FOSSIL REPTILES. 211 



external surface hollowed with little semi-spherical fossets, 

 about the bulk of a pea, and closely pressed against each 

 other. They were arranged^ as in the living crocodiles, in 

 regular series, both longitudinally and transversely. The 

 hinder edge of one covered the base of that which followed. 



From the largest fragments, the Baron judges that this 

 species might have been twenty feet in length. Some of the 

 remains, however, did not belong to individuals more than 

 thirteen, and ten feet long ; so that, notwithstanding the clear 

 distinction of species, this crocodile of Caen did not exceed in 

 dimensions its Hving congeners. 



It resembled crocodilus priscus, in the alternation of size in 

 the teeth, and the dilatation of the anterior extremity of the 

 two jaws. However, the more elongated and slender form of 

 the upper jaw in front, and the form of the temporal fossa 

 more wide than long, seem to mark a sufficient difference for 

 the species. 



Some remains, very similar to the last, were found in the 

 formation of Jura, and sent to M. Cuvier from Switzerland. 

 Some of the teeth, however, from their greater bulk and 

 obtuseness, seemed to indicate another species. It is most 

 remarkable, as the Baron observes, to find an animal, so espe- 

 cially a native of the fresh water as the crocodile, in the strata 

 of the formation of Jura. It is also worthy of remark, that it 

 is accompanied by abundance of tortoises, equally belonging to 

 the fresh water. This fact, joined to many others, proves that 

 there existed here dry lands, watered by rivers, at some won- 

 derfully remote era, and long before the three or four succes- 

 sions of these kinds of strata which have been observed in the 

 neighbourhood of Paris. 



We shall now speak of the bones of two unknown species of 

 gavial found near Honfleur and Havre. 



These bones, the Baron thinks, may have belonged to two 

 depositions different from each other, but superior to that of 

 the Caen-stone. But he considers them much more ancient 



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