XI. 



MEGALOSAURUS THE HEAD. 



The grounds on which the restoration of the head 

 attempted are stated in the explanation of the Diagram. 



199 

 been 



Diagram LVII. Head oi Megalosaurus. Scale one-tenth of nature. 



Restoration of the head and lower jaw, of which, however, only the anterior 

 portions are known. These are shaded. The type of Varanus is followed in general, 

 but the postorbital arrangement is different, the bony circle there being completed 

 from considering iguana and other lizards with some eye to crocodile. Scale 

 one-tenth of nature. The length of head as thus drawn (thirty-nine inches) is less 

 than that usually allowed (five feet). 



The posterior part of the maxillary bone is separated from the orbit, notwith- 

 standing its smooth, apparently free edge, by an intervening continuation of the 

 jugal. This may be objected to. The nasal cavity is supposed to be divided by 

 a median ridge (the single nasal continuous with the intermaxillary bone) into two 

 openings, as in some of the monitors. The intermaxillary bones, which originally 

 included four teeth each, appear united to the maxillary in this adult specimen. 



The lower jaw is modelled on the Varanian type, to which more 

 than to any other reptiles the fossils correspond in their serrated 

 teeth. The symphysis was short, the jaw narrow. 



Vertebrae of the neck of megalosaurus appear to be rare. We 

 have lately obtained one which is represented four-tenths of the 

 natural size in Diagram No. LVIIL, figs. 4, 5, 6, in three aspects, 

 between two sets of corresponding bones of teleosaurus. The body 

 of this vertebra is higher than broad, and about as long as high. 



