14 FOSSIL REPTILES OF DORSET. 



GENUS BRACHYDECTES, Owen, 



(Name pre-occupied ~by E. D. Cope,, 1869). 



OWENIASUCHUS, A. S. Woodward. 



BRACHYDECTES MAJOR, Owen. 



Founded by Sir R. Owen on the evidence of a left manclibular 

 ramus nine inches and a-half in length, of which the alveolar tract 

 is only three inches nine lines in length. So small a portion of the 

 jaw being occupied by the teeth suggested this generic name to Sir 

 Richard Owen. The outer-side of the tooth, an incisor (the only 

 one preserved), is smooth, the forepart of the crown obtuse, the 

 hindpart trenchant, with minute denticulations, and included in a 

 socket. The ramus shows no vacuity, as is general with Crocodiles. 

 The outer surface of the hinder-part of .the ramus is sculptured 

 with close-set, deep pits, giving it a strongly reticulate character. 



BRACHYDECTES MINOR, Owen. 



This species is considerably smaller in size than the last, and 

 similarly determined by Sir R. Owen on the evidence of a left 

 mandibular ramus. The dentary portion is only one inch in 

 length, the whole of the mandible three inches and two lines, 

 and deeper relatively than the preceding. The alveolar-border, 

 which contains the canines, is straight, and not bulged as in 

 Goniopholis ; there is also no mandibular foramen. Both 

 B. major and B. minor are found in the Feather-bed of the Middle 

 Purbecks, Swanage. 



GENUS PETROSUCHUS, Given. 



This genus is' nearer allied to the Teleosaurus than to Goniopholis, 

 by the rapid contraction of the skull in front of the orbits and 

 the more forward position of the posterior-nares, and approaches 

 Goniopholis in the irregularity of the size of its teeth and its 

 festooned alveolar-border. 



PETROSUCHUS LEVIDENS, Owen. 



The total length of the lower-jaw of this Crocodile is about six- 

 teen inches, containing about twenty teeth ; the surface of the 

 skull is reticulated, the meshes being in the form of subcircular 



