THEORY OF THE EARTH. 259 



The beautiful oolite quarries of Caen have 

 presented a very remarkable one, the muzzle of 

 which is as long and more pointed than that of 

 the long-beaked gavial, and its head more dilated 

 behind, with wider temporal fossae. Its stony 

 scales, marked with small round cavities, must 

 have rendered it the best defended of all the croco- 

 diles.* Its lower teeth are alternately longer and 

 shorter. 



There is still another in the oolite of England ; 

 but there have only been found some portions of 

 its cranium, which do not suffice to afford a com- 

 plete idea of it. t 



Another very remarkable genus of reptiles, the 

 remains of which, although they are also found 

 beyond the limits of the lias concretion, are espe- 

 cially abundant in the oolite and upper sands, is 

 the megaiosaurus, justly so named, for, along 

 with the forms of the lizards, and particularly of 

 the monitors, of which it has also the sharp- 

 edged and dentated teeth, it presents so enormous 

 a size, that if we suppose it to have possessed the 

 proportions of the monitors, it must have exceeded 

 seventy feet in length. It was, in fact, a lizard 



* Researches, vol. v. part ii. p. 127- 

 t We expect a fuller knowledge of it from M. Cony- 

 bear e's researches, 



R 2 



