

FOSSIL REPTILES OF DORSET. 11 



the Crocodilian form, the number of teeth, however, is less than in 

 any known Crocodile or Alligator. The chief difference of the 

 skull of Sten. Manselii from that of Geoffrey St. Hilaire's type of 

 Steneosaurus consists in the greater extension of the frontal bones, 

 the prolongation of the nasals to the hind-border of the external 

 nostril, and the smaller number of teeth. From the Kimmeridge 

 Clay, Kimmeridge ; presented by me to the British Museum. 

 STENEOSAURUS STEPHANI, Hulke. 



This fossil was brought to my notice by Mr. Darrell Stephens, 

 who saw it lying on a heap of stones at Closworth from a quarry 

 of Cornbrash limestone. Had it not been for his vigilance it 

 would have been broken up in a few days and distributed over the 

 road with the rest of the stones. It is figured and described in 

 the First Volume of the Proceedings of our Club, together with a 

 valuable contribution from the pen of Mr. Hulke. Mr. A. S. 

 Woodward* says of it " It is the only English species of Steneo- 

 saurus as yet satisfactorily defined." The description of the skull 

 is fully given in the first volume of our " Proceedings " ; any 

 addition here, therefore, will be superfluous. 



There is a skull in the County Museum labelled Macrorhynchus, 

 Meyer, with the snout and anterior nares missing ; the situation and 

 form of which are important characters in determining the 

 systematic position of Crocodilia. I submitted it to Mr. Hulke, 

 who skilfully uncovered the palato-nares, owing to the vertical 

 compression which it had undergone these were crushed down 

 on the base of the skull; their forward position in the palate 

 is quite discernible, shewing it to be Mesosuchian. The 

 relatively small size of the prefrontals and lacrymals places it 

 among the Teleosauri and distinguishes it from the Metriorhynchi, 

 the two groups into which E. and E.E. Deslongchamps divide 

 the Teleosauria. The triangular figure of the orbital-openings 

 distinguishes it from the sub-genus Teleosaurus as well as from 

 Pelagosaurus ; on the other hand the narrowness of the nasal bones 

 (in which respect it resembles the sub-genus Teleosaurus as well as 

 * Geol. Mag., p, 501, 1885. 



