorsal scales in four series ; the vertebral series broader than long, 

 the outer series elongate-ovate. 



2. Oopholis Pondicherianus. 



Hab. Pondichery, 1851. 



The specimen of this species in the British Museum is small, 

 and only just hatched, but it is quite distinct from all the others. 

 The vertebral series of shields are nearly twice as broad as the 

 vertebral shields in 0. porosus ; the others are also rather wider 

 in comparison ; all the dorsal scales are more keeled, and the 

 keels on the scales on the side of the base of the tail are higher 

 and more prominent. The black spots are larger and further 

 apart. 



The specimen was purchased of M. Parzudaki of Paris, it 

 having formed part of a collection which he received from the 

 French Museum. 



B. Nuchal plates four, or rarely two or five, in a cross series. The dorsal 

 plates as broad as long, in four or six scries. Fluviatile or River Croco- 

 diles. 



a. The intermaxillary bones truncated behind, with a nearly straight pre- 

 maxillary suture. Face broad, oblong. 



To discover the form of the premaxillary suture in the preserved 

 specimens, it is only necessary to elevate the skin of the front 

 of the palate, and lay the bones bare. 



