FOSSIL REPTILES. 223 



of the vomer is visible in the palate, between the intermaxil- 

 laries and the maxillaries. The palatines advance farther, and 

 widen in front. The posterior nostrils are wider than long. 



In the head of the gavial the differences are much more 

 sensible. The enormously long muzzle is formed underneath, 

 one third by the intermaxillaries, and two thirds by the maxil- 

 laries ; the palatines advance in a point which occupies only a 

 sixth of its length. 



The bones of the nose above, do not by any means come so 

 far as to end at the aperture of the nostrils. They terminate 

 in a point nearly towards the upper fourth of its length. The 

 intermaxillaries surround the external nostrils, and mount in a 

 point towards the under fourth of this length. All the inter- 

 mediate part is formed solely by the maxillaries. All this 

 muzzle has pretty nearly the form of a depressed cylinder ; 

 towards the middle its height pretty nearly equals two thirds of 

 its breadth. 



The cranium of the gavial is much broader in proportion to 

 the muzzle, and in proportion to its own length than that of 

 the crocodile. Its length is a fourth of the total length to end 

 of muzzle, and is less than the breadth by about one-tenth. 

 The orbits are more wide than long. 



The lachrymal descends in a sharp point along the nasal, 

 much more forward than the anterior frontal. 



The foramina, between the parietal, the posterior frontal, 

 and the mastoid, are enormous, larger even than the orbits, 

 and more wide than long in the adult individual, which very 

 much contracts that part of the cranium which covers the 

 parietal. 



The foramina of the lower face, between the palatines, the 

 maxillaries, and the bones which unite these last to the ptery- 

 goids are shorter in proportion than in the crocodile. 



The ossa pterygoidea form, above the palatines, a kind of 

 gross bladders, swelled out and oval, about the bulk of a 

 hen's egg, instead of a simple cylindrical vault as in the cro- 



