12 



S. W. WILLISTON 



Various fragments of the skull are preserved, but no teeth can be 

 detected, though a fragment of a dentary or maxilla has numerous 

 thecce for their reception. The skull fragments are massive and 

 deeply pitted, conclusively proving, it seems to me, the brachystomous 

 nature of the face. The largest portion preserved is that figured here- 

 with, the posterior part of the left mandible. 

 It measures 155™™ in its greatest width, and 

 resembles the corresponding part of the man- 

 dible of Goniopholis tenuidens, as figured by 

 Owen.' If the skulls of the two species 

 were of like proportions, the present must 

 have measured over four feet in length. 

 Species of Goniopolis have no mandibular 

 foramen, so characteristic of the croco- 

 diles, and its absence in the present spe- 

 cies, together with the great width of the 

 bone and its numerous deep pittings, indi- 

 cates conclusively the brevirostrate character 

 of the form. This is also indicated by the 

 large size of the anterior extremities, the 

 bones preserved showing that they were 

 fully as large as the posterior ones, a charac- 

 ter also seen in Goniopholis and Bernissartia, 

 and very different from the small fore legs 

 of the longirostrate types. 



The Goniopholididse are supposed to 

 have been denizens of fresh or brackish 

 water, but these specimens do not necessa- 

 rily imply that the Wilcox shales are of 

 that character, since the bones may have 

 been accumulated at the mouths of rivers or adjacent to the shores. 

 However, some of the present Crocodilidae are denizens of salt water, 

 and it is not at all improbable that various extinct broad-faced species 

 may have had similar habits. The turtle bones accompanying the 

 remains are massive and heavy, very different from the typical marine 

 types. 



I Owen, British Fossil Reptiles, Vol. II, Plate XLII, Fig. 2. 



%^. 



Fig. 2. — Coelosuchus 

 reedii. Right pubis, one- 

 half natural size. 



