ROOM III. FOSSIL CROCODILE OF SWANAGE. 169 



In the summer of 1835, the workmen employed in a 

 quarry near Swanage, on splitting asunder a large slab of 

 Purbeck limestone, perceiving teeth and portions of bones 

 exposed on the corresponding surfaces of the slabs they had 

 separated, carefully preserved the two pieces of stone : and, 

 fortunately, my friend Robert Trotter, Esq., who was on 

 a visit in the neighbourhood, heard of the discovery, and 

 purchased the specimens for me. 



The slabs when first received by me gave but obscure 

 indications of the remains that careful chiselling subsequently 

 brought to light. After much labour, I succeeded in de- 

 veloping the detached parts of the skeleton now visible, and 

 fortunately without fracturing the stone by which they were 

 concealed ; consequently, the two corresponding surfaces are 

 in a beautiful state of preservation ; and being placed toge- 

 ther in the same case, may be examined with facility ; they 

 are now as interesting groups of Crocodilian remains as have 

 been discovered in this country. 



On the left-hand slab are seen the posterior parts of the 

 left side of the lower jaw with two teeth attached, and several 

 detached teeth distributed about the stone ; there are many 

 ribs ; numerous amphiccelian, or biconcave vertebrae, having 

 a small irregular medullary cavity in the centre of the 

 body of the bone ; slender chevron-bones, with a bifurcated 

 or double process of attachment, as in the crocodile ; the 

 ischium, pubis, ilium, and other parts of the pelvic arch ; and 

 a few bones of the extremities. 



The vertebrae, the largest of which are nearly two inches 

 long, are fractured across the middle, at right angles to their 

 articulations, so that in every instance the articular ends of the 

 body are concealed; transverse vertical sections of the centrum, 

 with the spinous process, and long straight transverse pro- 

 cesses attached, are the only parts visible. (Lign. 38. 2, 2). 

 But several nearly perfect vertebras of the same type, collected 

 from the strata of Tilgate Forest, show that the articular sur- 

 faces are very slightly concave, as is the case in almost all the 

 crocodilian vertebrae of the secondary formations. The suture 

 uniting the annular part of the vertebrae to the body is well 

 defined ; the sacral vertebrae are beautifully displayed. 



With these are the remains of the dermal cuirass, con- 

 sisting of numerous scutes or dermal bones, scattered at 



