"Prof. 0. C. Marsh — On a new Fossil Gavial. 427 



III. — Notice of a New Species op Gavial eeom the Eocene of 



New Jersey, U.S. 



By Prof. 0. C. Marsh, of Yale College, Ct.i 



SOME interesting reptilian remains have recently been obtained 

 from the Eocene Greensand of Shark Eiver, Monmouth County, 

 New Jersey, indicative of a new species of Gavial, considerably 

 smaller than any crocodilian heretofore discovered. They were 

 found together, and are evidently parts of the same skeleton. They 

 consist of various fragments of the skull, and ten vertebree. The 

 coossification of the neural arches of the vertebree, and the almost 

 entire obliteration of the sutures in some of them would imply that 

 the individual, although diminutive, was nearly or quite mature. 



The portions of the skull preserved indicate that the animal had 

 an elongated muzzle, and that the upper posterior parts of the skull 

 were of the gavial type. The temporal apertures were large and 

 near together. The teeth were not obtained. 



The vertebrse are well preserved, and present marked characters. 

 The articular cup is transversely oval in the cervicals and anterior 

 dorsals, and has its upper margin depressed in the posterior dorsals. 

 The hypapophyses are simple and elongate. The neural canal of 

 the cervical and anterior dorsal series is transverse and sub-rect- 

 angular in outline, and the floor unusually broad and flat. In the 

 posterior dorsals, the canal, although still transverse, becomes less 

 rectangular, with the broader portion above. 



The species may prove to be generically identical with the one 

 named by the writer Thecachampsa Squankensis, which is the only 

 crocodilian hitherto found in the Eocene of New Jersey. 



The genus Thecachampsa, however, as proposed by Prof. Cope, 

 cannot yet be regarded as a valid one, since the concentric structure 

 of the dentine on which it was founded^ is not a character of generic 

 importance ; for it occurs in various other crocodilians, and also in 

 some Cetacea. The present remains are therefore provisionally placed 

 in the genus Gavialis and the species called G. minor. The animal 

 to which these remains belonged was quite slender and about six 

 feet in length. 



IV. — Eecoeds of the Geological Survey of India, Vol. iii., 

 Part 2. May, 1870. 

 The Contents of this number of the " Eecords " are — 

 1. Geology of Gvmlior and its vicinity. By C. A. Hacket. 



THE area described is a low hilly district, comprising some 

 alluvium. Crystalline rocks occupy a narrow strip of country, 

 which is also traversed by numerous large quartz veins. But the 

 more prominent rocks of the area belong to the Gwalior Series and 

 the Upper Vindhyan. These two series are unconformable to each 



^ From American Journal Science, Second Series, vol. 1., no. 148, p. 97. 

 , 2 Proceedings Philadelphia Acad. Nat. Sciences, 1867, p. 143. 



