Memoir es du Museum d' Histoire Naturelle. 425 



Havre and of Honfleur, (Steneosaurus)." The solution of this 

 question is not given ; but as far as we can collect, M. Geoffroy 

 Saint-HIlaire is inclined to consider that the living Crocodiles are 

 actu'.ily the descendants of those whose remains are now found 

 o'jiy in the fossil state, notwithstanding their distinction by such 

 characters as are sufficient on his principles to point them out as 

 generically different. Another extremely curious idea incident- 

 ally adduced is that of the affinity of the Crocodile to the Mam.' 

 malia, which is so close as to make it appear to the author of 

 this memoir an amalgam of a Saurian and a Mammiferous Animal. 

 This affinity, which is deduced from- the division of the nasal 

 cavity, the ca7j(il cranio-respiratoire, into two spaces, the upper 

 being destined to the olfactory organs, and the lower to the con- 

 veyance of air to and from the lungs, is especially remarkable 

 between the Gavial and the Tamanoir^ (Mi/rrnecophagajubata). 

 Of the genus Steneosaurus, which by the bye ought rather to 

 have been Stenosaurus, two species are noticed by the extremely 

 awkward trivial names of S, rostro-major, and S, rostro-minor. 



A third paper by the same author, consists of an interesting 

 anecdote of a Beaver from the Rhone which was confined in the 

 Jardin du Roi. To guard him from frost during the winter only 

 an additional portion of litter was allowed him. It happened 

 one night that the cold became very intense ; the door of the 

 cage closed badly, and the animal felt it necessary to endeavour 

 to preserve himself from the rigour of the atmosphere. To occupy 

 him during the night and supply him with employment for his 

 gnawing propensity, a certain quantity of fresh branches were 

 regularly put into his cage, together with his food, consisting of 

 legumes and fruits. It had snowed, and the snow had collected 

 in one corner. Such were the materials in the possession of the 

 Beaver, and these he applied to the construction of a wall to 

 defend him from the external air and the frost. He interwove 

 the branches between the bars of his cage, in precisely the same 

 manner as a basket maker would have done. In the intervals 

 left between them he placed all that remained, his carrots, his 

 apples, and his litter, cutting each in such a manner as to fit them 

 to the spaces they were to occupy. To fill up even the chinks 



