274 



to the river of Egypt; that of Congou, described by Daudin; those of 

 the East Indies, &c. They accord indeed so well, in almost every 

 respect, that M. Cuvier, by comparison with different specimens and 

 skeletons of these animals in the Museum, has been able to detect 

 only one or two apparently specific distinctions. The one of these is, 

 that the spinal processes of the dorsal vertebrae are much more raised 

 than in the Monitors. The other is, that the leg appears to be longer in 

 proportion to the thigh and foot, than is the case in the Monitors. 



In the neighbourhood of Altorff, in Bavaria, are quarries of indifferent 

 grey marble, containing ammonites, &c. in which the impressions of 

 large heads, with long jaws, armed with pointed teeth, have been repeat- 

 edly found. 



The specimens which have been there discovered, have not hitherto 

 warranted the determining with what species of animal, or even hardly 

 with what genus they should be placed. In the opinion of Merck, Troisicme 

 Lettre sur les Fossiles, p. 25, the one which he possessed, but which is 

 now in the Museum of Darmstadt, may be considered as a Gavial. Ano- 

 ther, in the Museum of Manheim, and which has been carefully figured 

 and described by Collini, Act. Ac. Theod. Palat v. PI. in. Fig. 1 and 2, 

 is thought, by this author, to have belonged either to a saw or a sword- 

 fish, or to some unknown sea animal. The fore part of another was 

 found by M. Bauder, Burgomaster of Altorf ; and this one has been 

 merely described as part of the head of a crocodile. 



M. Faujas, who has published figures of the two first of these fossils, 

 agrees positively with Merck in the opinion of their being the heads of 

 the Gavial. This opinion is however opposed by M. Cuvier, who has 

 discovered some important points in which they differ. The length of 

 the head at Manheim is to its width as 38 to 11, whilst, in the larger Ga- 

 vial, the length of its head is to its width as 25 to 9. The general figure of 

 the head also differs from that of the larger Gavial, it narrowing gradually 

 to form the muzzle. From these two circumstances, and from the long 

 oval marks of the eyes, it would seem to resemble the head of the 



