298 



By the vertebrae found at Seichem, which appeared to be of 6ne and 

 the same spine, and by the memoir of M. Hermans, M. Cuvier found 

 himself able to determine the absolute number of the vertebrse of each 

 sort. 



The number of the vertebrse of the neck, back, and loins, without 

 reckoning the atlas and axis, he concludes to have been twenty-nine ; 

 and supposing the two last of the number to have belonged to the pelvis, 

 they would be twenty-seven, precisely the same as in the monitors, in 

 which animal, four of the neck, and two of the loins, are without ribs. 

 There are, therefore, in the monitors, twenty-three pair of vertebral ribs; 

 whilst the crocodiles have but seventeen, even when counting the five 

 little false cervical ribs ; and it is very probable that the fossil animal had 

 twenty-two or twenty-three at the least. 



The number of the vertebrae of the tail appears to have been ninety- 

 seven. This number much exceeds that of the crocodile, which has but 

 thirty-five : but they very little exceed those of the monitor, M. Cuvier 

 having found seventy-nine caudal vertebrse in a skeleton of this animal, in 

 which some were known to be wanting. 



The length of the cervical, dorsal, and lumbar vertebrae, appears to 

 have been about nine feet five inches, and that of the vertebrae of the 

 tail about ten feet; adding to which the length of the head, which 

 may be reckoned, considering the loss of the intermaxillary bones, at least 

 at four feet, we may safely conclude the whole length of the skeleton of 

 the animal to have approached very nearly to twenty-four feet. 



The head is a sixth of the whole length of the animal ; a proportion 

 approaching very near to that of the crocodile, but differing much from 

 that of the monitor, the head of which animal forms hardly a twelfth 

 part of the whole length. 



The tail must have been very strong, and its width at its extremity 

 must have rendered it a most powerful oar, and have enabled the ani- 

 mal to have opposed the most agitated waters, as has been well remarked 



