273 



was satisfied that the traces here preserved are of animals of the sarra? 

 species. 



The form of the head, the pointed teeth, the size of the vertebrae of 

 the tail, would be sufficient, he observes, without the limbs, to show de- 

 cidedly, that this animal must have been an oviparous quadruped. The 

 head, however, does not, as was supposed by Spener and Link, bear 

 any resemblance to that of the crocodile of the Nile. So far, also, is it 

 from being, as is asserted by M. Faujas, a real Gavial,. that M. Cuvier 

 is convinced, that it differs more from the Gavial than from any other 

 reptile of the lizard tribe. 



From the head engraved by Spener, M. Cuvier was enabled to deter- 

 mine the genus to which this animal belonged. In the upper jaw he 

 could discover only eleven teeth on one side, and which only reached to 

 the anterior angle of the orbit ; a circumstance which characterizes the 

 Lacerta monitor of Linnaeus, or Tupinambis of Daudin. In the upper jaw 

 of the crocodile there should be at least fifteen teeth on each side, and 

 these should reach to the middle of the orbit. 



The hind feet also, as seen both in Link's and Swedenbourg's speci- 

 mens, show five unequal toes, of which the fourth is the longest : these 

 toes have the following number of bones in each, beginning with the 

 great toe, and reckoning the metacarpal bone 3, 4, 5, 6, 4. This 

 number, and this proportion of the toes, as well as the number of the 

 joints of each toe, are exactly the same in the Monitor, in the common 

 lizards, and in the iguana; but are different in the crocodile, which has 

 but four toes to the hind feet, differing but little in their length, and being 

 formed by bones disposed in this number and order 3, 4,. 5, 4. 



The fore feet are discoverable in the specimen of Link, and have each 

 five toes of nearly equal size. The crocodiles also, as well as the lizards, 

 have five toes to their fore feet, but the little toe is evidently smaller in 

 proportion. 



The size of these animals also appears to agree with that of the most 

 common species of Monitor ; such as, those which belong to the land, and 



VOL. Ill, N N 



