258 THEORY OF THE EARTH. 



lias : they were discovered in England, where 

 this rock is exposed in cliffs of great extent ; but 

 they have also been found since in France and 

 Germany. 



Along with these had lived two species of Cro- 

 codiles, the bones of which are also found depo- 

 sited in the lias, among ammonites, terebratulae, 

 and other shells of that ancient sea. We have 

 skeletons of them in our cliffs at Honfleur, where 

 the remains are found, from which I have drawn 

 up their characters, f 



One of these species, the Long-beaked Gavial, 

 has the muzzle longer, and the head more narrow, 

 than the gavial or long-beaked crocodile of the 

 Ganges ; the bodies of its vertebrae are convex 

 before, while in our crocodiles of the present day 

 they are so behind. It has been found in the 

 lias deposits of Franconia, as well as in those of 

 France. 



A second species, the Short-beaked Gavial, 

 has the muzzle of ordinary length, less attenuated 

 than the gavial of the Ganges, but more so than 

 our crocodiles of St Domingo. Its vertebrae are 

 slightly concave at each of their extremities. 



But these crocodiles are not the only ones 

 which have been deposited in the strata of these 

 secondary limestones. 



* Researches, vol. v. part ii. p. 143. 



