OF RECENT CROCODILIANS. 157 
Mecistops caTapHRactus. (African False Garial.) (Plate XXXII. figs. 1, 2, 3.) 
Crocodilus biscutatus, Cuvier, Oss. Foss. ii. 52, 65, t. 5 (very young). 
Crocodilus bisulcatus, Bory, Dict. Class. N. H. vy. 108, misprint. 
Crocodilus cataphractus, Cuvier, Oss. Foss. v. t. 5. f. 1, 2 (crocodile 4 nuque cuirassée) ; [copied 
A. Dum. Arch. du Mus. x. t. 14. f. 2]. Dum. & Bib. E. G. iii. 126 (young). Bennett, Proc. 
Zool. Soc. 1834, p.110. Owen,Cat. Osteol. Spec. Mus. Coll. Surg. p. 155. n. 710 (Cuvier’s type). 
The Crocodile, Bowdich, Madeira, 232. 
Crocodilus leptorhynchus, Bennett, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1835, p. 129. A. Dum. Arch. du Mus. x. 252 & i. 
17], t. 14. f. 1. 
Mecistops cataphractus, Gray, Cat. B. M. 58. 
Mecistops bennettii, Gray, Cat. B. M. 57. 
Gavial of Senegal, Gray, Rep. Brit. Assoc. 1862, Sect. 107. 
Mecistops, Balfour Baikie, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1857, p. 58. 
Hab. West and Central Africa; ? Fernando Po (Bennett), Gaboon, Lagos. Central 
Africa, River Binué (Baikie). : 
The species has been described from small young specimens. It grows to a large 
size. There is an imperfect specimen which is scarcely adult, in the British Museum, 
that was sent from Fernando Po by Capt. R. F. Burton, which must have been 13 or 14 
feetlong. Unfortunately it wants the head ; the body is 5 feet and the tail 8} feet long. 
Fig. 16. 
Figs. 15-18. Head and cervical shield of Mecistops cataphractus. 
The specimen, originally sent by Mr. Bennett, was said to have come from Fernando 
Po; but Dr. Balfour Baikie observes that Fernando Po is a small volcanic island, 
totally without the muddy rivers delighted in by Crocodiles, and possessing nothing but 
streams, which during the rainy season are tumultuous mountain-torrents, with rocky 
beds.—Proc. Zool. Soc. 1857, p. 58. 
VOL VI.—PART IV. 
