FOSSIL REPTILES. 289 



which, singularly enough, has been preserved in this specimen, 

 is cylindrical, and much thicker in proportion than in any cro- 

 codile or any known reptile whatever. 



In this fossil are eleven alveoli, two of which alone preserve 

 their teeth. These cavities are all nearly of the same diame- 

 ter, and are filled with the matter of the stone, which proves 

 that the teeth had fallen before the incrustations took place. 



M. Cuvier has finished the determination of this head from 

 the impression, and some remains of other bones in the blocks 

 before mentioned. These pieces, though belonging to an in- 

 dividual four times the size of that to which the demi-head we 

 have just described belonged, yet appertained to the same 

 species, as the Baron judged from what remained of the 

 frontal, the parietal, and the anterior frontal bones. The nar- 

 row crest formed on the parietal by the approximation of the 

 temporal fossae, he considers as an ordinary effect of age, which 

 enlarges the crotaphite muscles. To the same cause he at- 

 tributes the curve of the crest in the form of a chevron, which 

 is strongly marked in this crocodile. The frontal just men- 

 tioned is singularly flat ; a ridge slightly salient traverses the 

 middle of its length, and its surface is rendered a little unequal 

 by vermiculations. 



According to the impression, the muzzle of this crocodile 

 was longer in proportion than that of the gavial. It grew gra- 

 dually more slender towards the end, where it dilated a little, 

 and the total length of the head must have been more than 

 thirty-seven inches. 



There was also found a portion of muzzle twenty inches 

 long, which confirmed the characters drawn from the impres- 

 sion. Its depression was stronger than in the gavial; the 

 bones of the nose descended lower, and formed a more acute 

 angle. Along its length was a sort of central rib, slightly pro- 

 jecting, and marked with a longitudinal furrow. From the 

 roots remaining on either side, it appears that, in this length of 

 twenty inches, there must have been at least thirty teeth. 



