294 



It is uncertain whether the remains from Whitby (lias), 

 described in the Philosophical Transactions, are really 



pickaxes and shovels, each striving to obtain a portion of the sup- 

 posed monster, until its demolition was accomplished. 



The pieces which I obtained were two small fragments of the 

 upper, and one of the lower jaw, with a series of the vetebrae, and 

 two obscure fragments of the leg. 



Fortunately, the two pieces of the upper jaw, on being placed 

 together, gave the formation of the snout, from the ninth tooth to 

 its anterior termination, and yielded a complete view of the grooves 

 for the lateral admission of the large fourth tooth on each side of 

 the lower jaw. The teeth were broken off to the margin of their 

 alveoli : but they thus showed, in their transverse section, their 

 cutting ridges, their striated surfaces, and their central cavity, 

 beautifully encrusted with bright pyrites. The fragment of the 

 lower jaw also was of its anterior termination, but of only half the 

 length of the two fragments of the upper jaw, and contained four 

 teeth on the left and two on the right side. 



The form of the two conjoined pieces of the upper jaw, gradually 

 tapering anteriorly, but enlarging at the termination, with the 

 lateral grooves for the fourth tooth on each side of the lower jaw, 

 proved decidedly that it was not the jaw of a gavial, or of the same 

 species with the one whose jaw was discovered at Honfleur. The 

 characters possessed by the jaw are those of the recent species, 

 crocodile a museau aigu. 



The fragments of the vertebrae, though slightly mutilated, 

 furnish useful and interesting information. Unlike the vertebrae of 

 the two fossil species of Honfleur, as described by Cuvier, they 

 have, it appears, throughout the whole spinal column, the anterior 

 surface concave, and the posterior convex, and so strongly so, as fully 

 to equal, if not exceed, those of the recent species, in this respect. 



I could procure only twelve vertebrae : of these, two were cer- 

 vical; one, anterior dorsal; seven, posterior dorsal and lumbar; 

 and two, probably anterior caudal ; but the marks for the articu- 

 lation of the chevron-bone were not visible. They corresponded 

 so very nearly with the vertebrae of the recent crocodile in every 

 particular, as to require no farther description than that which is 

 given by Cuvier of these ; his figures would also equally serve to 

 represent them, for they differ only in having the extremities of 

 their spinous and transverse processes generally broken off. 



