FOSSIL REPTILES OF DORSET. 15 



pits one to two lines in diameter. The upper temporal fossae are 

 larger than the orbits, and the inside or posterior nares are larger 

 and more advanced than in Goniopholis. The body was armed 

 with dorsal scutes, and shews in the foramina of the skull a trans- 

 ition between the secondary and tertiary Crocodiles. From the 

 Middle Purbecks, Swanage. 



We now arrive at a very interesting group of small Crocodiles, 

 referred to in a paper read before the Geological Society in 1879 

 by Sir Kichard Owen. From the Feather-bed of the Middle 

 Purbecks, Swanage, comprising teeth, scutes, vertebrae, detached 

 limbs, a few skulls and mandibles, and a skeleton or two. 



GENUS NANNOSUCHUS, Owen. 

 NANNOSUCHUS GRACILIDENS, Owen. 



The jaw of Nannosuchus is not ga vial-like, being short and broad. 

 The orbits and temporal foramina are similar in dimensions and 

 oblong in shape ; the outer-nostril is confined to the premaxillaries ; 

 vertebras concave at both ends ; the body covered with oblong, 

 quadrangular scutes, which, like those of Goniopholis, have a 

 tooth-like peg-process at one of its angles fitting into a depression on 

 the under surface of the next scute. The teeth are strongly curved 

 and sharp ; the skull, lower-jaw, and scutes shew its mesozoic 

 crocodilian character. The temporal-fossae are more oblong than in 

 Goniopholis, but the maxillaries are not so swollen out as they 

 approach the premaxillaries. The upper surface of the skull is 

 sculptured with minute subcircular pits ; the length of the head 

 is four inches and a-half. From the Feather-bed of the Middle 

 Purbecks, Swanage. 



GENUS THEKIOSUCHUS, Owen. 



THERIOSUCHUS PUSILLUS, Owen. 



This Crocodile is even smaller than the preceding ; it approaches 

 the type of the broad-faced Alligators in the proportion of the fore- 

 part of the skull. The dentition represents the Theriodonts of the 



