CROCOD1LIA. 221 



occurs among the scales of many ganoid fishes ; the ventral scutes are 

 polygonal and unite exclusively by suture, not by overlapping. The pro- 

 portions of the limbs resemble those of modern crocodiles. The only 

 known species is Therioauchw pusilltts, from the Purbeck Beds of 

 Dorsetshire. 



Goniopholis is a larger Purbeckian and Wealden crocodile, much 

 resembling Theriosuchus, but with somewhat larger supratemporal vacui- 

 ties, more normal stout teeth, and the nasal bones not quite reaching 

 the external narial opening. The typical species, O. crossidens, is 

 known by fragmentary specimens from the English Purbeck and 

 Wealden. Another form, G. simiis, is represented not only by a skull 

 from the Purbeck of Swanage, but also by two nearly complete skeletons 

 from the Wealdeu of Bernissart, Belgium. In these skeletons, which 

 are about two metres in length, the fore limbs are as large as the 

 hind limbs. 



Bernissartia, of Wealden age, still more closely resembles the modern 

 crocodiles, though retaining the essential characters of the Mesosuchia. 

 The supratemporal vacuities are smaller than the orbits, and the nasal 

 bones do not reach the external narial opening. The dorsal armour, 

 like that of the Tertiary and Recent Crocodilia, comprises more than 

 two longitudinal series of scutes, which are overlapping but do not 

 unite by a peg-and-socket articulation. The ventral scutes similarly 

 overlap each other. The fore limbs are much shorter than the hinder 

 pair. The typical species is B. fctgesi, from Bernissart, Belgium, repre- 

 sented by a nearly complete skeleton about a metre in length. 



Notosu.cb.US (fig. 137). A small unarmoured crocodile known by the 

 greater part of the skeleton from supposed Cretaceous rocks in the 

 Territory of Neuquen, north of Patagonia, South America. The skull 

 (fig. 137) is short and broad, with a much abbreviated rostrum, and the 

 outer bones are externally rugose. The supratemporal vacuities are 

 smaller than the orbits, which are relatively very large, directed both 

 superiorly and laterally, and separated from the lateral temporal vacuity 

 only by a slender internal postorbital bar. A small antorbital vacuity 

 occurs between the lachrymal and maxillary bones ; and the nasals reach 

 the single large narial opening, which is directed forwards. The palate is 

 proved to be typically Mesosuchian, without any secondary plates from the 

 pterygoid bones to prolong the canal of the nares. The mandible is 

 slender, biting within the upper jaw, and its articular end is not curved 

 upwards ; there is a large vacuity in the side of each ramus, and the 

 splenials enter the short pointed symphysis. The teeth are few in 

 number and laterally compressed, and no successors have been observed ; 

 those of the upper jaw are extraordinarily differentiated, the premaxilla 

 bearing three small incisors and one very large canine, while the maxilla 

 has seven teeth of nearly uniform size ; there are about ten lower teeth, 

 gradually increasing in size backwards without an enlarged canine. The 



