52 STRATA OF TILGATE FOREST. 



Length of the body, 3 inches. 



Diameter of the middle, 1 -2 inches. 



Diameter of the faces, 1 "4 inches. 



The agreement between the vertebrae here described, and those of the 

 fossil crocodile of Honfleur*, is so striking, as to leave no doubt in my 

 mind of their identity. This opinion is confirmed by the nature of the 

 other bones entombed in the same deposit, and which we shall now proceed 

 to examine. 



Of these remains the ribs are the most perfect, and their osteological 

 characters are decidedly analogous to those of the lizard tribe. The 

 following are selected as' the most illustrative examples. 



29. Part of a rib, with the vertebral extremity remaining. The head 

 of the rib, and the tubercle by which it was attached to the transverse 

 process of the vertebrge, are broken off, but the situation of these parts is 



* Two species of crocodile are found in a fossil state at Havre and Honfleur ; one having 

 its vertebrae concavo-convex, as in the recent species, and the other with both faces of the 

 vertebrae slightly concave. It is to the latter, that the bones in question are referable ; a 

 species that Cuvier considers as extinct, but which is nearly related to the Gavial or Gangetic 

 crocodile. These organic remains also correspond with those of the Tilgate strata in their 

 mode of preservation, but the bed in which they are deposited, (and which I had formerly 

 imagined might be identified with our Weald clay,) is referred by Mr. Parkinson, to the Blue 

 Lias of Dorsetshire. It may not be uninteresting to add Cuvier's description of the strata. 



After a few prefatory observations, this illustrious naturalist thus proceeds : 



" lis sont tons dans un banc de marne calcaire endurcie, d'un gris bleuatre, qui devient 

 presque noiratre quand il est humide, et qui regne des deux cotes de Tembouchure de la 

 Seine, le long du rivage du pays de Caux et de celui du pays d'Auge, comme au cap de la Heve, 

 et entre Touque et Dives, vis-a-vis les Vaches-noires. 



" II s'eleve en quelques endroits au-dessus du niveau des plus hautes marees, et dans 

 d'autres il est reconvert par les eaux de la mer. II recele partout des huitres, de petites moules, 

 et de petites tellines discoTdes d'especes particulieres, et les os eux-memes ont des huitres et 

 des tuyeaux de serpules adherens a leur surface ; mais il n'est pas ais6 de dire si ces coquilles y 

 tenoient deja avant qu'ils eussent ete enveloppes par la marne, ou si elles ne s'y sont attachees 

 que depuis que lamer les a laves et mis a decouvert. 



" Quant a ce banc de marne, il est certainement plus ancien que la masse immense de craie 

 qui repose sur lui, et qui s'elevant en falaises de 3 et 400 pieds de hauteur, forme tout le 

 pays de Caux, une partie du pays A'Auge, et s'etend en Picardie, en Champagne, et jusqu'en 

 Angleterre, 



" La substance des os est d'un brun tres-fonce, et prend un beau poli ; les acides la dissol- 

 vent et en prennent une teinte rougeatre, qui annonce qu'elle est coloree par la fer. Elle a 

 cependant conserve une partie de sa nature animale.'" Cuvier, Animautc Fossiles, Tome IV, 

 Crocodiles Fossiles, p. 17, 18. 



