JR. Lydekker — Hordivell and other Crocodilians. 311 



the Belgian specimens renders our knowledge of the affinities 

 and structure of JETylcBocJiampsa almost as well known as that of 

 recent Crocodilians ; and this we owe to M. Dollo's careful description. 

 The hinder portion of a Crocodilian skull with attached cervical 

 vertebrEe and dorsal scutes from the Wealden of Brook, preserved 

 in the British Museum (No. 28966), appears to indicate a genus 

 hitherto unknown in Britain. The vertebrae ai-e amphicoelous, the 

 scutes apparently without a peg-and- socket articulation, the orbits 

 communicating with the lateral temporal fossge, the posterior nares 

 placed as in Gomopholis, the orbits only slightly smaller than the 

 supratemporal fossee, and the few remaining teeth small and slender. 

 The whole contour of the skull is essentially Garial-like, and I have 

 little doubt that it was produced into a rostrum. As far as I can see, 

 it apparently agrees jorecisely with the skull figured in Dnnker's 

 "Mon. norddeutsch. Wealden," under the name of Macrorhynchus 

 Meyeri (of which it is the type), although the palate of the latter is 

 unfortunately not shown. Dr. Koken, who regards' Macrorhynchus 

 as identical with PhoUdosaurus, of the German Wealden, has, 

 however, been good enough to send me a sketch of the palate of 

 Fholidoscnirus Schaumburgensis, which shows that the English 

 specimen is generically identical with that form. The generic term 

 Macrorhynchus, Dunker, which dates from 1844, is of later date 

 than PhoUdosaurus, and as it is preoccupied by Lacepede (1880) for 

 a genus of Pisces, it cannot stand. Under these circumstances I 

 propose to provisionally refer the English specimen to the second 

 German species, which should be known as PhoUdosaurus Meyeri 

 (Dunker). This genus appears to bear the same relation to the 

 existing Garials as is presented by Goniopholis to the Crocodiles 

 and thus connects the former group with the typical Teleosaurida ; 

 and I propose to include in the family Goniopholididce all the 

 Amphicoelian forms {e.g. Hylceochampsa, Theriosuchus, Goniopholis, 

 Petrosuchus, and PhoUdosaurus) in which the orbit communicates 

 with the lateral temporal fossa; such family being divided into 

 groups according to the position of the posterior nares, the form of 

 the skull, and the nature of the armour ; and occupying an inter- 

 mediate position between the Crocodilida and the Teleosaurid . 



Classification. — In conclusion, I may observe, that since observa- 

 tions made subsequently to the publication of Prof Huxley's classic 

 memoir on the " Evolution of the Crocodilia" have tended to approxi- 

 mate his suborders Eusuchia and Mesosuchia, and to accentuate the 

 distinction of the two from the Parasuchia, it appears inadvisable to 

 continue to divide the Crocodilia into these three groups, which are 

 certainly not of equivalent value ; and 1 accordingly think it would 

 be preferable, while retaining the suborder Parasuchia for those 

 extremely generalized Crocodilians which show many points of kin- 

 ship to other orders, to unite the other two groups in a single sub- 

 order which might be termed Crocodilia Vera. For the two sub- 



1 Zeitschr. deutsch Geol. Ger. vol. xxxv. p. 824, note (1883). The suggestion 

 here made that the vertebrse are proccelous has proved unfounded. 



