1858.] HtJXLET — STAGONOLEPIS. 447 



Crocodilian and certainly not by any of the fossil members of the 

 group ; though Cuvier calls Teleosawus Cadomensis *^ le mieux 

 cuirasse " of the group to which it belongs. I shall describe the 

 dermal skeleton of the Jacare at length in another place ; but I may 

 remark here, that the broadest part of the dorsal shield exhibits 

 eight or ten scutes in each transverse row, and that all the dorsal 

 scutes overlap their successors by their posterior edges, and are 

 united to one another by strong serrated sutures. The ventral 

 shield consists, in its broadest part, of 12-14 scutes in a transverse 

 row. Each scute, except the two outermost of the series, has four 

 straight sides, the anterior of which presents a large, smooth, arti- 

 cular facet, while the posterior overlaps the facet in its successor. 

 The lateral edges unite in firm serrated sutures. The outer faces of 

 these scutes are quite flat, and their ornamentation is so very similar 

 to that of the Stagonolepis, that it would require very close attention 

 to distinguish a cast of the one from a cast of the other. Multitudes 

 of small, irregular, posteriorly pointed, osseous scutes cover the skin 

 of the sides of the body, and extend on to the limbs. 



Dermal Scutes of Fossil Crocodilia and Teleosauria. — Among the 

 fossil procoelian Crocodilia, the scutes of Crocodilus Hastingsioe are 

 provided with articular facets, and I am inclined to think that this 

 Crocodile also had a ventral shield. 



"With regard to the Amphicoelian Crocodiles, the broad statement 

 I have made above must be held at present to apply only to the 

 Teleosauria, and naturalists in general do not seem to have admitted 

 its truth even for them. Cuvier, for instance, remarks, with regard 

 to his " Crocodile de Caen" (Teleosaurus Cadomensis, Geoffiroy), "They 

 are rectangular and very thick, but are thinned towards their edges, 

 and the whole of their external surface is excavated by little, close- 

 set, hemispherical fossae, of the size of a lentil or that of a pea. ... * 

 These scales were disposed, as in our living Crocodiles, in regular 

 series, longitudinally as well as transversely. The posterior edge of 

 the one covered the base of that which followed it. The block be- 

 longing to the Caen Academy presents almost all the scales of one side 

 in their natural position. It is seen that, from the first of the dorsal 

 vertebrae which have been preserved to the origin of the tail, there 

 are 15 or 16 transverse series, and that each series had five scutes 

 on each side, so that there were at least ten longitudinal series *." 



The " Grand bloc de I'Academie de Caen," here referred to, is 

 figured in Cuvier's plate 235, fig. 14. The scutes represented are all 

 flat, four-sided, and nearly square, and their internal surfaces only 

 are represented. Moreover, the figure clearly shows six longitudinal 

 rows, and not five. I have no doubt that the scutes figured did 

 in fact form a part of the ventral armour, and not, as Cuvier sup- 

 posed, of the dorsal shield. I am the more inclined to adopt this 

 opinion because Geoffiroy St.-Hilaire, to whom we are indebted for the 



examined two species, J. fissijpes and J. sclerops. I have nowhere been able to 

 find the slightest allusion to the existence of this singularly developed ventral 

 armour in modern Crocodilia. (See concluding Note, p. 459.) 



* Ossemens Fossiles, vol. v. part 2, pp. 139, 140. 

 VOL, XV, — PAET I. 2 K 



