278 



does not appear, in the fossil the oval hole which exists in the posterior 

 part of the branch, in the known species of crocodiles. 



The fossil upper jaw was also ascertained, from different fragments, to 

 differ materially from the upper jaw of the Gavial. The snout, corre- 

 sponding with the symphisis of the lower jaw, is shorter and flatter than 

 that of the Gavial ; and the anterior end terminates in a point, and does 

 not spread out as that of the Gavial does. The anterior edges of the orbits 

 also appear to be more flattened than in the living species. From fair 

 grounds of calculation it also appears, that the skull must have been 

 much longer in proportion to the snout, in the fossil species than in the 

 Gavial. 



One of the specimens from Honfleur, a fragment of the base of the 

 symphisis part of the lower jaw, appeared to differ from the lower jaw 

 already mentioned, in being rather flatter; approaching a little, in this 

 and some other respects, to that of the gavial. This circumstance led 

 M. Cuvier to the suspicion of there being the remains of two species of 

 crocodiles in this stratum. 



An attentive examination of the fossil vertebrae confirmed his opi- 

 nion ; since he discovered that the vertebrae also belonged to two different 

 systems of bones, neither of which was similar to that of the known cro- 

 codiles. With respect to the first species of fossil vertebrae which he 

 found, he ascertained that the posterior face of the body of the axis is 

 concave, whilst it is convex in all the known crocodiles ; a characteristic 

 which is distinguishable in many of these fossil vertebrae, whilst in the 

 known crocodiles this part is convex. Plate XVIII. Fig. 6, represents 

 one of the dorsal vertebrae, in which this circumstance is observable. It 

 is proper to remark here, that wnole orders of viviparous quadrupeds, such 

 as the ruminants and solipeds, have the bodies of their cervical vertebrae 

 convex in their fore part; but, in these, their apophyses are very differently 

 disposed. The transverse apophyses in the fossil vertebras arise by four pro- 

 jecting processes, which give them a pyramidal base ; and behind the sur- 



