STRATA OF TILGATE FOREST. 51 



properly speaking, partakes of the characters of both. The body is 

 sUghtly contracted in the middle, and has two costal depressions, or 

 concave articulating surfaces for receiving the heads of the ribs, {faucette 

 costale, a. b. Cuvier, loc. cit.) between which are two fossse, each containing 

 a foramen ; the faces are transversely elliptical. The dimensions of the 

 vertebrae are as follow : 



Length of the body, 1 '5 inch. 



Transverse diameter of the faces, 2 inches. 



Anterio-posterior diameter, 1 '5 inch. 



The processes are wanting; but traces of the suture by which the 

 annular part was united to the body of the vertebrae, are very manifest. 



9,7. * Lumbar. These resemble the former, except that the costal 

 depressions are absent ; they are of a large size, and must have belonged 

 to an animal of considerable magnitude. One specimen, wliich is precisely 

 similar in form to the middle vertebrae, in fig. 6, Crocodiles Fossiles, PL 

 I. of Cuvier, (except that both its faces are slightly concave,) is of the 

 following dimensions : 



Length of the body, 5 inches. 



Diameter of the faces, 3-8 inches. 



Diameter of the middle, 2-8 inches. 



Like the vertebrae described by Cuvier, this specimen is more con- 

 tracted in the middle than those of the recent crocodile, and it also 

 resembles the former, in having a deep fossa immediately beneath the 

 annular part. {Vide d. fig. 10. Cuvier, loc. cit.) 



28. ' Caudal. In these the axis of the body is much contracted ; they 

 are of an elongated form, and bear a close analogy to the vertebrae of the 

 recent crocodile, (fig. 7. PI. II. Os separes de Crocodiles, Cuvier.) One of 

 the most interesting specimens* in my possession has the remains of the 

 spinous and articulating processes. 



* This fossil was submitted to the inspection of Mr. CUft, who remarked, that it perfectly 

 resembled the vertebra of a crocodile, except that both its extremities were concave, while 

 those of the recent animals of that genus were concave anteriorly and convex posteriorly. 



H 2 



