302 FOSSIL REPTILES. 



crocodile, though not to that of the subgenus gavial, for its 

 muzzle is very short. But its teeth prove that it could not 

 have belonged to the genus at all. Were it a crocodile, it 

 would have at least fifteen teeth in each side in the lower jaw, 

 and seventeen or eighteen in the upper, which would continue 

 as far as under the middle of the orbit. It has but eleven, 

 which conclude under the anterior angle of the orbit. This is 

 the character of one of those numerous species which have 

 been confounded together by Linnseus, under the name of 

 lacerta monitor. 



Every other character confirms this. The hind-feet, which 

 are in admirable preservation in the impression of Sweden- 

 borg, have five very unequal toes, of which the fourth is the 

 longest; and the respective numbers of their articulations, 

 beginning with the thumb, and reckoning the bones of the 

 metacarpus, will stand thus : 3, 4, 5, 6, 4. The same pro- 

 portions and the same number of articulations were in another 

 specimen. 



This number, and this proportion of the toes, and this 

 number of the articulations of each toe, are exactly the same 

 as in the monitors, the common lizards, and the iguanas, but by 

 no means the same as in the crocodiles, which have only four 

 toes on the hind-feet, little differing in length, and whose arti- 

 culations will stand thus : 3, 4, 5, 4. The opinion of Sweden- 

 borg, that this animal was an ape, or a seal, needs no refutation 

 in the present state of geology and comparative anatomy. 



In the fore-feet are to be distinguished four toes, nearly 

 equal. The crocodiles have five toes, but their little toe is 

 sensibly less in proportion. 



The length of this animal appears to have been about 

 three feet, which is the usual size, pretty nearly, of the moni- 

 tors of the most common species. 



The comparison holds good in the bones of the thighs, 

 arms, legs, and fore-arms. The vertebrae of the tail, with 

 the high and narrow spinous apophyses, are also exceedingly 



