"344 



FAUNA ANTIQUA SIVALENSIS. 



XIX. ON THE FOSSIL CEOCODILES OF THE 

 SEWALIK HILLS.' 



BY CAPTAIN P. T. CAUTLEY. 



Op the skulls of the existing Crocodile, from which the mea- 

 suremcBts accompanying this note have been taken, one 

 belongs to an animal 7 feet long, of which we have the per- 

 fect skeleton ; and the other was stated by the person from 

 whom it was procured to have belonged to an animal of 12 

 feet. We have a correction, however, in the smaller specimen, 

 which was carefully measured ; and taking this as a type, 

 the animals being of the same species {C. hiporcatus, Cuvier), 

 a mean of four measurements gives us a length of 132-09 

 inches, or 11 feet "09 inches, for the latter. In fixing this 

 specimen as belonging to an animal of 11 feet, we shall not 

 therefore be far from the truth. 



There is so much difference in the few comparative mea- 

 surements that we have been able to obtain of the fossil, with 

 these two skulls, that it is hardly possible to take any pro- 

 portion of the existing animal as a guide to that of the fossil ; 

 the measurements taken separately would in some cases 

 reduce our fossil to that of an animal of 1 1 feet, with distinct 

 ocular proof to the contrary; in others the fossil animal 

 would be 17 feet long, which may probably be somewhere 

 near the actual size ; while an assumption of 20 feet would 

 be extendmg the dimensions to their utmost limit, our esti- 

 mate being guided by the proportions of the species now 

 existing in our rivers. 



The fossils from which the measurements were taken 

 consist of two very perfect fragments; First, the anterior 

 portion of the skull of a large and adult animal, the posterior 



' Eeprinted from the Asiatic Re- 

 searches, vol. xix. p. 25, 1836. The ori- 

 ginal memoir was illustrated by rough, 

 though characteristic, drawings. The 

 drawings illustrating this reprint (Plates 

 xxviii. and xxix.) have been made by 

 Mr. Dinkel from more perfect speci- 

 mens in the British Museum. Most of 

 the specimens, however, drawn in the 



'Asiatic Researches' are also in the 

 British Museum. Thus, Plate ii. flgs. 

 2 and 4, As. Res., is No. 39,801 in Brit. 

 Mus. C. biporcatus (sic) ; and Plate iii. 

 figs. 3 and 5, As. Res., is No. 40,206 Brit. 

 Mus. Lep. Gangeticus. By referring to 

 appendix it will be seen that the iden- 

 tification of C. biporcatus in memoir ought 

 to have been C. bomhifrons. — [Ed.] 



